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I've had it with this GD bike

  • Thread starter Thread starter ShirleySerious
  • Start date Start date
Have you verified that the cover you have is warped? The cover is more likely to warp than the head, but stranger things have happened.
 
txironhead said:
Have you verified that the cover you have is warped? The cover is more likely to warp than the head, but stranger things have happened.
Click to expand...

I haven't, but I'm pretty sure it might be. Bad sealing, being 30 years old, and having a crack on it welded leads me to believe it is warped. If not, I'll only be out $10. The cover is cheaper than the gasket.
 
ShirleySerious said:
It's just frustrating to spend more time working on the bike than actually riding it. This is what I'm getting at and this is how it's been for the past few months. I am, at most, an amateur mechanic. Most of the stuff I know how to do on my bike came from either this site or the Clymer manual. FME, there isn't too much common sense involved when fixing these machines.

I'll try to give it another shot. I have a gasket on order and a valve cover on eBay that ends Thursday. Hopefully that isn't warped as well (seller said it was in good condish).
Click to expand...

Hey dude......well, you certainly wouldn't make it as a " vintage " Harley owner then....their motto is " ride a day, tighten for 2 " try not to get so discouraged.....I know how you are though, I'm the same way. I've got a 97 Intruder that is a oil leaker, leaves a puddle on the floor every day, I know what the problem is.....which is a bad water pump oil seal.....but, I'd rather ride than fix it....until the weather gets too cold...so for now, I just make sure she's topped off. Unless the bike(yours) is like leaving quarts on the ground, or a white cloud as your riding it...leading people to A. either think your spraying for mosquitoes, or B. your on fire, and need to call the F.D. I would ride for now, and fix it on a rainy day...week-end, or winter depending on where you live. Or( insert shameless plug here) you could visit the For Sale section, and buy my bike....she leaks nothing but a great ride!
Bottom line, don't give up.....it's all part of having a " machine " they are prone to anything....
Best of luck to ya!!!
 
P.S.

I knew less than zero about my GS.... just learned from trial and error....mostly error.
 
P.P.S

And bought parts that I thought were bad, that turned out to be fine, cuz I was too lazy to READ my Clymers..... thought I " knew it all " so, it cost me money to learn.....:oops: instead of reading the damn book!!8-[
 
Trust me don't get upset. My bike has far more problems than a leaky oil seal, but I still ride and enjoy it. I intend to fix the problems over time, but the key is to not lose faith in the bike. Whenever I encounter a problem I just think that it will be that much more fun riding it because I fixed the problem myself.

BTW my bike has,

1. Leaky fork seals
2. Leaky valve cover gasket
3. Leaky head gasket
4. Bad valve guide seal in #3 cylinder (bike acts like a fogger for those humid Maine summers)
5. Carbs need to be tuned (running way to rich)

Trust me I have it a lot worse than you, but I still rode it until I left for college and I intend to fix it over my winter break.
 
Well, I finally got the new paper gasket and valve cover from eBay. The cover was pretty dirty, so I used what I could to take off the old gasket residue without damaging it (gasket remover spray and a razorblade). The spray took off some of the coating on the top of the cover, but I just hosed it down and now it's drying. I couldn't get 100% of the residue off, but it looks close enough. Same goes with the bottom cylinder head side.

I put the gasket on and am waiting for the cover to dry and to borrow my friend's dad's torque wrench. Now this is an OEM gasket, not a real gasket, so I heard I should tighten to 5.0-8.0 ft-lbs. Does this sound correct?
 
Is the engine worked at all? Some people have had issues with oil leakage from the front cam chain extension on the cover when worked.

One thing you may want to consider if the new cover is still an issue is to build up a decent bead of gasket sealant on the head (like a real bead not just an extra thick layer), allow to go tacky before placing gasket on to it, then carefully fit the cover. (Learn to feel how tight the bolts should be done up, relying on torque wrenches just slows down your work unnecessarily). This 'beading' method was popular here in Aus back in the days of English singles and twins when factory gaskets were difficult and expensive to get hold of, and I have used it on Suzuki's and Kwaka's a number of times (including clutch covers etc.) with success.
The guys who used to work on old English bikes back in the 50'/60's were an innovative bunch, by necessity. In deep south Western Australia they have a hard wood which can only be worked while it is still wet, can't even industrial drill-press it when dried out. A mate has a piston from a 500cc single which was made from this wood. The engine ran, blew a little smoke (but what do you expect when there aren't any rings) and was a very, very quiet motor for a high mileage English single. The piston is slightly charred on the crown surface but basically in good condition, for a wooden piston that is.
 
TheRedlineMan said:
Is the engine worked at all? Some people have had issues with oil leakage from the front cam chain extension on the cover when worked.

One thing you may want to consider if the new cover is still an issue is to build up a decent bead of gasket sealant on the head (like a real bead not just an extra thick layer), allow to go tacky before placing gasket on to it, then carefully fit the cover. (Learn to feel how tight the bolts should be done up, relying on torque wrenches just slows down your work unnecessarily). This 'beading' method was popular here in Aus back in the days of English singles and twins when factory gaskets were difficult and expensive to get hold of, and I have used it on Suzuki's and Kwaka's a number of times (including clutch covers etc.) with success.
The guys who used to work on old English bikes back in the 50'/60's were an innovative bunch, by necessity. In deep south Western Australia they have a hard wood which can only be worked while it is still wet, can't even industrial drill-press it when dried out. A mate has a piston from a 500cc single which was made from this wood. The engine ran, blew a little smoke (but what do you expect when there aren't any rings) and was a very, very quiet motor for a high mileage English single. The piston is slightly charred on the crown surface but basically in good condition, for a wooden piston that is.
Click to expand...

It seems like I'd mess it up if I went with sealant, given my track record. I put a thin layer of oil on the gasket and that's it. If the front cam chain extension thing that you're talking about is the part at the very front, then yes, that has leaked before.
 
ShirleySerious said:
It seems like I'd mess it up if I went with sealant, given my track record. I put a thin layer of oil on the gasket and that's it. If the front cam chain extension thing that you're talking about is the part at the very front, then yes, that has leaked before.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the one. Can't remember what the fix was though off hand. If it comes to me I'll post it.
 
Sorry to be bossy but...take that valve cover back off and get 100% of the gasket off from both the head and the valve cover. I can not overstate this enough. Even a small piece of gasket can cause a leak path. The razor blade will work - no need for the spray remover. Just try to keep the blade flat to the surface so it doesn't dig in. After the blade gets dull, you can drag it along the surface at 90 degrees to get that last little bit of gasket material off.

When I worked at an auto assembly plant I witnessed fuel leaks caused by lint from a workers gloves; the lint created the leak path. Not exactly the same thing but after all you've been through with this leaking business please do everything possible up front to do the job right.
 
Nessism said:
Sorry to be bossy but...take that valve cover back off and get 100% of the gasket off from both the head and the valve cover. I can not overstate this enough. Even a small piece of gasket can cause a leak path. The razor blade will work - no need for the spray remover. Just try to keep the blade flat to the surface so it doesn't dig in. After the blade gets dull, you can drag it along the surface at 90 degrees to get that last little bit of gasket material off.

When I worked at an auto assembly plant I witnessed fuel leaks caused by lint from a workers gloves; the lint created the leak path. Not exactly the same thing but after all you've been through with this leaking business please do everything possible up front to do the job right.
Click to expand...


Thanks Nessism...I didn't want to be the one to suggest he remove what has already been "done", but you really can't have things too clean. This is a hard lesson to learn, and my father was all too eager to let me learn it the hard way, ie. RE-DO-IT again. :confused:
 
Now this may be obvious to you, but just for a sanity check: Get yourself a pane of glass and lay that valve cover on it and check if it's warped. If it's not warped then you've just eliminated one more variable from the leak equation. Now, if you really wanted to be bold you'd remove the cams from head and check the head surface for warp too - but I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to go through that effort - that is, if you're willing to live with a slight leak.
 
There's some sort of spring loaded thing in there that I'm not too sure of, but I just push that down.

And no matter how hard I scrape, it won't come off. I keep scraping really hard, but I don't want to gouge it, since I already have a couple small gouges. I basically scraped it to the damage threshold.
 
Last edited:
ShirleySerious said:
There's some sort of spring loaded thing in there that I'm not too sure of, but I just push that down.
Click to expand...


Nothing spring loaded in there. Sounds like you have some interference which is keeping the cover from sitting down fully.
 
I know Nerobro and I have offered to help before. We've taken apart and repaired one or two GS's and would gladly help bring another one back to life. If you want direct help and an extra hand, just ask for it.
 
The spring loaded thing I was referring to isn't really spring loaded, it just pressed down when I put the cover on. It's in the very front. Anyway, I got everything on and torqued and took it for a ride this morning. There's still some residual oil that I have to clean off, but it looks good so far. No oil leaking that I can see, except for maybe that trouble spot up front.
 
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