Thread sealer or anti-seize. A short story. Near disaster missed.

[Guest]

It's funny what you find when you're not looking. I was re-doing the battery wire's that the PO had all rigged up. I noticed a crankcase bolt was just spinning freely. I could have pulled it right out. It's the bolt on the right, next to the rubber boot. It now has a nut on it. So I pulled the side cover off to have a look. The nut was missing.

So. What I was really doing was removing the huge automotive ground wire that the PO had installed on the bolt that is sticking up in the pic. Then it happened. I felt the bolt twist,,as in getting ready to snap. I stopped right there and started soaking it with P.B. Blaster. I let it sit overnight. Thank God I was able to get it out. It went right in the trash.

Now to the point. I removed the proper bolt from a part's motor. It looked like it had white caulk on it. Should I use thread sealer, or maybe some anti-seize. Thanks.

[Roger P.]

The white stuff is corrosion. Use anti-seize, but remember that if you are using a torque wrench that you must derate the torque settings due to the lube. I never use a torque wrench as I found they are mostly useful for telling you how much torque it took to snap off the bolt. I don't know why Japanese bike have such cheesy fasteners.

[Quick Cal]

Thanks for the reply.

The white stuff was not corrosion. It was white rubbery stuff I pulled off the thread's.

I'm probably gonna do like you and just tighten it up. Thanks again.

[Killer2600]

The white stuff, and the reason why you came close to snapping the bolt, was thread-lock. Use whatever you deem appropriate, factory spec is suzuki thread lock of some specific name for all the bolts that join the two halves of the split case.

[duaneage]

I've yet to see anyone accurately torque a bolt by hand and yet to see a bolt snap off with the correct amount of torque applied with a T-W. But as usual do what you want with your own bike.