took my 1098 for MOT yesterday and it failed on leaking fork seal (l/h). took it home , if was deffo wet on touch, wiped it off , and now looks like leak stopped. someone told me that sometimes it happens after bike stood for a while , seals dry up and start leaking but then once they lubed up they are fine again. does it sounds true? shell i take it back to MOT centre or am wasting my time and will fail again? don't really want to get bike collected , fixed and delivered back to me unless i really have to... and can't really ride it without mot as nearest decent fixing place is quite far any opinions?
I'd be tempted to take it back. Just give it a wipe down before taking the bike in. It would have to be really bad for it to fail after a couple of pumps and if it did leak again, you'd know for sure that it needs sorting.
It can happen, could also be a piece of dirt that's worked its way back out. If it was me I bounce it a few times to check, pre book your MOT ride it there and check it just before. Other strategies, try one of these fork seal cleaner thingys. some have got them to work other not Buy a set of Kreiga fork seal protectors (the tester is not allowed to remove anything to check stuff) Fork Seal - Kriega I've got a pair on my 1098, work great, if you did have a slight weep pretty sure the protector would keep the leg dry for the MOT but no guarantee Just the things that spring to mind that I'd probably be tempted to do.
+1 on the seal mate trick. My multi was leaking on the LH fork. A few goes with a seal mate and all sorted. I got a castrol one from Amazon dirt cheap
had a go with fork seal mate last night but it is still leaking ( tiny amount, not even worth mentioning) shell i do it again? or does it mean that seal is gone?
I'd have another crack at it. Same thing with me, did it once and still weeping. Did it twice, still weeping. 3rd attempt got it sealed. Took me a good 20-25 mins of using the seal mate, wiping clean and bouncing the forks.
Had my Streetfighter in for a service this week & they noticed that the LH fork seal was leaking. 2 hours labour (£110) and the price of a seal to fix it. As the bike has hardly been used, I told them to leave it and I've used the seal mate tool on it this morning. Bouncing up and down on the forks for 10 mins and no sign of a leak I suppose time will tell, but it was worth a go for the sake of £5.
I was told by the mechanics and I've also seen on the web that the Ohlins seals are particularly vulnerable to this Apparently its not uncommon when the bike is laid up for winter that a seal will weep when taking the bike out for the first run. In a lot of cases this is unfortunately for an MOT. In an awful lot of cases after a few miles the seal will just stop weeping of its own accord. I'm guessing it dries out a little over the winter, weeps, then with the oil and the fork leg movement, the seal gets some lube, swells back out and reseals Glad its worked for a few, I found out the hard way and got the seals redone after a ridiculously low mileage Since fitting the Kriega seal protectors I've never had a problem, could be the protector or could be just luck
For my MOT I had to quickly take down the outer seal, shove some toilet paper up against the inner seal and then refit the outer seal. Job done, MOT passed and I sorted the seal properly when I got the time. Never had a problem with seals until I got Ohlins and then had two seals go within a few months of each other. Back on a KTM with WP suspension and they fit fork bleeders as they seem to think excess air can pop seals. Might work, don't know. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I couldn't get the Seal Mate up into the seal at all when i tried, just kept bending and making me swear. Got it fixed under warranty in the end and have fitted Kriega protectors ever since after reading about them being quite susceptible to road grit.
