• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Band-Aid for valve cover gasket?

  • Thread starter Thread starter littleroot
  • Start date Start date
L

littleroot

Guest
I took my valve cover off - really for no good reason in hindsight while trying to troubleshoot why my #2 cylinder was not firing - and now I've got a pretty major leak, to the point where a drop comes out onto my pipes quite often and making a mess on my pant leg.

Next time I take the cover off I want to 1) have a new gasket and 2) have the tools ready to take a good look at the valves after at least 6500 miles.

I can order the gasket today and have it proibably by weeks end. However I have a couple important rides coming where I want to do about 500 miles more before I do this.

So I'm looking for a sealant material I can pick in the city and perhaps squirt all over and make a decent seal. The existing gasket is not torn, as far as I could tell, but very much out of shape.

Compounding the problem is I have two bolts broken off in the head by PO. One bolt was found held in by silicone. And just two two holes away towards the front center of the bike a bolt is completely missing, later found to be because of the prescense of a broken bolt in its hole in the head.

So any tips tricks, etc? Maybe you know something I could try so I don't even have to take the valve cover off? : -)

Have a great Sunday
-Bob
 
Last edited:
I used the red form a gasket sealant when I put my valve cover back on and it seems to be holding just fine. Im thinking you could try that. I dont see a way for you to do that without removing the valve cover again though. Make sure you get enough but not too much around the half seals at the camshafts so it doesnt leak there. As for the broken bolts, buy an EZout and hopefully you can drill the bolt and EZout the remaining piece from the head.
 
littleroot said:
So I'm looking for a sealant material I can pick in the city and perhaps squirt all over and make a decent seal. The existing gasket is not torn, as far as I could tell, but very much out of shape.

Compounding the problem is I have two bolts broken off in the head by PO. One bolt was found held in by silicone. And just two two holes away towards the front center of the bike a bolt is completely missing, later found to be because of the prescense of a broken bolt in its hole in the head.

So any tips tricks, etc? Maybe you know something I could try so I don't even have to take the valve cover off? : -)

Have a great Sunday
-Bob
Click to expand...

Liquid gasket will hold it but you need to think long and hard before you use one of those products. Look at the extra material that oozes out and realize that some of it is oozing IN also. Do you really want that stuff breaking off and swimming around inside your engine.

You could loosen the valve cover and lift it slightly. Squirt a very small amount of gasket sealer into the crack and tighten it back up. That might hold it 'till you get the new gasket. Then you're going to have to get those cracked bolts out of there to really fix it.

good luck
 
The only sealer that would be safe to use is a nonhardening sealer such as Permatex #2. We used this at a rally a couple of weeks ago, and it worked great!

Take that silicone RTV crap and throw it in the garbage quick. It's a great way to clog up oil passages. Don't get that junk anywhere near an engine you care about.

The broken bolts are a problem -- oil will leak where the cover isn't clamped, whatever you do. Is there a way to improvise some sort of clamp?

And no, there's not a way to repair a leak from the outside, or by dumping mouse milk into the oil. Although there are plenty of fraudulent products available that claim to do these things, none of them actually work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top