I replaced the fork seals and dust caps, added the proper fluid and set the proper psi (6-8 psi i cant remember what the manual says)of the forks according to my shop manual. I know everything was done correctly and genuine honda parts were used.

There is enough fork oil on the top of the dust seal to wipe off with my finger and some built up in a ring around the upper part of the fork (with dust/dirt in it). Is this normal? 10k miles.

 

pry up the dust seal, or the seal by your finger in the second photo. see if there is any oil pooling in that area underneath it. if there is then the oil seal is gone or not sealing properly. i've never had anything like that and i put more miles on between fork seal changes.

6 psi is max the fork can hold. if you put 8 you might have blown the seal.

did suspension take any hard compressions while you were riding. that could cause a seal to go as well.

 

nothing too hard where i was worried, some small bumps etc. I will pull the seal back and take a look in there to see.

on a side note, i've read of people putting more air in their forks to stiffen them up anyways, so I don't think going from 6 psi to 8 psi would affect it at all.

I'll check it out later on and post results. Thanks.

 

i know about adding more air pressure. however, think of the extra 2 psi like this.

air in any closed volume will expand with heat. the heat in this case coming from either ambient air temps or friction due to braking wherein that heat radiates to the fork tubes and then absorbed by the fork oil and air confined within the fork, or fork action wherein the action of the fork (compression and rebound) generates heat within the system.

now, what you have is say 6 psi of air at ambient temp or in a "cold" state. when the air inside starts to absorb heat from wherever it is getting it, the air in the fork will expand. thus, your original 6 psi becomes greater than that and depending on how much heat the air has absorbed, maybe greater than what the seals can handle. that extra psi generated has no where to go and cannot be dumped say unlike a turbo wastegate.

think of your tires. directions say to add air when the tires are cold to get an accurate reading. your rear is at 42 psi. after a day of riding what do you think the psi will be after all that friction generated. same idea except a tire can hold a lot more psi than a set of fork seals.

nothing wrong with adding air to the fork. just know that that air pressure will increase as heat is applied or absorbed.