That sucks.

 

While the wife was using the trainer, it sat on a rubber mat which didn't show an sign of leakage. While it sat in storage it leaked all of about a teaspoon of oil. When I pulled the plug on it it was empty so The bulk of the oil must have leaked out before we bought it. No wonder there was so little resistance she rode it in top gear and didn't break a sweat.

I am not impressed.

On another note, the wife didn't want to use the Bluetooth app so I never set it up. When I tried to set it up it wouldn't connect.
Doubly not impressed!!

 

If Saris leaves you hanging out to dry, repairing a fluid trainer leak appears to be straightforward.
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If Saris leaves you hanging out to dry, repairing a fluid trainer leak appears to be straightforward.

I have yet to determine where the oil leaked out. If it was from the O-ring seal on the case that should be an easy fix. I saw in my research that the seal on the shaft is prone to fail and that is a bigger job.

I did not split the case to examine the O-ring real. My case has a fill plug and when I removed it the oil was all gone. I didn't have ATF on hand so I tried filling it with power steering fluid but it proved to be too thick and using the granny gear was too much resistance. Perhaps I overfilled it so I will drain it and try replacing it with ATF.

So far I have only a confirmation from Saris that they got my email.

 

Just make sure you use 90wt rear end grease!~

 

You need to stay away from my rear end.

 

Kurt Kinetic has the only design which could be considered leak-proof. Others rely on tight friction seals which wear.
I'd take the Saris to transfer station for recycling and get a Kurt Kinetic. The Kurt Kinetic fluid chamber is sealed, with no shaft connection; it uses magnetic coupling from the roller to the fluid chamber. Or better yet, check your local secondary market i.e., such as craigslist as they pop up for sale relatively frequently at bargain prices. If you get impatient I would recommend widening your choice of replacement to a mag trainer. Mag trainers offer plenty of resistance, they're as quiet as fluid trainers, and they can't leak.

I bought my Kurt Kinetic used on eBay at roughly 50% off list. I bought my sister a Blackburn mag trainer used for fifty bucks and was impressed with its performance relative to my Kurt.

 

I'd take the Saris to transfer station for recycling

After searching the interwebs, I'm inclined to believe that Saris is junk. Shame on Saris for manufacturing a substandard product and then abandoning their customers.

 

In the video he filled it all the way, liquids don't expand too much and unless your putting out 300w the temperature isn't going to change that much. I think you want maybe 1 drop of air in there max., if air gets mixed into the turbo fins of the unit its going to start foaming and not work too well. So fill it up to almost completely full.
Also I think you can skip filtering the ATF, unless you drained it out of a used transmission.

 

Also I think you can skip filtering the ATF, unless you drained it out of a used transmission.

I lost all of the fluid so there is nothing to filter. In the video it is hard to tell how much air was left. since his model did not have a fill port. I was concerned that too much air could result in foaming but I think the ATF has anti-foaming properties. Also in the video he noted how warm the unit got before he fixed it.

 

I was talking about the ATF you are putting in. In the video, he filtered the new oil with a coffee filter. I think that isn't necessary.
IMO, too much foaming will not make it harder, the foam will cause the unit not to work properly. To increase the volume of the oil (expansion) much, the delta temp would have to be a much higher, IMO, like 500 degrees. In the video he didn't have any air in the system, he filled it till it overflowed!!!!! Really, I think you should too, don't worry about expansion. But putting like a drop or 2 of air in there may save blowing the seal if that is what is happening.

 

In the video, he filtered the new oil with a coffee filter.

He filtered and reused the old oil. As to why the unit was getting hot before he fixed it, perhaps it was too much air causing it to foam or perhaps it was what he filtered out of the oil, or that the paraffin oil that he added was a friction modifier.

 

I have no idea why they call it paraffin oil, it's mineral oil. Paraffin is solid and melts at about 130deg. I didn't watch the whole video.

 

Do you think the seal leaked because of pressure from expansion? If so, I can advise how you can make a little expansion chamber so you can have more air without it getting mixed into the main chamber. You said you might rotate it so the fill plug is up?

 

I opened the unit and was surprised how rough the O-ring mating surface was. It was just cast, not even machined. No wonder it leaked. I ask my machinist neighbor to polish the one surface smooth with fine emery on plate glass surface. The other surface however is in a groove and so not easy to polish. We will try sealing the groove with RTV gasket maker. Hopefully that does the trick.

BTW there are offset index pins so it is not possible to flip the cover so the fill hole is on top.

 

BTW there are offset index pins so it is not possible to flip the cover so the fill hole is on top.

I don't know if the index pins are important, but you could cut them off.
Where the 0-rings are, is that a moving/mating surface?

 

Sorry to hear about this.

 

When u put it back together, if your concerned about gouges or rough spots, just use a gasket or silicone sealant with your 0ring. If the parts are not moving, it's your call. Yea, cheaper to buy a new one than a replacement part unit, logistics of that could be a problem.
I just made a gasket for my moto silencer with compact cardboard (without ribs; solid; like a cereal box), took me 10 minutes.

 

I just made a gasket for my moto silencer with compact cardboard (without ribs; solid; like a cereal box), took me 10 minutes.

And I once made a flashlight out of a dish rag and a measuring cup. 🙄

 

The seal leaks because of friction, which causes wear. Virtually all non-Kurt Kinetic trainers use such a leak prone design
probably because of patent issues with regard to Kurt Kinetic. Follow my advice above and your problem will be solved.

 

The seal leaks because of friction, which causes wear.

Where is this 'friction'? I watch the early part of the video, the unit is leaking at a seal, there is no friction there. Maybe on another one it does leak somewhere else.
One could add an expansion chamber to get rid of the pressure problem, if needed.

 

Geez, I've owned a CycleOps Fluid2 for 16 or 17 years and it has never leaked. I checked the warranty, it has a lifetime warranty with no word about limitation about oil leaking. CycleOps did have problems with some of them leaking, but they took care of all claims whenever they occurred.

Sort of makes me wonder if Saris will honor the original CycleOps lifetime warranty, from the sounds of it they probably won't and don't seem to care about their reputation...whatever is left of it!

 

From their website:

From support via email:

Thank you for contacting us! Unfortunately, that resistance unit is out of the warranty period. That resistance unit would need to be replaced. I would suggest replacing the trainer itself since it would be cheaper than the resistance unit alone due to the sale. You can also refill the oil, but we don't typically advise customers to do so.