Honda Motorcycle Fork Oil Leak Q&A

What does it mean when you have fork oil leaking from the dust seal of a Honda motorcycle's fork? Could it be that the fork tube is damaged and the seal isn't able to do its job?

Partzilla's Honda motorcycle expert John Talley does live Q&A sessions on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern. In this session John was asked what could be causing a fork oil leak from the dust seal of a Honda CBR600. Here's what John had to say about the leaking fork oil.

Honda motorcycle fork oil leak

Honda Motorcycle Dust Seal Fork Oil Leak

I have a 2007 Honda CBR 600RR. I did a full fork service. Oil, bushings, seals. Now when I ride, oil leaks from the dust seal. What could cause this?

John Talley: The first thing that comes to mind is when you replace the main seals as well as the dust seals, when you brought them over the top of the tube, did you protect the top of the tube with tape? I use electrical tape to do it, but what can happen on the upper part of the tubes, you may not be able to see it but if there’s any type of pitting, or if there are any imperfections in the metal … if you don’t have that edge taped going down, that can chew up your seals. I’ve had it happen to me before, so I’m a big believer in taping the fork legs coming down until you’re in the zone where they’re actually running against the seals themselves. So you may want to check that area as well. Chances are the fork tubes are damaged somewhere, either at the top or you were installing the seal or down low and it’s just chewing it up. If you keep putting new seals in there, it’s not going to solve the problem.