Oil leak in forks?

bailsofhay

Hi all,
I just received a used RS Reba u-turns and when it came I noticed there was a oil stain on the box as well as some on the crown. Is there anyway to determine if this is left over oil from a service or if are they leaking. I am contemplating opening a refund with the seller on ebay because of the possible leak but I would like to make sure first. Are there any tell tale signs that the seals are trashed without opening them up or any position or action that will make a leak more obvious? These are my fist air forks and I am a bit worried I have been sold a dud.

Just checked and the air valve caps both(dual air) have oil in them is this normal?

The Rookie

There should be oil in the air chamber, yes, it lubes the seals, if it was dry that would be a bigger issue.

Wipe the stanchions clear and cycle them through the stroke a couple of times, wipe again (in case any oil was left on top of the seal), then cycle them again (low air pressure so easy to do by hand) the stanchions should be dry if you now wipe them.

Hard to see why the oil would be by the crown, so suggests to me just something that got on there prior to packaging.

bailsofhay

The stanchions are dry even after cycling them but there is oil in the air valves and caps. So if there was a leak it would come from the dust seals on the stanchions?

Here is a couple pics



Under the uturn knob it seems quite damp with oil.

The Rookie

Probably a little spill during service, forks almost never leak from there, get on an ride would be my thinking.

bailsofhay

Thanks Rookie I was just a bit dubious about installing it if there was a possible problem especially as they were packaged so badly. I wiped all the oil off and cycled them in various angles and no oil seems to be leaking so probably a little spillage as you say. The seller never mentioned they had been serviced recently but I will ask if that was the case.