The Motion Control damper on my Pike forks sounds like it has asthma. With the legs removed and stroking the damper I can see bubbles and air coming out from the top of the cartridge, which seems to be a non consumer serviceable part?

Is this normal or is there anything I can do to fix it? The forks still seem to work fine but the gasping and wheezing is pretty annoying.

Any suggestions?

I have asthma.

just thought i would share.

Useful 😕

My Wife's revelations are doing this too, if i wind them down about 2 clicks from full travel it stops.

When you squeeze the fork down, bubbles some out the top and when they rebound it sucks air back in…

Very interested to hear a solution to this!

Its not very clear what you mean. Do you mean its bubbling up through the damper adjuster on the outside of the fork?

Hmmm… a quick chat with Neil at TFT and he reckons the motion control damper needs to be resealed. This was done by TFT about a year ago when I had the Push upgrade installed – I just looked at the paperwork – "Resealed Leaking Floodgate".
Not a common problem apparently.

TFT can do the work and I can send them only the Motion Control Damper which is much better than shipping the entire fork – but this is not the first time this has blown and being a bit of a mechanic I would like to try and fix it myself… but there seems to be no way into the damper and hence I am not really confident at taking it apart without some kind of basic instructions.
More detail – Disassembly last night and I could clearly see the air and oil coming out of the top of the motion control damper beside the floodgate knob (once I'd removed the compression adjuster and the O-ring).

Google did not find me anything on servicing the motion control damper which looks to be a sealed unit – the SRAM tech documents certainly do not show disassembly?

MTBR search found me the following which looks like the same problem

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=3478850#post3478850

But no definite fix judging by the replies.

Worth a try though

Which version pikes are they?

Leaking floodgate not a common problem?!!! I beg to differ. Mine has leaked three times, my mates is leaking, folk on here mention is all the time.

The mo-co unit on my air 454's was dead easy to remove mind. Circlip pliers and a socket is all that's required.

The O ring you removed from under the floodgate adjuster is the only thing preventing the oil from coming out of there. Its an interference fit in the plastic recess. You've got to stuff it back into the space.

TFT change the o ring and double stack another ontop. Mine had blown out despite this – A brass washer from a hope brake hose seal is just the right thickness, with a bit of grease, to close the gap so that there can be no upward movement.

Leaking floodgate not a common problem?!!! I beg to differ. Mine has leaked three times, my mates is leaking, folk on here mention is all the time.

depends what bit is leaking, but I did a fix similar to this:
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169338

Old Pike Teams – a good fork much improved with the PUSH upgrade.

I meant to put that "Not a common problem apparently". in italics.

Thats good info, the MTBR thread does link to somewhere that mentions stuffing more pressure on the O-ring to make it seal… but surely the motion control cartridge should seal properly from inside?

That's exactly what I did retro.

Its only seen a couple of rides since the last leak, but it seems to have sorted it completely – not even a weep.

Different problem then. My air/oil is actually coming up through the motion control damper top cap – underneith the blue compression adjust cap with or without the O-ring and cap in place.

Solution found!

Last night I whipped out the motion control damper (the red plastic tube spring thing). With the metal 24mm cap held in the vice the plastic tube unscrewed from the top cap as per the MTBR link above. This revealed that the compression damper seal had popped out of the tube and was interfering with the compression adjust lever (which was not pushing through it's complete arc – this is a good indication that you have the same problem – do not force your compression lever if this happens as you may damage the seal!).

I rotated the seal round so the slightly squished bit was at the back and pushed it back in the tube and all was sweet when I reassembled it.

Very easy fix and now my Pike's no longer puff 😀