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I have an '04 220 that has maybe 600 miles on it. It has never been in deep water, in fact, the wettest the forks have ever been is probably when I wash it. The boots are still like new, and the seals look fine.

I was changing out the springs today and when I drained the first leg, The original oil looked like pond scum. I expected it to be bad since it's original, and I've never had a Jap bike that came with good fork oil. But I was surprised how thick it was. It was mostly grey-green in color, but this varied a lot as it glopped into the bucket. The viscosity seemed more like gear oil than fork oil.

The thing that really surprised me was the other fork leg contained clean clear oil that looked just like vegetable cooking oil. It was also much thinner in consistancy and more uniform.

If this is normal, I would recommend anybody getting a new bike to change the oil before even riding it. Has anyone else seen this type of thing, especially the difference between the two sides?

BTW, I disassembled the triple trees to lube the bearings, and found they had been heavily greased at the factory. I had done my rear suspension when I bought the bike, and all the bearings back there were practically dry.

Thanks,

Nobody will listen to me.

Thank you for sharing the info.

ColoradoMike - On my boy's new bike I performed a fork spring and oil change with about 4 miles or so on the bike. I experienced the different consistencies in the oil viscosity also. Of course mine was clean - but one side had what I would consider normal semi-clear oil; the caliper leg had a thicker consistency portion that would drop out of the fork leg and into the pan in large globs. Had maybe 3 of these globs drop out were as the rest of the oil poured out. Glob was the same color as the poured out oil. I was working in the garage and it was like 20 degrees or so and I thought it weird but maybe due to the temperature. Then I forgot about it until I read your post.

Jason wrote:Nobody will listen to me.

Thank you for sharing the info.

LMAO!!!

I can't think of any reason the oil isn't exactly what the manual recommends. I'd be tempted to take that bike to the dealer and show him the oil from each leg and request a complete fork service be performed. Obviously the fork oil is not what the manufacturer recommends and the dealer should be notified. After allowing them to correct the mistake, one that should have been caught at the time of assembly and "dealer prep", if they don't at least credit you with a free couple of quarts of fork oil, I'd let them know you will be doing all your future business elsewhere.

Somewhere around here is the 800 number for Kawasaki. If I can find it, that would be the next step if the dealer doesn't satisfy you.

FWIW... When I broke down the KDX forks to ship to Fredette... same thing. Gloppy Goo mess in one and thin oil in the other. Seems to be the norm eh?

I doubt the KDX forks I took off have ever had anything done to them. Maybe it's Kawasaki's way of making the forks soft yet bottom resistant!

My 98 models oil came out thickish but in no way "globs". I was still fairly thin but very grey. I feel left out.

I'm glad I'm not alone and maybe it was even intended by Kawaski.

Kaydeeexer - I would say 60-70% of mine was liquid and the remainder was the three globs of stringy oil.

Does anyone think it is grease used during assembly? Maybe they put all the swingarm and linkage grease in the forks by mistake!?

that must be it. I remember my unitrack bearings had a thin film of what must have been fork oil on them.

It's stringy like a popped silicone implant kinda goopy. I shoulda tasted it.

Exactly. In fact, one blob was still on one of the old fork springs. I heard a sickening noise and saw it slithering up the side of the bucket the rest of it's kin was trapped in. Now the gelatenous devils are united once more. I poured the whole mess into an old juice bottle and capped it tightly. We'll see if it tries to make it's way back to japan.

"It's stringy like a popped silicone implant kinda goopy. I shoulda tasted it. " -Indawoods

I would ask you how you know what a popped silicone implant looks like but that could be kind of personnal. ROFLMAO

Oprah is good for something!

Yup, same thing in my bike when I changed the springs in the stock forks. It was the only service the forks ever got in 4 or 5 years from new. One side, the oil looked like brand new oil. The other side, grey slime. ....Weird

cm u live in the city?

I guess I'm the odd man out here, when I changed my fork springs & oil (about 500 miles on the bike) both forks had very nasty gray oil in them; no globs here. I was shocked at how bad that oil looked, but again, it was very much in liquid form.

Arghh I don't feel so left out now. Welcome to the Globfree Club Wanaride