Fork seal blown at 10K mles.

I went for a short ride yesterday and when I got home I noticed some black oil residue on my lower left fairing. Upon inspection I found my left fork seal was blown. I have 10,400 miles on my bike. Anyone else had this problem yet? The dealer quoted me about $300 in labor which I thought was high. I took my bike to the dealer for them to take pictures. They are sending them to their Honda rep to see if they will do a goodwill warranty repair. I sure thought the seal would have lasted longer than 16 months and 10k miles.

 

Do you mean like visibly damaged, or just leaking a bit? if it's just leaking try cleaning it first.

[video=youtube;nEzjdFQp6IM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEzjdFQp6IM[/video]

 

It seems that I have read several post regarding this issue, although it might be more related to environmental/physical conditions versus product failure. Example, a few have mentioned the stanchion tubes having some putting or nicks which digs into the seal, causing it to get damaged and leak. Others have mentioned dirt/small rocks or other debris getting stuck between the seal and tube. There are inexpensive methods of resolving this issue, but some of those seem to be hit or miss. When I helped Scubalong with his fork seals, we found that the forks had some surface rust and that was what ruined the seal. We were able to use some fine grain wet/dry sand paper and smooth out the fork tube before replacing the seal.

If you're at all mechanically inclined, replacing the seal is relatively simple process but can take a little time so $300 might be about right for P&L, if they replacing the seals on both forks.

 

Imperial Sportbikes had quoted me around low $200 on my 03.
Question: have you been cleaning your forks after every long ride? What I've noticed is that all kinds of gunk gets up there and the forks seals are not protected. My old 03 had a small plastic (not big) but still had some fork protection. 14vfr fork seal are very exposed and probably susceptible to damage once they get dust and bugs stuck to the forks.
Seal mate is the first thing that I would try if I were you.

 

I take it from your bio this is on the 014? LOL stop doing wheelies.
I'd definitely pursue the Honda warranty side of this. this is an odd one. No they should not have gone out in 10K sorry to say $300 to change it Oooo, I'd have them do both. That doesn't sound to out of line nor surprising, $300 in today's doings is probably close to the norm now., factory techs are Expensive, yet they, if they give a shit in some cases are worth it. Just document everything prior for damage control before hand.

 

Yes some are. What about the rest? Read here for that: http://www.motorcycleproject.com/text/the_superstar_myth.html

 

Update: My selling dealer contacted Honda and was told the factory would pay for the parts only. The dealer offered to pay half the labor if I paid the other half. I get new seals installed tomorrow for $150 out of my pocket. Thanks Fay Meyers Honda!

 

they are scum bags, I had 70,000 on my 91 Mach 1 and probably blew out the seals being bored one day and changing the fluid to a 5 weight honda oil. I could feel the difference right away on my commute and then I casually looked down while riding and saw "weepage" I was like, "son of a bitch, I got a blown fork seal!" Can't call honda names for something lasting over 20 years though. Did the rebuild, with zero fork leg cleaning, did break one of the allen head bolts on the bottom of the fork leg ended up drilling it out and using the fork leg as a slide hammer and Wha-Lah. I clean my fork legs after every ride no matter what, I spray Bell-Ray 6 in 1 on the leg and wipe.

You seals should have lasted for ten years, there is either a ding on the stanchion or maybe they are having a problem with the rubber products. Had an Arai helmet once where the chin spoiler was out of a batch of bad rubber.