Have some serious oil leaks, any tips?Need suggestions!(pictures)

[Guest]

Okay guys, I have 2 Leaks.
And they consist of nearly the entire gaskets leaking....not just one little spot!

1.) Valve top assembly(Leaking)
2.) Upper Head Assembly (Leaking) (not sure if that's the technical name on a bike, please look at the pics)

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Okay, you really can't see all the oil, I wiped it up a few times, but basically it's THOSE TWO ENTIRE gaskets.....

1.) Valve Gasket......leak runs COMPLETELY around the engine....not just the Half-Moon area.





2.) Upper Head Leak......leak runs almost completely around the engine, but is the Worst towards the front.....

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So my questions are......

1.) According to the manual, i remove the gas tank, get any bull**** out of the way, etc, etc.....then I just take off like 12 bolts, right?(or whatever bolts hold it on basically)

2.) Do I have to take the camshaft off, or does it just stay bolted to the upper assembly when I remove it.

3.)When I take the Upper Head assembly off(whatever u call it), do I need to be worried about the pistons sticking out or anything?(TDC looks like it's right below this gasket area.)

4.) The manual says that these bolts need to be Re-tightened every now and then......do you think tightening them will stop the oil leak, or should I just go with my original plans and replace the gaskets all-together?

5.) Anything else that I should know about BEFORE I starting tearing **** apart?

Thanks guys, any tips or "heads-up" would be greatly appreciated.
Trying to get this bike ready before summertime.
And I swear, every time I fix one thing, something else happens!

[Billy Ricks]

It could be the oil you're seeing around the head gasket is just making it's way there from the valve cover gasket. Hopefully that is the case. If you have to pull the head the cams do have to come out first. Pistons won't have to come out but if you have to pull the head you should consider doing the cylinder base gasket at the same time. You might get by just re-torquing the head.

[sscott]

I don't know much about motorbike mechanics, but I"m of the mind that if a gasket is leaking, replace it. If you retorque it will just leak again.

Also if you take the heads off why not look at the pistons and rings while you are there. Replace as needed so you wont have to later and tear down again. My 1cent.

[Coady]

Buy a torque wrench if you don't already have one.

Get a new valve cover gasket and new rubber half moons - these don't cost much.

Take off the valve cover and clean both surfaces.

Check valve clearance while your in there and adjust shims accordingly.

Retorque head bolts/nuts as per spec with valve cover off (you can do it with it on but more fiddly)

Put a very light smear of oil or WD40 on valve cover gasket (for ease of removal next time). Replace half moons. Torque valve cover down to specs.

This should fix your top leak. To replace the head gasket is much more invloved, so I'd do the above first and see how you go.

[waterman]

Leaking from valve cover gasket (area 1), not a big job, leaking from head gasket (area 2), big job.

Trying to retorque valve cover bolts will either strip bolt holes or break bolts, bad idea. Retorqueing head bolts may alleviate oil leak from head if done properly. Unfortunately, it looks like the oil is leaking from the smaller head bolt on the end, this one again will strip or break easily. It more than likely is leaking from one of the corner studs and appearing to be leaking from that end bolt.

Personally, I would tackle the valve cover gasket, setting valve clearances while inside. Basically, you need to remove tank, movel spark plug wires out of way and then loosen 16 (82 and later had 17 bolts) on top and tap to remove cover. From here you will remove all traces of old gasket and replace with clean new gasket, no sealant except on the rubber half moons. When purchasing new valve cover gasket, splurge for new half moons, they are cheap insurance.

I may try to retorque head, but don't expect miracles. Would concentrate on the larger studs primarily, the little 6mm bolts have a tendency to strip, DAMHIK.

Replacing head gasket is harder call. How much is it leaking, just a seeping leak or is oil spraying onto leg? I would live with a seeping leak as long as motor runs well and it is not making huge mess of bike. Then when I had time and ambition, would get into fixing it.

[1_v8_merc]

Just went to check the tightness of the valve bolts, and one of them was just ****ing completely loose!

Grrr....well i guess im taking the valve cover off tonight, and gonna check the shims out. I already hit the bolts with some liquid wrench, the engine is still a tiny bit warm, so they should come out easily.

I think somebodies been in there before, the bolts look strangely clean compared to the rest of the bike.

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Oh yeah, more bad news.....the Bigger head bolts on the insides of the motor are VERY rusted guys......i mean they look really bad....I hit them with some PB Blaster a few weeks ago to eat some of that rust up....it worked okay, but they are still pretty bad.
I have no idea how that's going to go....hopefully the nut is so rusted it just breaks in half and comes off, haha.

I doubt i'll be able to get the proper size socket over it....who knows, maybe I will.