Fork oil mystery

[delsol]

Changing fork oil and seal today, first fork seal was obviously fitted by a spacker, drift marks around the rim.

First fork oil was filthy shit coloured brown, maybe slightly emulsified too.

Second fork, (I have not got to the seal yet so don't know if it was fitted at same time as first fork, will guess at same time if I find the spacker's signature on it) has relatively clean red coloured oil.

Why would the first fork have such different oil in it, given that the seal had obviously been replaced (or been taken off and re-fitted), I would have thought that if the seal had been removed then the oil would have been changed at the same time, why remove the seal otherwise?

First fork had the tiniest of oil weep (my reason for replacing the seal), did not measure removed oil accurately, but at a guess was very close to prescribed amount.

Me am very puzzled.

[Taught2BCauti...]

That's a good example of the baggage that comes with second-hand anything - you just never know what has been bodged by previous owners.

On most bikes, it's just as easy to replace both sets of fork seals at the same time, and most places sell them in pairs anyway - so who knows who only one would get changed.

For peace of mind, I would strip the lot, compare spring lengths, etc. and fresh oil and new seals all round.

Document everything, keep receipts, and forget the past.
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[stinkwheel]

My MZ street moto did compression damping in one fork leg and rebound damping in the other. The compression fork oil used to come out as stinking, cloudy snot. The other side looked pretty much how it went in.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[delsol]

Finished seals\oil change on fork number 2 today.

The spazzer that worked on the seal on fork No.1 has not been near this fork, seal seated properly no marks.

Age and appearance wise, both forks appear to be in similar (exterior condition).
Internally the bottom bush on fork No.2 has a lot greater wear.

I'm wondering if somebody fitted a replacement second hand fork (fork No.1) without giving the replacement fork an overhaul, best I can come up with so far.

Or is fork No.2 a replacement fork because of the greater bushing wear ?

[Casper]

Oh the fucking drama. Could the previous owner not been a noob to changing fork seals and we all have to learn somewhere. He may have just been topping up one that was leaking before getting round to butchering in a new seal. Shit you should see some of the cowboy jobs i have done. I would be General Spacker.

[Fizzer Thou]

A friend bought a second hand bike from Box Hill M/cs a few years ago and when we went to collect the bike we noticed that one fork leg was leaking oil quite badly,despite a new MoT certificate.So they said to go away for about one hour while they got it sorted.
When we returned after 60 minutes they had got the job done.I asked if they did both at the same time and they said that they had not,as only one seal needed doing
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