Too much fork oil?

Eville Rich

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
463
Location
Wisconsin, USA
I'm doing a dump and fill of my fork oil ~17,500 miles. First time doing this. On both forks the oil started to dump fairly clear, but quickly clouded up to that nasty grey. I'm doing one fork at a time. Both forks had rebound and compression dials set to the last click counter clockwise. Both left to drain 24+ hours.

For the right fork, I dumped out 450ml. I was a little sloppy so added about 465. Buttoned up, reinstalled.
For the left fork, I dumped out 500ml. I was a little less sloppy, but not 50ml less sloppy. I'm questioning whether I should refill it with 500ml or something less. For my non-ES bike, references I see point to 485ml being in the forks if you do a full tear down, which is confirmed in the FSM. I see that for EAS models the FSM says 505ml for left and 493ml for right.

Is there any chance this was overfilled at the factory? Should I consider just refilling with my roughly 465ml for the left fork? I can't imagine I got everything out via my dump and fill and with a full 500 ml it's over the FSM spec, anyway.

Thanks for any insight.

Eville Rich
2016 S10
 

jrusell

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2017
Messages
460
Location
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Mine had slightly different amounts very similar to yours when I did my first change on these forks. Not something I would stress over.
When setting by height sometimes it is hard to bleed all the air out of the void between the outer and inner tube. This can make for a difference of over 20ml if this void is full or empty.

My first service used 485ml to get the proper oil level. My second service used 505ml for the same level. I was a bit confused until I realized I must not have not purged all the air from the void between the inner and outer tubes. There is a small hole near the top of the inner tube. If this is not submerged while bleeding you might still have some air in this void causing a different volume.

Personally I would add 500ml and motor on. You will not notice the difference.
 
Last edited:

Karl

Active Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2015
Messages
143
Location
Sydney Australia
Hi all,

Does anyone know the air gap for the ES? I am going the clean and re-oil my forks this weekend.
 
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