I am a miser and refuse to pay $40 a litre for the magic KTM fork fluid, even though a local suspension tuner has tried everything to convince me that forks need the high-dollar stuff. I prefer to use $1.75 a quart ATF.
I like to change out my fluid about twice a year but I usually will take a wiff through the weep holes to see if I can detect any oxidation first. My assumption is that if the fork oil has not oxidized alot then it should still have some integrity and not eating up the metal.
Well, I just changed out the fluid in my forks this week. I normally use the cheapest ATF I can find for my tranny and I will usually use the same stuff in my forks, mainly for convienience. However, this time I decided to do a bench comparison of a few different brands of ATF just to see if I can see a difference in viscosity or texture. I bought Pennzoil, Valvoline, and Castrol Type F ATF's.
I had it in my head that I was going to use the Castrol as I really think they have a good company with quality oils. BUT, when I cracked the jug of Castrol open, I could smell the stuff immediately without even getting close to the spout. It smelled like the rear end of a '69 International truck. This smell is usually what I look for when I decide to change out my fluid. Really bad!
The Pennzoil and the Valvoline were almost odorless.
I went with the Valvoline but I would have felt good with either it or the Pennzoil.
My question is on the smell of the Castrol stuff. Is this normal for ATF to have this oxidized smell? I have never experienced this smell from a new bottle of ATF before. Is it possible that the oil was on the shelf too long and had oxidized in the bottle? I find that hard to swallow, but it's either that or the Castrol stuff just inherently has that smell. Am I correct that this smell is a tell-tale for oxidation?
What say you shock guru's?
I like to change out my fluid about twice a year but I usually will take a wiff through the weep holes to see if I can detect any oxidation first. My assumption is that if the fork oil has not oxidized alot then it should still have some integrity and not eating up the metal.
Well, I just changed out the fluid in my forks this week. I normally use the cheapest ATF I can find for my tranny and I will usually use the same stuff in my forks, mainly for convienience. However, this time I decided to do a bench comparison of a few different brands of ATF just to see if I can see a difference in viscosity or texture. I bought Pennzoil, Valvoline, and Castrol Type F ATF's.
I had it in my head that I was going to use the Castrol as I really think they have a good company with quality oils. BUT, when I cracked the jug of Castrol open, I could smell the stuff immediately without even getting close to the spout. It smelled like the rear end of a '69 International truck. This smell is usually what I look for when I decide to change out my fluid. Really bad!
The Pennzoil and the Valvoline were almost odorless.
I went with the Valvoline but I would have felt good with either it or the Pennzoil.
My question is on the smell of the Castrol stuff. Is this normal for ATF to have this oxidized smell? I have never experienced this smell from a new bottle of ATF before. Is it possible that the oil was on the shelf too long and had oxidized in the bottle? I find that hard to swallow, but it's either that or the Castrol stuff just inherently has that smell. Am I correct that this smell is a tell-tale for oxidation?
What say you shock guru's?
