Oil leak after valve clearance check

4 stroke engine,carburation, EFI, and exhaust discussion

Oil leak after valve clearance check

Postby Arctra » Sat Apr 12, 2014 8:21 pm

Hopefully someone else will learn from my mistake. After doing a valve clearance check a mate of mine noticed a puff of smoke coming off my header when I blipped the throttle. After investigating it we realised that oil was coming out of a small hole in the cylinder near the exhaust header and some of that was spitting onto the header. I took a quick video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSd0gbL ... YMH_kVNZkw

Turns out there is a seal between the cylinder head cover and the spark plug hole and mine must have fallen out when I did the valve clearance check. Oil is leaking through the gap, down to the spark plug, and then out of the drain hole which exits near the header. I've highlighted the relevant seal in red (4) below:
Image

So when you do take the cover off to check your valve clearances be careful to make sure you have that seal in place when you put the cover back on.
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Re: Oil leak after valve clearance check

Postby Balkan boy » Sun Apr 13, 2014 12:26 am

I would add one more thing.
As the manual says, apply a bit of silicone sealant in the corners of the head cover gasket. (see picture)
My mechanic didn't, and on the first start, it poured oil trough the gasket. He adjusted it a bit more and now it doesn't leak, but one corner still gets slightly oily after riding.

If I remember correctly, the spark plug gasket that you talk about is of unique shape. You'll probably have to order an original.


After the fiasco of my recent valve check, I did my homework and read the workshop manual from cover to cover. I'll be taking all the time needed and doing the maintenance myself from now on.
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