Cam Plug issues

[magnum440]

I pulled the cam cover to check the valve clearence. After installing it and running the bike on the stand, one of the cam plugs had started to come out. I noticed it when the oil hit the exhaust pipe. I removed the cover and installed another new one and was running it again and the other one came out. I cleaned the surfaces with alcohol and installed new plugs both times. The first time I did it they were dry, the second time I used Yamabond on them. I let it set for a day to make sure the Yamabond dried, with no luck. I thought it might be from blow by, but it has good compression on all the cylinders. Am I doing sommething wrong? I torqued the cover to the recomended torque. Any ideas?

[Larrym]

Half Moon Seepage??

Just one of those rare situations where IMO it's appropriate to use an oil resistant thick bodied silicone sealant:



The yamabond or the other gasketless wonders seem to be a little too thin for these half-moons.

Not to say that the product pictured above is suitable for surfaces where it is continually immersed in oil: it's not IMO.

Should get you OTR and keep you there if you allow it to skin over and cure properly for the suggested time.

[magnum440]

The only problem is when I Yamabonded it, I did the gasket also. It was the same one I used the first time and felt that after it had already been torqued I had better use some sealant on it just in case. When I removed the cover this time, it actually split the gasket into. It left gasket on the head and cover. Now I have to wait on a new gasket. Should be here by the end of the week. Also ordered some more cam plugs. I thought the Yamabond would work. I had an old Dodge truck that thevalve cover always leaked no matter what you did. I put Yamabond on the new gaskets and it went 40,000 mi. before I saw a leak. Just my luck. I look into the other sealant and give it a try. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing something wrong.

[Larrym]

Reduce-Reuse-Recycle

Tha's cool.

Just a heads up for the next R+R:

After you've cleaned up all the surfaces of the valve cover gasket on the cover and the head, there's an optional method you can use so you "theoretically" can pull the cover off the next time and keep it intact.

The idea is to apply the Yamabond to the cover side only, install the gasket on the cover, and then to coat the other side of the gasket surface with cooking spray (PAM). Not just a couple of light passes like you're gonna fry up some eggs in a pan, but rather saturate the darn thing, let it soak in, and then do it again.

Then reinstall as usual.

Some folks get 2-3 more usages out of those cover gaskets this-a-way.

(Not that it ain't fun to scrape gaskets on a sunny day.)

[magnum440]

I live to put the strongest glue on a gasket and then spend all day getting off while other bikes are going by the house!!!!! Does the gasket seal good with the Pam on it? I willing to give it a try. I just need to get the cam plugs to stay in first.

[WMarshy]

half moon billet's

Some where theres a thread about a member making and selling some aluminum billet half moon plugs... I dont know if hes still doing it but you might want to check it out. They have a lip on both sides of the plug so they cant pop out, just use a little silicon to seal them up.

[trbig]

On the back of the motor is a big hose. It goes into the airbox if you still have one. Start the motor and see if you get presure coming out and it's not stopped up or pinched. Even a good motor with good compression will have blow-by. There should be no pressures building up to push out those plugs and Yamabond should have held it just fine. If that didn't hold it, I doubt another type will. Worst case scenario, you can contact XSChop and get the billet ones, or you can turn your moon caps backwards with the lip inside. Yeah, there will be an indent there on the back side facing out, but honestly, who gets close enough to your motor to know that? Paint it black and go on.


Tod

[Pat Kelly]

I don't know which would be worse, The plugs falling out or falling in

[Ivan]

They won't fall in, the end of the cam is too close.

[magnum440]

Tod, I thought the Yamabond should have worked.I have used it for years with no problems. I will check the breather hose. A long time back I had an old mechanic tell me about putting a ballon on a breather outlet and seeing if it would blow up. I may try this. I know it will blow up. I just want to see how fast. It should be an indication of how much blow by I have. Heck if nothing else, it would be different!

[Larrym]

In a Perfect World..

magnum440,

Does the gasket seal good with the Pam on it?

I haven't actually got that far yet on my XS: pulling off the valve cover. Hasn't yet reached the mileage or run time to do any work in that area.

I've used the "PAM" method on quite a few other projects in auto, marine, and other mechanical situations and I'm a repeat user or "chronic offender" depending how one looks at it. When I do remove my valve cover that's the method I'll use.

Others here in the forum have reported using the same technique on their valve covers and the reports have varied. I don't recall the actual members and haven't done a search here to provide their actual experiences. I do remember that Tod reported in that he used the technique but when he removed the cover again, the gasket stuck to the PAM coated surface and he had to replace the gasket again. He might be willing to offer whether or not there were leaks on the PAM coated side of the gasket.

Just a little more detail on how I propose to do mine when the time comes:

I'll use one of the gasketless sealers (Yamabond or the 3M version or most likely for me, Permatex "The Right Stuff") on the cover itself. Then I'll carefully lay the gasket on the cover. After about 1/2 hour I'll transfer the whole cover/gasket to a sheet of glass I keep around for this type of thing, and lay it flat on the gasket side. The glass is sprayed with PAM prior to laying the assembly on it in order to keep any errant sealant from being a problem when I try to lift everything off later.

I'll go back the next day (overnight drying/curing time...) and saturate the exposed gasket surface with the PAM. The gasket is porous but it's a "slow" kind of porous otherwise it wouldn't be a good barrier. That's why the repeated saturations after letting it wick in as much as possible.

I really do wish that there were a "rubber" version of the valve cover gasket so all these shenanigans were unnecessary. Then things would go so much easier and quicker with better leak prevention along with an officially reusable gasket.

Unfortunately I don't have my own personal GENIE like Major Nelson did.

(Barbara Eden was so hot and still is.)

[Rickrod3]

Gasket options

Could form a gasket be used alone?
I also heard the plug in the cam chain tensioner was another problem popping out. I read in SX Eleven Heaven Rob Jones used bathtub Silicone to hold them in.
I tore my valve gasket today also.

Rick

[Larrym]

Optional Products/Methods

Rickrod3,

Could form a gasket be used alone?

I've never used this alone to seal any surfaces:



I've always used it to coat both sides of a regular gasket and then install it.

If I didn't have the valve cover gasket and they were no longer available I'd use this:



Drawback is that the "Right Stuff" has an adhesive nature and the next time the valve cover is removed a rubber mallet combined with "Manly Applied Force" is needed.

Others have had good results with the Yamabond or 3M equivalent.

[bikerphil]

I've tried the Pam spray on valve cover gaskets, it worked fine for about a year and then started seeping oil. Your motor will also smell like a pizza parlor for a couple of days, lol. Now I coat both surfaces with permatex gray. YMMV. Definitely goop up the cam plugs with RTV, then when it's dry, you can cut the excess off with a razor blade.

[Larrym]

A Grey Area in my Knowledge Data Base...

I've tried the Pam spray on valve cover gaskets, it worked fine for about a year and then started seeping oil.

Phil,

Usually I'm "retentive" enough to go back after a few runs and re-torque the bolts on stuff where I've used the Pam. Most times they've needed it IMO.

Was that something you did along with the Pam?

Also, How well did the permatex grey release when you went back in?

I've not used it before and it's not in my inventory so far. I'd really appreciate knowing how it performed.