Fluid leak?

[karospirit]

I had the 15000 mile service done recently. The bike has been all greased up and whatnot. A day later I dropped it out of stupidity. I had a wheel lock on the disk brake and forgot to take it off.

Now I do see a fluid spill on the left side of the outer rim of the front tire. It's about a drop every two days. For the world, I cannot figure out where it comes from. I don't see or detect any leaks. I wonder if it is the lube the mechanic put on there? Or what? Should I have it checked?

I am going on a 500 mile trip this weekend up and down the mountains. I don't know if I should go. I won't get an appointment with a mechanic before next week.

[cactusjack]

Maybe the headlight fluid is leaking?

Seriously, I don't know what could be leaking on the front wheel, other than brake fluid. What color is it? Did you smell it? Brake fluid is clear to yellowish, slightly oily and has a very distinctive odor.

[macmac]

It has to be either ft fork oil, or brake fluid... Unless it is coolant blowing forward...

Wipe it off and clean all around it. Work the ft brake lever rapidly, and seek another drop.

Yes? NO?

Next hold the ft brake and straddle the bike, and romp the ft forks as hard as you can, pushing down and pulling back a lot. This is like real work. Inspect the forks.

Yes? No?

Look under the radiator, and find the drain plug. See if you can turn it in or out with your fingers alone. See if it is wet.

Yes? No?

Was the lock on the rotor on the same side as the droplet? If so not knowing the type of lack it is hard to say if the lock could have hit the rubber brake line or not.

I would look for any sign of damage at the fittings on the rubber line. It that area is wet with brake fluid, you should not ride the bike 1 inch...

It is important to clean and dry areas when you suspect a leak, so you can track the leak to a source.

There are very few Nomads over all and finding a tech worth his salt seems impossible. So when people say "a tech said", I get scared..

Bikes are not like cars... You can't rely on what a tech said ever, and must check the work as best you for yourself. If the car goes kaput, you get mad and call someone... If the bike does you will be making another kind of call or someone else will for you..

If it ends as fork oil then you may ride the bike..

If it ends as coolant the drain plug and or any hose clamps should be snugged... More coolan added if you need to. So far as i can tell all of these bike come from the factory with the drian plug way too loose, not even finger tight.

A few drops of coolant loss mean nothing, so long as it is a few drops.

The brakes are in a sealed and pressurized series of chambers and hoses. Only pressurized when you grab a hand full of lever or pedal, but any leaks in this system can and will render it useless.

Bad brakes and mountains are no fun.... In the other thead on the squeel, a squeel is not much to be worried about generally if it is glazed pads on a glazed rotor. So long as the pads are not worn out and the metal pads backings are not rubbing the rotor.

If you do take the bike and the ft brake lever gets softer than it was rapidly then you can be assured the ft brake was damaged in the fall. That air has leaked back into the system, and that you need to cool your jets into limp mode with no more use of ft brakes.

If I were you I would go to a indepentant shop and get a more real low down. Most independant shops have better mechanics in the first place. Many can do diagnostics in their head with no book.

[karospirit]

It's yellowish, oily, but no odor

[karospirit]

Thank you for your helpful comments, MacMac.
No to all the questions. Worked brakes, forks, inspected radiator plug. Nothing. The lock was on the other side, not on the side where I found the fluid. I'll have a mechanic look at it later. He is a good one, just expensive as hell.

I really learned a lot from your comments. They were very helpful

And to all the hilarious people with their hilarious comments. It's funny for you guys, but not for me. I learn through asking. Means, I don't know the answer to the question. Why would I ask if I would already know the answer? I have a lot of humor but making fun of me, my lack of knowledge, and the way I word things like "rear end" just makes me feel bad.

Some here would say you are too sensative. Not me, because those things sometimes make me feel bad as well. But some here would say I'm to sensative too. ::)

That aside, every fluid on a bike has some odor. You may not be able to detect it if you smoke or for some other reason, but have someone else smell it for you then crack open some brake fluid and let them smell that. Also feel it between your fingers. Brake fluid doesn't feel the same as oil when you rub it hard between the thumb and forefinger. It dries, but not too quickly and leaves a dry film, slightly sticky.

Motor oil or fork oil doesn't dry up. You can rub it between your fingers all day and they'll eventually soak it into the skin, but it'll still feel oily. They smell slightly different.

It's not gear oil. Wrong end of the bike. Gear oil has a terrible smell. Like sulfer or something.

Obviously it's not gasoline. You'd surely smell that.

The only other fluid remaining is coolant, and that's usually green but some brands are yellow or blue. It usually has a light sweet odor, some say like cotton candy, and it feels slightly oily but mostly watery. It dries slowly to a white powdery residue.

I hope this helps.

[phenrichs]

Don't worry at some point they were made fun of as well. It is sort of a welcome to home mechanics initiation. Don't assume that the lock caused the leak, the lock may only have caused you to look in the right place to notice the leak.

[macmac]

New brake fluid is usually quite clear, but yellows in time and with contamination it gets from just bring, and heat helps.

The stuff makes my skin crawl.. it will dry and crack skin because it is sucking the lifes water right out of the skin.. It eats paint too, so maybe you can locate the place where the drop was and see if anything happened to the clear coat on the wheel.

Fork oil can be just about any color from clear to off yellow, red and blue, green even. It get black in use. Like Cadd says rubbing that in your fingers, you can just tell it is oil.... A very thin oil too like sewing machine oil, and before you give me the rasberry for the sewing bit, yester day i sews 20 lineal feet on a plastic home made green house with a machine, and the day before I designed a holster for a 22 western sort of hand gun, and sewed that all by hand.

In a few days I hope to get my grubby mitts on a ancient pattern of Scottish sandles and make them, and if no new mocs for my feet are in order. I can sew and do, and make all my clothes by hand for circa's 1750 - 1840, as well as beadwork on what I make for my wife.

But fork oil feels like light machine oil.

Coolant is green but a dropplet won't show it. It will have a sweet taste, if you touch it with a finger and then to your tounge.. get read to spit though if you try that as it is toxic... but a taste to tell isn't. Just spit, walk calmly and rinse yer mouth out..

Don't forget to look at the brake master window, and have a have a real hard look. Note mentally where the fluid level is, and the color. yer on short time for the weekend, and so it is a must do to know before you go, whether or not to expect no friggin ft brakes!

If the site glass looks good, and you have abundant pressure squeezing the lever, then there should be no brake fluid leak.

Maybe something from any other thing was spilled, and a drop landed on your bike.

I have a bro in law with a hardlyableson and he gets the flunky's to do his stuff too. I took him to piuck up the bike and there was oil, oily finger prints, oil dripping off the rec/reg, oil on the turn sigs, and the bike was just a mess. One of the marker lights was STILL out, and my bro in law didn't seem concerned one bit..

Me: I would have thrown a hissey fit the dealer would still remember, probably taken scalps for my collection, and eatten the wanna be tech, and that's getting off easy....

Cadd had to just about hold me once so I wouldn't beat the service advise over the head with a bad driveshaft, and that was just upon walking in the doors...
I made my point really fast that day.

Cali folks are not accustomed to wild long hair country boys from New Hampsta'!

Not 'ALL' these guys are techs either, and we all including me ask all sort of questions. Thar's no such thang as a stupid question, just stupid answers..

I would really like you to fet a clean white rag, and a bright flash lite.. Maybe a big card boad box you can law down on and lay down under the forks and look up at the ft brake caliper.

Wipe off the fitting where the rubber line enters the caliper and look for any frays in the rubber line. Bend the rubber line back and forth and sideways some, not to hard, but enough to LOOK hard at it for any cracks or damage where metal meets rubber. try to look into the fitting as well.

It is critical there is no separation there, and getting a wack with a lock could do it.

With out seeing the lock I can't tell what it could hit. It might even be a good idea to put the lock on like it was and roll the bike real easy this time and let the lock rest against what ever it will rest against..

You might get dirty fingers even, but if you do you just might be taken more seriously. I do, but I can tell these guys figure you will break a nail and quit.

As I see it no rider can just leave the labor to others period... Male/Female it's all the same to me in this aspect..

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by C O U G A R

Thank you for your helpful comments, MacMac.
No to all the questions. Worked brakes, forks, inspected radiator plug. Nothing. The lock was on the other side, not on the side where I found the fluid. I'll have a mechanic look at it later. He is a good one, just expensive as hell.

I really learned a lot from your comments. They were very helpful

And to all the hilarious people with their hilarious comments. It's funny for you guys, but not for me. I learn through asking. Means, I don't know the answer to the question. Why would I ask if I would already know the answer? I have a lot of humor but making fun of me, my lack of knowledge, and the way I word things like "rear end" just makes me feel bad.

As a frequent instigator of some of the merriment here, and I was the instigator on this one - I'll step forward and take responsibility for my actions. I apologize if my comments offended or embarrassed you in any way. That certainly was not my intent. The last thing I want to do is discourage any member from asking a question. This is a good bunch of folks here, and you won't find a better resource for Nomad-specific knowledge anywhere.

Having said that, you are a newcomer here - nothing wrong with that, we all were at some point - and should feel free to ask any question, any time. Nobody will ridicule you for asking what may seem to be a simple question to an experienced member. The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked. Your question will get answered. Sometimes you might have to look past the joking, but we really are here to share information.

[karospirit]

Yeah, I am sensitive. And my sensitivity increases with a lack of sleep. Had 3 hours average a night last few nights. Too much time at work.

Anyway, Caddman...Katmandu, uhuh shoobeedoo. Everytime I read your name that song pops into my head. LOL. Mechanic said that there is no leak, no damaged calipers, fork seals were replaced last service. I just need to watch it. Must be all in my head, including the squeaking that never shows up in the shop. I'll keep the advice in mind on rubbing the fluid between the fingers. Right now there is nothing there. Will check it again tomorrow.


MacMac, you are an inspiration! Thank you for your kind words and wisdom. Break a nail? LOL. My nails are short cause I do martial arts. I know how to overcome crazy people (I do that at work), and I do as much as possible on my bike by myself. So, to sum up I am dangerous and pretty. LOL. And in my infinite wisdom I know that 95 % of all guys have their brain permanently in their pants, front or REAR. Hahaha
I don't have my license that long yet but on my last bike...Yamaha 650...I changed oil, tires (with lil help), rear brakes, and all kinds of other things. Attached the airhorn, the LEDs, switched out the handlebar blabla. This bike is completely different, so I am back to zero. but all your helpful comments are really great.

One more question: What's up with the tank size? My manual says Rocco (my Nomad) has a 5 gallon tank but the gauge is on empty after 3 gallons. Does that mean that it runs on "reserve" for 2 gallons. I have to get gas every 120 miles.

OP, the lock didn't even dent the disk. There is nothing there, yeah. Well, I am happy, especially that the mechanic didn't charge me anything. But an animal scratched my saddlebag. No, seriously...

CJ, thanks for the apology. Now my world is all straightened out. Is Chandler far from Tucson? Isn't that around Phoenix or more North?

Better go and get some sleep.
Oh, and my rear end doesn't make any more squeaky noises, btw. It's well oiled. Hahaha

...actually it probably has something to do with the climate here.
Cougar

[blowndodge]

As a new "immigrant" to the forum,, WELCOME.

I say immigrant because I have a firm belief system that when you ride into any new town and tell the community to conform to your belief system,,,,,,,,,,,,,well,,,,,,,,,,I'm guessin it's not going to go over good.

On the other hand, you come clean like a good Nomad owner and loss of sleep and/or other enviromental factors play into your life like the rest of us so we understand..

We joke, we tease, we always answer the question. If you think it's because we think someone is ignorant or dumb, don't do that to yourself. nobody knows everything about everything ('cept caddmannQ!)

Again Welcome

[cactusjack]

Cougar, I'm impressed - you can dish it out with the best of us!

Chandler is between Phoenix and Tucson. It's a suburb of Phoenix, and I'm about 30 miles SE of downtown Phx. Tucson is about an hour SE of my house.

You didn't have your location in your profile before. Now I see you are from Tucson.

[karospirit]

Hey CJ, that is not too far. Maybe we should go riding sometime.

God, I really need to get off the computer. How do I upload a picture into my profile. Doesn't seem to work.

Immigrant? Yeah, that is so true. English is my second lagnauge. Therfore I will continue to use odd expressions!!! Hehehe

[karospirit]

And I love you all...

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by C O U G A R

Hey CJ, that is not too far. Maybe we should go riding sometime.

God, I really need to get off the computer. How do I upload a picture into my profile. Doesn't seem to work.

Immigrant? Yeah, that is so true. English is my second lagnauge. Therfore I will continue to use odd expressions!!! Hehehe

I ride down through Coolidge and Oracle all the time. Oracle Junction is only 25 miles from Tucson. I'm always looking for people to ride with, so let me know.

You can't upload a picture to the website. you need to upload it to a hosting site, like photobucket.com, then you add the link to the photo in your profile. There's an FAQ page someplace here that explains it in better detail.