Oil in upper lowers?

[Swissrider]

In the sram manual for Lyrik 2018 forks it shows 3mm of oil for the upper tube (see image). However, in the instructions i can’t see any reference to putting this oil in. I did, and sinc, every time I ride there is a thin film of oil on the stanchions. In the 2017 manual there is no reference to oil in the upper lower. Although I don’t think this oil is doing any harm, as I wipe it away after each ride, it does attract dust and I’m sure it shouldn’t really be there. Does anyone know whether I should have added oil or not?

 

[RustyIron]

You might want to read the service manual for your fork, then watch a couple YouTube videos so you can be certain you're putting the correct volume of lubricants into the correct places.

Immediately after servicing, you should expect excess lubricant to be dragged out as the stanchions move in and out. After a few rides the amount of lubricant will stabilize and be almost imperceptible. If the excess oil migration continues, you'll eventually be out of oil on the inside of your fork, where it belongs. Consider changing the seals and examining the stanchions for damage.

 

[John_likes_bikes]

Unless I'm misunderstanding the situation, oil inside the stanchion would almost never make its way to the outside of the stanchion.

Any oil/grease on the outside of the stanchion, I'm guessing it's appearing above the wipers, would be coming from the lowers. This is not after a service for a short time.

There are some service changes year to year based on air spring, I'd make sure you're looking at the right one. For new versions of the Debonair+ the upper spring side oil goes inside the positive and/or negative chamber. This is certainly shown in SRAM videos and manuals, FYI.

 

[Swissrider]

Thanks for replies. All makes sense. I decided to strip the forks down and have a look at what was going on. Once stripped I decided to replace the foam rings and dust seals since I had a spare set. When I examined the old seals against the new ones I noticed that the old ones did not have the spring in the groove on the bottom of the seals, so I’m wondering if this was the reason oil was getting from the lowers it the stanchions. Incidentally, I found getting the stanchions into the lowers impossible so I put the seals aroound the stanchions, lowered the stanchions into the lowers and then pressed the dust seals (with a tyre lever) down until flush. This seemed much easier than the conventional way (which I’ve done in the past but didn’t seem to work with this set of spare “low friction” dust seals.