Motorcycle Fork Oils

[Ganeshan]

[Doga]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

very informative prince. Nice thread.

[Pinaki]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

Applause for your hard work to collect and study all this info for the all of us Prince brother . Extremely interesting info - am still reading it again and again . And cursing myself for having seen this thread so late !

[biking bug]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

How can we know the time to change fork oils is there any methods for that? My ride is clocking 30250 from till date I haven't changed it .I haven't noticed any problems facing shocks also .

In those memories... we live on !
# ride hard, ride safe.

[nadz11.ns]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

How can we know the time to change fork oils is there any methods for that? My ride is clocking 30250 from till date I haven't changed it .I haven't noticed any problems facing shocks also .

The oil would start leaking from the seals.
see the pic for reference:


Going good for 30k kms, that's nice. Mine started to leak at ~22k kms.

[biking bug]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

The oil would start leaking from the seals.
see the pic for reference:


Going good for 30k kms, that's nice. Mine started to leak at ~22k kms.

Oh haven't faced that like problem .. the service adviser always force me to change it... some times they are false advice in there voice for businessr ...that why I haven't changed it ....will it be ok running with this oil ? Or is there any time intervals for changing it.

In those memories... we live on !
# ride hard, ride safe.

[nadz11.ns]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

Oh haven't faced that like problem .. the service adviser always force me to change it... some times they are false advice in there voice for businessr ...that why I haven't changed it ....will it be ok running with this oil ? Or is there any time intervals for changing it.

When I changed the oil, it was like water. No viscosity at all. That means it was way past its life.

I think you should change it. But there is a saying "why fix something that isn't broke"

If you feel that the damping is good and not in excess, let it be. If its more, change it.

[kusmaker]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

Your bike's suspension oil is leaking past the oil seals, a little bit of oil leak is not an major issue, just take a thin knife or feeler gauge and carefully insert it inside the rubber cap and clean it with some cloth, sometime dirt particles get stick inside the seal and the oil starts leaking from there, but don't scratch your tubes, if this dosen't solve your problem then change the oil seals with new oil, pls thoroughly clean all of your suspension parts by petrol when you open it before installing new seals.

[curve_king]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

Iv changed the fork oil a few months back since havnt changed since buying the bike 3 years ago. The oil was leaking I think. Black oily rings were appearing on the fork tubes. And the base of the headlight unit was banging against the mudguard if the wheel went into a pothole.
But havnt changed the fork oil seals. The repairman told the seals are fine even though the quantity of used oil was about half of the new oil poured in.
Said mix of water+dirt makes rings appear.
Still the rings appear but now are transparent .
Is there a definite way of knowing whether oil seals are good or need replacement?
Thanks in advance.

[kusmaker]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

If your forks don't leak again you are good, but if they start leaking again then you have to change the oil seal, i feel there is no need to change fork oil unless it starts leaking, oil leaks becuase the fork seals have worn out,the other reason for leaking of fork is due to stone chips,dust particles wedged itself inside the fork seal and forcing the seal partly open and run out the oil unrestricted, you can use rubber gaitors to prevent the dust from accumulating on fork tubes or clean fork tubes regularly.

[princesirohi]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

How can we know the time to change fork oils is there any methods for that? .....

If your forks don't leak again you are good, but if they start leaking again then you have to change the oil seal, i feel there is no need to change fork oil unless it starts leaking, oil leaks becuase the fork seals have worn out,the other reason for leaking of fork is due to stone chips,dust particles wedged itself inside the fork seal and forcing the seal partly open and run out the oil unrestricted, you can use rubber gaitors to prevent the dust from accumulating on fork tubes or clean fork tubes regularly.

over a period of time, upon usage, fork oil looses its viscosity, apparently there is no way to check the viscosity without opening it, the only way is your feel and the amount of damping it provides. if you feel that front suspension is working less than optimal when going through the potholes or speed-breakers, it is time to change the oil. one other way is while riding in night, if you feel that your headlight focus is going down a bit, it is also a sign to change fork oil.

Generally fork oil change interval is given in user manual of every bike, however you can usually stretch it to 1.5 - 1.75 times the interval mentioned in owner's manual or service chart.

for example, if fork oil change interval is mentioned at every 10,000 kms, you can stretch it to 15,000 - 18,000 kms. beyond it there is no point in stretching.

sometimes you dont feel that fork oil is gone bad, because it doesn't happen overnight, it is a slow process, so sometimes less experienced rider is not able to identify that fork oil needs replacement.

regarding change of fork oil seals, it should be replaced when it starts leaking. however my suggestion is that - even if it doesn't leak, after 2-3 oil changes, you should change the fork oil seals, this is preventive maintenance, if you want to avoid failure in the middle of some tour.

[rick_7428]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

What an in depth research... If I hadn't come across this topic , fork oils would have been a mystery to me! Really an awesome informative stuff, it wld have taken me days to search and get idea of it whereas your explanation enlightened this topic in 10 minutes! Thanks a ton man...

Sent from my RM-821_im_india_443 using Tapatalk

[kusmaker]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

Most of the manuals suggest oil change interval at about 12000kms, you can keep using ur oil for about 15000kms or may be 20000kms, if it dosen't starts leaking, princesirohi is right, but sometimes when you change the oil, the newer oil has got more viscosity hence there is more pressure on older oil seals, in this pressure older seals starts leaking, one can also put fork gaitors, but the forks shouldn't be dinged or scratched or rough, they really protect forks from dirt, small stones, or rain.

[Ganeshan]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

Definitely oil should be changed at regular intervals. Fork seals can last much longer than those intervals... especially on road bikes and/or bikes with conventional forks, not upside down.

Changing the oil gives an opportunity to clean the forks of all impurities. Water, dust etc. mixed in the oil will eventually start pitting/damaging internal fork components which will contaminate the oil further. Fork components can be incredibly expensive, particularly on the more expensive upside down forks.

If the oil that comes out of the forks is dark, dirty and thick, or looks contaminated with water (lighter brown), then it makes good sense to clean all the impurities that will have settled at the bottom of the tubes before filling them up with fresh oil. This means dismantling most of the fork components including the oil seals (and dust seals) which have to be renewed on reassembly. A much bigger job, requiring special tools to make it easier, than just changing the oil regularly…

[vivek7593]

Re: Motorcycle Fork Oils

hash thank you @princesirohi bro ... had being searching for fork oil since 2 days for my 200ns ...
2 days ago during travelling the front left fork oil seal gave up some how and the fort started making all sorts of sounds under compression ..
thanks for the deep info i also used bajajs fork oil .. next time i would try castrol