Oil leak behind chrome cam cover!!!

[Mr. Sinister]

OK, so aside from finding a flat tire (that has 40 miles on it!! ), I also developed an oil leak behind the rear chrome cap on the left side of the engine. I was trying to pry the cap off to sand it and paint it, but found I could not easily remove them, so I left them be. Now, it's got a pretty steady oil leak from behind this cover.
What the hell?

 

[gs850cafe]

probably the rubber half moons leaking...clean it good an smear silicon under the cover..will slow it down till u can pop it off an reseal them...

impact driver is a tool u must own having an old bike...

as for the tire...i have a plug in mine...a short ways from center...but my tires is worn down...ive done 80mph oh it an it holds...

call it unsafe but its not the first time ive heard of it being done

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Ahhhh yes, the tire. The guy who installed it didn't put a tube in it I found, even though it says "Tube Type" right on the side. AND the valve stem leaks, AND the little nut that holds the valve stem in place is stripped. It's comforting to know I could have hit a turn hard, rolled the tire over enough to break the seal and lost all the air pressure in an instant. That would not have ended well.
You are right about the little half moon, I pushed it out of place. I managed to pop one side of the chrome cover off and bent it around so I could see the deal. Think I can get away with smearing a glob of RTV in there, or am I going to have to pop the valve cover off?

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Well I piled a bunch of black RTV in there, and I'll let it dry for a few days. We'll see what happens. It's a temporary fix, since I'll be pulling the cover off to check the valves before too long anyway.

 

[Nessism]

You most likely cause the oil leak by prying on the chrome cap.

Unless you paid for a new tube it stands to reason the installer reused the old one or installed the tire tubeless like before. Not the installers responsibility I'd say.

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Unless you paid for a new tube it stands to reason the installer reused the old one or installed the tire tubeless like before. Not the installers responsibility I'd say.

If the tire didn't say "Tube Type" right on the side, I'd agree. It still doesn't account for the leaky valve stem and stripped nut. If the tube or stem looked sketchy, any competent installer should have said something, since it's not something the rider is going to ever see. That's not the way I do business, and that's not how I expect others to do business. It's not a simple "whoops", it could kill someone.

 

[Guest]

Don't forget the chrome end caps come off with two screws from underneath, and yes the half moons are likely brittle and need replacing. Cheap still from Boulevard or Partshark or somewhere.

All four of mine basically broke apart when I got to that point of my rebuild so new ones went in.

 

[Nessism]

If the tire didn't say "Tube Type" right on the side, I'd agree. It still doesn't account for the leaky valve stem and stripped nut. If the tube or stem looked sketchy, any competent installer should have said something, since it's not something the rider is going to ever see. That's not the way I do business, and that's not how I expect others to do business. It's not a simple "whoops", it could kill someone.

Lesson here is to learn what's going on with your bike and not blindly trust a mechanic you don't know.

Every time a new tire is installed you should install a new tube. Don't trust a tire jockey to tell you this, you need to understand things like this and insist on it yourself.

BTW, gooping up the half moon is a bad idea. It could puke out at any time and dump oil on that tire and put you on the ground.

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Lesson here is to learn what's going on with your bike and not blindly trust a mechanic you don't know.

Agreed. A friend of mine works at this shop, and the mechanic came well recommended, but I've learned my lesson here.

 

[Mr. Sinister]

So the RTV and tire held long enough to ride it over to the local shop. He's going to put a tube in the rear, and set it all up.
Ordered a new set of end caps and a valve cover gasket. Anybody have any pointers on the install? It looks easy enough.

 

[tkent02]

It looks easy enough.

It is, adjust the valves while you are in there if you haven't, or at least check them even if you have done it before. Grease the head side of the gasket so it doesn't stick, since it needs to come off once in a while..

 

[Mr. Sinister]

It is, adjust the valves while you are in there if you haven't, or at least check them even if you have done it before. Grease the head side of the gasket so it doesn't stick, since it needs to come off once in a while..

You are on the ball, my friend!!
I had planned on checking the valves. As it turns out, my brother in law had the exact same bike back in the day, and he was pretty impressed by the condition of mine. He told me the valves will get noisy when they're out of adjustment, and mine sounds really good. With the way it rips once I fabbed a temporary air filter, that is also encouraging. So, hopefully I'll get lucky and they won't need any adjustment. Reading the manual, that looks like an easy job, too. Guess I'd just have to leave it torn down until I get the correct shims.

 

[Steve]

So the RTV and tire held long enough to ride it over to the local shop. He's going to put a tube in the rear, and set it all up.
Ordered a new set of end caps and a valve cover gasket. Anybody have any pointers on the install? It looks easy enough.

Did you get new half-moons, too? :-k

Put a THIN film of sealer on the curved part of the half-moons, set them in place. Use WD-40, engine oil, a THIN film of grease, whatever you want, on the valve cover gasket before installing it, it will come out SO much easier next time.

Oh, by the way, the chrome covers are best removed and/or installed when the valve cover is off the bike.

.

 

[Crankthat]

Ordered new end caps?
Did you order new half moons as well?
They sit behind the chrome pieces and under the valve gasket, half circle rubber covering unseen half circle metal.
Is that what you meant by end caps?
Recommended that they are to be replaced.
Just bought some while setting my valve clearance, pretty cheap for peace of mind.
Mine still seemed good but i replaced anyways.
gs850cafe posted probably half moons that are causing the leak as you have one behind each chrome cover, I would agree with that.
If you are going to check the valves now is the time.

 

[Crankthat]

Steve, you beat me again

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Did you get new half-moons, too? :-k

Put a THIN film of sealer on the curved part of the half-moons, set them in place. Use WD-40, engine oil, a THIN film of grease, whatever you want, on the valve cover gasket before installing it, it will come out SO much easier next time.

Oh, by the way, the chrome covers are best removed and/or installed when the valve cover is off the bike.

.

I did, yes. That's what I meant by end caps. I might have gotten away with just putting the one back in place, but for $15 for all 4, why not just replace them. What would you recommend for sealer? Is black RTV ok?
Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it!!

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Steve, you beat me again

I appreciate it nonetheless!!

 

[Crankthat]

I used the black RTV.
Was suggested to me after I got it all put back together I read a post on my thread.
That the best way would be to install half moons with RTV only on round part of half moons and tighten down cover without gasket till rtv set up,then go back the next day and do gasket.
I had already put gasket on and cleaned up so I did not do, but it makes a lot of sense as will help gasket retain flat surface for next time.
One of those things I will try to remember.

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Did the job today. Pretty simple, aside from the petrified valve cover gasket. I must have spent 45 minutes scraping old gasket.
The new gasket must be a universal, because 2 bolt holes were off. I notched the gasket to make it work. It should be fine. It's a NOS Suzuki part, so I don't know what the deal is.
The inside of this motor is spotless. The cam chain is nice and tight, and the cam lobes looked brand new.
All the valves are still within spec as well, and pretty uniform across the board (right around .05 - .06). I can only guess this bike didn't see a lot of high rpm operation.

 

[Guest]

Glad to hear everything is good!

As for your valve cover gasket, somewhere between the 81 and 82 model years Suzuki changed the bolt pattern from 12 to 15 bolts, so there's actually two different part numbers for the gasket depending on engine number.