Leaking fork

Hey guys I am fairly new to riding, started back in the late fall. I have put about 2K miles on my 250X over the winter. I am getting more and more knowledgeable with my bike. I do have one question.

I was trail riding last weekend in some pretty rough stuff, rocks, mud, loose bricks. When we were done riding, I noticed a small leak coming from my fork. I stayed off the bike pretty much all week. On saturday I looked on how to clean the seal, take a business card and go up in there and clean under the seal. Well, that didnt work, still leaking.

So my question is, if its a small(isn) leak, would i do more damage by riding it around town, not trail riding where the forks get compressed a lot! I am taking it into the shop on thursday to get the fork seals replaced, but the weather is so nice i want to be out tearing up the town.

Thanks for the input.

VR

Braxton135

Your not going to hurt the fork by riding a few times with a leaky seal.
If its the left fork thats leaking and the fork oil gets on your front brake you wont have any front brakes tho.

A business card is not the best thing to use for cleaning the seals. I use this..
http://tinyurl.com/ckzfcgz
You can make one from old 35mm film that will work also.

After you are done riding for the day, or even between rides, bleed the forks. Have the wheel off the ground and open the bleed screws on the top of each fork cap.

Put the bike up on a stand to get all the weight off the front wheel.
Let any trapped air pressure out of both fork legs via the little slot-head screws that are off-center on the fork caps (not the screw at the middle of the cap).
Try the same dirt removal trick with a piece of 35mm film negative or goggle lens tear-off.

Even if sucessful in removing any dirt that can cause a seal to leak, there will probably be some fork fluid trapped between the two oil seal lips that will take a while to slowly leak past the exposed lip.

Did you clean the actual fork seals or just the dust seals? There are two seals, one behind another. The first one basically to wipe the fork off, the one behind that is the actual oil seal. You can drop the dust seal down and slide it back up in there without messing anything up.

http://www.motosport.com/dirtbike/oem-parts/YAMAHA/2012/WR250R/FRONT-FORK?mmy_source=oem

I lowered the dust seal, and cleaned the oil seals in the fork, yes, under the dust seal. but it is still leaking. I am getting it fixed on thursday and the WX here is crap, so I dont have a problem missing riding days. I will see what they say the problem was when i pick the bike up.

thanks for all the help guys.

Fork seals are actually pretty easy and can be done with standard tools plus a few makeshift ones. I spent more time watching youtube tutorial videos and reading directions than It took to do the actual work lol.