Fluid is what fox rears are designed for, you didn’t mention what make of forks they were if they’d been fox O/B ones the lubrication oil does has both lube and damping duties so might have caused issue with damping which is why I asked.
Rockshox use grease in shock air chambers but then they’ve desinged for that, saying that the air cans do need fairly regular servicing to keep them tip top with the RS air shocks.
Grease in the fork air chambers (solo air) mostly in rockshox stuff now stops the negative transfer port getting gummed up and not transfering which is likely with a oil/grease mix.
Dual air are separte chambers so a drop or 2 of oil in addition to the grease makes them feel quite nice 😉