Slight weep base gaskets

[ThreeDawg]

Just got back from a quick-ish run and noticed a few spots of oil on my boots (both) Seems to be a very slight weep from both base gaskets (little more than a smear underneath the cylinder) Is this normal, or are the gaskets failing?

ThreeDawg

 

[DrFarkoff]

No gaskets on 1100 and 1150's or 1200 for that matter

Silicone sealant type stuff

You could If it's botehring you try a retorque of the heads (which May or may not tighten it up) other than that its a remove and clean and reseal

 

[ThreeDawg]

Wooops, meant head gaskets.

 

[DrFarkoff]

same thing try a retorque or you'll have to live with/change them

 

[Steptoe]

Wooops, meant head gaskets.

Base gasket , head gasket ? or do you mean rocker cover leak.....

 

[Welshman]

Base gasket , head gasket ? or do you mean rocker cover leak.....

Wos about to ask the same

 

[ThreeDawg]

No, seems to be the head gaskets, ie between the top of the barrels and the cylinder head.

Just seemed odd that there was a smear on the joints both sides, so i was wondering if this was 'just one of those things that big beemer twins do sir'


ThreeDawg

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

It is, just wipe it off and ride. I had a slight smear after a 5000 mile run
Normal

That said, never had any on me Boots though

 

[MattW]

What bike / age? (I'm fairly sure you're not talking about the Jota in your profile )

If it's an 1100, then it might be the 'recognised' head gasket problem - I changed one of mine for this reason (oil on left boot and a slight drip from the bottom of the cam chain tunnel). Then again it might be the rocker cover or the spark plug tunnel or something else...

 

[ThreeDawg]

Oh don't talk to me about cylinder head leaks on Laverdas. Man, those heads have to flatter than a very flat thing and then some...

It is an 1100, 1997 23500 miles (DPO had lots of bikes, hence low milage) the oil is collecting underneath where there are some allen screws (camchain tunnel looks like) but of course that's underneath cylinders so it would collect there!

With Laverdas, it was common practice to slacken the heads off and retorque to help stop leaks, is this the case on boxers too?

ThreeDawg

 

[MattW]

Oh don't talk to me about cylinder head leaks on Laverdas. Man, those heads have to flatter than a very flat thing and then some...

It is an 1100, 1997 23500 miles (DPO had lots of bikes, hence low milage) the oil is collecting underneath where there are some allen screws (camchain tunnel looks like) but of course that's underneath cylinders so it would collect there!

With Laverdas, it was common practice to slacken the heads off and retorque to help stop leaks, is this the case on boxers too?

ThreeDawg

That's where the oil dripped off mine (and blew backwards onto my boot when riding).

Could be it has the old pattern fibre gaskets (I'm not sure what year they were changed to the new multi layer metal ones - perhaps someone else does?). Mine did and I ended up changing my left one as retorquing didn't fix it - having said this, it turned out to have a slight warp near the exhaust port and I had to get the head skimmed after changing it once

Retorquing can't hurt so it's certainly worth trying (oilheads have an initial torque + anglular degree procedure - apologies if you already knew this) - do your rocker end floats at the same time

It'd be worth giving it a good clean, dusting it with talc and then going for a ride in little bursts, checking for tracks in the talc (I did this with mine to finally identify the source of my leak) - it might be from somewhere else.

 

[ThreeDawg]

Thanks for that, clearly further investigation is required...