Weeping rocker covers and bolt...

[fraserwaters]

Before I stump up for new rocker cover gaskets, has anyone any thoughts about some signs of oil at the leading edge of each cylinder and around 1 bolt.. See photos.

I've recently 300miles ago put 4L of new oil in as well as a new filter, the bike is new to me.

Ive not checked the valve clearances yet but it's on my list for a few weekends from now so I could swop the gaskets then.

What's the service interval on the gaskets?

And yes the gritter was out yesterday!

 

[Mistacat]

Take mine off every 6K miles to check valve clearance ,still on original gaskets 2012 TC 113K miles.
Check the cover and gasket surfaces are clean as I believe a bit of muck can make them leak.

 

[mpgscott]

I had similar when I bought aftermarket cylinder covers. I think one was machined down too much and just would not seal.

I bought another set off an R9T and used original gaskets and it was fine.

Just clean up the seals and try again. The bolts are face fitting or whatever you say and only tighten to 10nm so be careful and don’t try to over tighten.

 

[Kenny Rodkiss]

Before I stump up for new rocker cover gaskets, has anyone any thoughts about some signs of oil at the leading edge of each cylinder and around 1 bolt..

pm sent.

 

[fraserwaters]

I had similar when I bought aftermarket cylinder covers. I think one was machined down too much and just would not seal.

I bought another set off an R9T and used original gaskets and it was fine.

Just clean up the seals and try again. The bolts are face fitting or whatever you say and only tighten to 10nm so be careful and don’t try to over tighten.

I removed the valve covers and checked the valve clearances, all in tolerance.
But I was really surprised by the amount of pitting on the leading inner face of the rocker covers, it’s really quite bad.
I’ve fitted everything back up and they’re not leaking but is there anything I should/can do other than replace the rocker covers? I wondered about metal filler and sanding them back or a thin smear of high temp silicone gasket …?

 

[seahorse]

No sanding or removal of metal in any way. The securing bolts have a built in collar for want of a better word , when tightened up against this don't go any further, this should be enough to compress the seal adequately. A smear of silicon RTV or similar should be good enough to seal, make sure nice and clean first. In reality we're only talking about an oil mist and not really a leak as such. If it was an old British or Italian bike it would be described character