02-03-2023, 08:38 AM
(01-24-2023, 05:37 PM)Enzo24 Wrote: Their volume spec for the ESA fork is about double (304ml) of what I drained from the ESA fork (155ml). The air gap they spec is 65mm. Adding fork oil to get a 65mm air gap takes about 160ml, which corresponds to what I was able to drain. So I'm guessing that the Haynes volume spec is wrong.
The BMW factory service manual has the ESA fork oil capacity as 304 ml left and 682 ml right.
The problem with the Haynes manual is it just says, for the left fork leg, "Support the fork upside down in the container and allow it to drain for a few minutes."
If you don't want to completely remove the fork innards (as specified in the factory manual) I have found that it takes about 20 minutes of pumping the upside down fork leg up and down (being very careful not to pull the fork tube out of the slider) to get all the oil out. It then takes about 30 minutes of pumping, after filling with oil, to bleed all the air out of the fork tube so that the 65 mm level reading is accurate.
My experience is that draining and refilling the right fork legs is much less effort. Here are my service notes re the left leg:
- To drain the oil properly, pump the outside tube up and down while the fork is inverted. It takes a lot of pumping to get it all out.
- When filling the oil, pump the outer tube up and down all the way until no more bubbles are coming up. It took about 30 minutes of pumping before it stopped.