Valve Cover

[lhanscom]

I've taken my valve cover off, because it was seeping oil, and also to do a clearence adjustment. Anyway, I bought a new gasket, as I figured the gasket was what was causing the seeping. It's a rubber gasket, and I just put a very small about of vasoline on it to keep it in place while putting it all back together. I started it up, and lo and behold it's still seeping. I don't own a torque wrench, but the bolts seem tight. I wouldn't want to go tighter without a book and a torque wrench telling me too. Is there an order that you're supposed to tighten the bolts in? Do I need to use sealant? Thanks.

[KrazyKarl02]

valve cover gasket

The oil could be seeping out from the little half circle rubber plugs. You might want to change these. Also on my 1000 the valve cover gasket is a paper/card board gasket material. I have never needed to use any sealant.

[Billy Ricks]

Just start from the center and criss-cross as you tighten. Be careful about overtightening the bolts. On the 700 they thread into the cam caps. Ruin the threads on them and it's a pain to fix. What I do is use a bead of silicon gasket sealer in the groove the gasket fits into on the valve cover. None on the surface of the gasket. This will make the gasket seal better. As you tighten down wipe away any that oozes out. You can clean up most of it by pushing the gasket into the groove before installing the cover. It's best to use black sealer so it doesn't show up.

[lhanscom]

Thanks, I'll try that. The guy who owned the bike before me had stripped out one of the bolts, and then put in a standard bolt, after retapping the hole. Looks kinda goofy, but works, and is luckily under the gas tank. Needless to say I don't want to do that to any more of the bolts.