Help! mystery leak/some electric/ bike work progress
#1
Help! mystery leak/some electric/ bike work progress
alright, its 3 am here in Ohio. Ive been working on my bike for hours and made a lot of progress (atleast for me). I started with working on my tailight trying to integrate my turn sigs into the stock tailight... about 5 blown fuses later I think I know what to do. but I stopped working on that to take off the front tire. I only had a rear stand so as some suggested on here, I tied ratchet straps to my garage ceiling and looped them under the tripple tree. then proceeded to ratchet them up untill the tire was off the ground. I took off the brake callipers, then front wheel, then the tire from the rim!
after taking off the brake calipers I noticed a weird fluid on the ground that looked at first to be coming from the brake caliper and I assumed it was just brake fluid. after a closer look it was not the brake fluid, it is coming from a weird looking cylinder-shaped thing attached to the forks. as you can see in the pic there is a good amount of fluid that leaked. is this fork fluid and I have a bad seal? i have no idea. I really hope this is not a big problem, Im a college student and have already spent a lot of my money on my bike. if anyone can help I am in desperate need. wouldnt want this to end my riding season this year... also I am wondering if this could have been caused by hanging the bike by the triple tree? this fully compressed the forks because all of the weight and pressure.
heres the source of the leak heres the Puddle My crazy contraption with the tire off (the jack stands are there for safety it isnt really touching them its hanging about an inch above got my tire off and ready for the new one to come in!
after taking off the brake calipers I noticed a weird fluid on the ground that looked at first to be coming from the brake caliper and I assumed it was just brake fluid. after a closer look it was not the brake fluid, it is coming from a weird looking cylinder-shaped thing attached to the forks. as you can see in the pic there is a good amount of fluid that leaked. is this fork fluid and I have a bad seal? i have no idea. I really hope this is not a big problem, Im a college student and have already spent a lot of my money on my bike. if anyone can help I am in desperate need. wouldnt want this to end my riding season this year... also I am wondering if this could have been caused by hanging the bike by the triple tree? this fully compressed the forks because all of the weight and pressure.
heres the source of the leak heres the Puddle My crazy contraption with the tire off (the jack stands are there for safety it isnt really touching them its hanging about an inch above got my tire off and ready for the new one to come in!
Last edited by lewisF4i; 09-03-2012 at 10:14 AM.
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I cant figure it out.. ugh frustrating. I wouldnt think the fork seals/fluid are bad with less than 9k miles. or the brake lines? could something be disconnected or broken somehow? it has never leaked a drop untill yesterday when I lifted my bike by the tripple tree. could this of done it?
also.. I dont think that it has leaked any more fluid since last night (the puddle looks the same size) so this might be a good thing. but since idk where the fluid came from idk where to add fluid too or where to check
also.. I dont think that it has leaked any more fluid since last night (the puddle looks the same size) so this might be a good thing. but since idk where the fluid came from idk where to add fluid too or where to check
Last edited by gotcbr; 09-03-2012 at 02:52 PM. Reason: merged back to back posts
#8
^ thats what I was wondering.. when I looped them under there I thought I made sure they were out of the way. but I couldve crushed one.. its on the left side of bike (if your sitting on it) there shouldnt be brake lines over there should there? I thought that was only clutch cable. Ill take another look
#9
Looks like dirty fork oil or filthy brake fluid. It's easy to find the leaky fork because your stainless tubes will be slimey right above the dust seal.
It looks like the puddle is right under your clutch side caliper, but hard to tell. sure your caliper is not leaking?
Hanging the bike from the tripletree should do the exact opposite of compressing the forks.
Usually when fork tubes leak (only when riding in motion hitting bumps & such), the wind will blow the droplets off to somewhere else, so you wont actually see drips on the ground.
In my case they were slinging onto one of the rotors giving me a obvious pulsing when apply hard front brake.
It looks like the puddle is right under your clutch side caliper, but hard to tell. sure your caliper is not leaking?
Hanging the bike from the tripletree should do the exact opposite of compressing the forks.
Usually when fork tubes leak (only when riding in motion hitting bumps & such), the wind will blow the droplets off to somewhere else, so you wont actually see drips on the ground.
In my case they were slinging onto one of the rotors giving me a obvious pulsing when apply hard front brake.
Last edited by Sick97SS; 09-05-2012 at 02:45 PM.
#10
Ok well I dont notice any slime on the forks so It must of been leaking from my brake caliper. I added brake fluid. (it was low) but I took a pic before I added any fluid ill post in a min. it looks pretty dirty to me. maybe its ok tho? im not sure if that even matters. but I guess the most important thing right now is if I loosened all the bolts on the caliper could this of caused it to leak? I really loosened every bolt on it and took out some completely.
Good news is: my new tire came in today! Revzilla is awesome and shipped it in 1 business day. so that was a good surprise. this made it possible for me to put the tire on the rim. (the front is a lot easier than the back), mounted the wheel back on the bike along with calipers and such. wired some turn signals (ill post a pic of that too). now if I could only test drive it! its storming here now.
Good news is: my new tire came in today! Revzilla is awesome and shipped it in 1 business day. so that was a good surprise. this made it possible for me to put the tire on the rim. (the front is a lot easier than the back), mounted the wheel back on the bike along with calipers and such. wired some turn signals (ill post a pic of that too). now if I could only test drive it! its storming here now.