Rocker Cover - Oil Weeping

[LakesRider]

So after buying my 2008 Hexhead R1200GS earlier this year, it is due it's first service (from me). I have done the oil/filter/plugs/gearbox oil/final drive oil and greased the splines on the shaft. I also did a valve check, so removed the rocker covers. They look in good order and the seals looked fine.

I have now reassembled and run the bike, and noticed that there is a thin line of the new oil along the seal, on the bottom of each cylinder. Having only run the engine a few times for a minute or two, it's not enough to drip, but a definite line of oil along the seal.

I looked up torque settings for the four bolts holding the covers in place, and the recommendation seems to be 10nm, which I have followed.

Should I have replaced the seals, or might it be that they need a bit more than 10NM to avoid a leak? Is this a common problem? It wasn't leaking oil from here before!

Any help gratefully appreciated!

 

[Steptoe]

Did you remove the spark plug tunnel round rubber gasket from the head and fit it to the rocker cover ?
If you left it in place in the spark plug tunnel after removing the rocker cover and then refitted it, you've squashed the round gasket, hence the oil leak

 

[LakesRider]

Did you remove the spark plug tunnel round rubber gasket from the head and fit it to the rocker cover ?
If you left it in place in the spark plug tunnel after removing the rocker cover and then refitted it, you've squashed the round gasket, hence the oil leak

Thanks for the reply.

When i removed the rocker cover, I removed the round seal, and refitted it when i put it back together.

Where would it leak from if the seal was not refitted properly?

Thanks

Phil

 

[Steptoe]

Take it off and check you haven’t “pinched” the centre gasket,

 

[LakesRider]

Take it off and check you haven’t “pinched” the centre gasket,

Thanks, I will check. If I am going to the trouble of taking off the engine bars and rocker covers, I may just replace the seals.

Thanks.

 

[Robbieben]

The seals do work harden and compress over time and eventually do need replacing, it sounds like you are at that point.

 

[Welly]

I had similar on my 1150. It was as Steptoe says above, the spark plug donut seal that was incorrectly seated.
Reason I think it happened was I installed the rocker cover fully but then thought it wasn't correctly seated , pulled it off slightly and reseated it again. I think it was this that caused the problem.
Discovered the problem when I stopped and noticed oil on my boot and along the RHS of the bike..

Removed cover and spark plug seal was the culprit.

 

[matgriff]

If I remember correctly, you can't really overtighten the bolts to pinch the gaskets down because they are shoulder type bolts, so they bottom out and the gaskets don't get squashed. The gaskets are designed to be re-used, but after some years they need to be replaced as they lose the elasticity.

 

[Pukmeister]

The rocker covers are made of magnesium and the lower edge is prone to corroding or becoming porous, lift the rubber gasket and check the faces beneath are still flat.

 

[digby]

I had a similar thing with my 1250 gs

Cause was not fully washing the seal before re installation - the trapped oil leaked out after tightening

Now I fully clean the seal before reinstalling