89 Fork air pressure leaking

[frankd]

The front suspension on my 89 leaks down slowly---After about a week I notice it's low and have to pump it back up. The Class system seems to work fine--it just looses air pressure over time. Anybody else had this problem??

 

Frank D.

[Snaggletooth]

My '84 did that when I bought it. I tightened all the connections but it still did it a bit. When I did the fork rebuild I replaced the o-rings in the collars on the tops of the forks. No more leaky. That bike sat for 9 years in storage without being ridden so they were pretty dried out.

[MiCarl]

Run them up to their max pressure and get out the soapy water. It's probably a slow leak so you'll have to wet everything down and let it sit in the shade for an hour. The spots that leak should look like shaving cream is on them.

[frankd]

Thanks.....I've got a fork leg that seeps a little bit sometimes, so a fork rebuild is on the agenda. I'll replace the O rings when I do that. While I've got all the lines exposed, I'll soap the lines up and check them. Between the two, hopefully they'll hold air. They lost some air last year, but this year they're a bit worse. And yes, this one sat for a while also. 2 years ago, it only had 23,000 miles on the clock.

 

Frank

[bkuhr]

Run them up to their max pressure and get out the soapy water. It's probably a slow leak so you'll have to wet everything down and let it sit in the shade for an hour. The spots that leak should look like shaving cream is on them.

Attached pics of my fork air leak on 83 with no class. Bad fork seals, but air chambers were fine.

[MiCarl]

Thanks.....I've got a fork leg that seeps a little bit sometimes,

 

That'll let your air out too.

[frankd]

BKUHR,

 

Thanks for the pictures--they are literaly worth a thousand words!!! Before I take it apart, I WILL get out the soapy water and see exactly where they are leaking.

 

When I wrote the first message I was wondering if maybe there was a problem in the Class module that had caused air loss (such as a leaking solenoid). I was probably getting way too technical though.

[bongobobny]

Well that is not totally out of the question either, but not too likely. Yes, the soapy water will do the trick. My guess is the leaky shock...