Blown oil seal

Pippen33

Was out early this morning on enduro etc... when I heard a pop, stopped and looked at the front wheel as that's where the noise came from, thought I had blown a tyre.

Nope. Never would have thought it, but one of my oil seals had exploded and ended half way up the stanchion (on the air side of the fork). Never had this happen before, wasn't at high altitude and fork wasn't being compressed at the time.

Anybody know what could have caused this???

Thanks

nicklouse

what fork?


and i dont think it will be the air seal as they are generally held in place by a circlip and the first seal that you see is just a dirt wiper.

Pippen33

Bloody hell that was fast! It is a Specialized Future Shock e150SL. It was the wipers then, that's why I asked, when it comes to forks I aint got a clue. Cheers

nicklouse

i guess that the fork has NOT lost its "spring"?

if it has then the air seal will have gone and pushed up the wiper.

But i have not yet had one of these forks in bits yet.

Pippen33

Well, after the wiper had blown I did have to add extra air as there was a lot of sag, but I assumed that this is because the wiper had not been completely replaced (it would not allow) and was causing friction against stanchion.

nicklouse

ut it is now holding air?

it does sound that the seal did go and this caused the wiper to pop up.

i would pop into the supplying shop (or call) and book it in for a looking at as it should not really have happened.

Pippen33

Yes, after 12 hours still holding air. I'm going to call asap.