Maybe greasing the valve cover before installation.....

[Anonymous]

Isn't such a good thing....

I get home today, leave the bike in the driveway, and join family and friends in the back yard for a little while. While I'm sitting there, I look down at my left foot...


I'm thinking our basset hound must've slobbered on me, and didn't think anything of it, at the time.
15 minutes later, I decide to put the bike away for the evening. What's this on the ground....


Why is my bike all oily...


Ahh, here it is...


Hmmm, that's not right. This is...


What you don't see is the other side of the valve cover. It looks like someone grabbed an edge of the gasket near the half moon plugs and pulled it out. While one side is sticking out a 1/4 inch or so, the other side has been sucked in. On both sides of the bike. It's only on the intake side of the head. The exhaust side is still clean, dry and straight.
I haven't pulled the cover yet to see if the gasket's still in one piece though. I did torque to specs when I did the valve adjust a month or two ago. But when I installed it, I figured I'd be smart and put moly grease on both sides of the gasket so it wouldn't get stuck to the cover and head next time I might take it off. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.
If the gasket is still in one peice, I'll probably put a dab of gaskacinch or something on the ends to keep it in place. Not sure I'll be able to save it the next time, but hopefully I won't have to buy another $22 paper gasket.
I have an extra valve cover laying around. Maybe I'll send it off to realgaskets.com. Anyone else interested?
Any other ideas in case the slippage this time wasn't caused by greasing the gasket?

[earlfor]

Andy, I have always finger smeared my valve cover gaskets with engine oil when installing them. I've never had one move or leak, and they dont stick if I need to remove them.

Earl

[daveo]

Andy, I have always finger smeared my valve cover gaskets with engine oil when installing them. I've never had one move or leak, and they dont stick if I need to remove them.

Earl

I'll ditto that!! a good soaking in oil, thats the ticket......

[saaz]

I have used silastic for years..very thin smear. No problems with removal. I think I have only ever bought 2 new gaskets in 150,000kms.

Now that I read this thread I worry!!!

[Anonymous]

gaskets

i would not worry saaz my way is gasket sealant on the cover side and smear of grease on the engine side of gasket .this way gasket is stuck to cover until i want to remove it.less chance of damage when taking tappet cover off. so as you see we all do it slightly different.
ozman

[Anonymous]

Re: gaskets

i would not worry saaz my way is gasket sealant on the cover side and smear of grease on the engine side of gasket .this way gasket is stuck to cover until i want to remove it.less chance of damage when taking tappet cover off. so as you see we all do it slightly different.
ozman

Good tip I think I will heed that advice........Sounds like a good way to do it.....Ever had any leaks?? I will try it on my bike when I replace the gasket this weekend

[Anonymous]

I used a trick I learned from working on Holly carbs, chapstick.

I've had the valve cover on/off a couple times now and seems to be holding up well.

I think I'm likeing the oil trick better though, no chance of contamination (sp?)

[Anonymous]

I've never used moly grease - now I never will. I have used a light coating of oil in the past and have never had any problems.

[Anonymous]

Well, here's what the gasket looked like after removing the cover..



This is the exact position it was in when I took the cover off. It's really that far off.
I have absolutely no idea how it did this. The gasket bolt hole closest to the spark plug is actually ripped. Not just broken, it looks like it ripped away. The entire gasket is wet and oily, and it broke in half when I took it out. Handling it quickly destroyed it.
I have another 650 engine in my garage. I took the valve cover off to see if they were the same, as I was thining of sending it off to realgaskets. The cover came off easily, and the gasket was in one piece, so I decided to put it on mine so I could get back up and running. The difference between the two is astounding. The old gasket was all wet, oily and fell apart. This gasket was a little flat, but hard and stiff. I wonder if the grease was not only not good, but in fact very bad for the gasket.
I installed this gasket totally dry. Torqued the cover to 7ft lbs. Took it for a test drive, and it doesn't seem to be leaking. Maybe I'll wait on sending the cover to realgaskets.