Valve covers leaking

[rallyjunkie]

Thanks Cougar,
yes, after reading TONS of past threads, I have learned that alot of these guys are bike nuts..Thanks for the welcome.

[karospirit]

Dang, dang, DANG!!!
It's not the valve covers...My mech took the chrome cover off and told me that the leak comes from the upper part of the cylinder head below the valve covers ..if I understood him right. Kind of hard to visualize without the cylinder in front of me. He is not quite sure where the leak is from. he said right now it looks like the engine needs to come out and the cylinder needs to be taken apart...which is a much bigger job than anticipated. :'( Any ideas on the leak? Any experiences to share? ???

[lomax]

Cougar
Well, I gotta ask, is your bike at a Kawi dealer or a private mechanic? If its the mechanic that offered to adjust your valves on your first post, I'd be careful about letting him tear it down to far. Your mechanic states the leak is below the valve cover and at the top of the head. If its not the valve cover, about the only other thing that causes problems in that area is the camshaft seals. Just how far apart does your mechanic wanna take your engine? If the valve cover is off now, then he must have at least lowered it in the frame cause thats the only way to get it off short of pulling the motor right out. So he is very close to the cam seals now. If the leak/leaks were on the top left of the front jug, or top right of the rear jug, then its likely the cam seal/seals. Cam seal leaks are a very common problem with our bikes and would be my best guess without seeing where the leak was. Good luck! :)

[karospirit]

Are the cam seals easily replaced? What needs to be done to do that?

[lomax]

...Cougar
If I understood correctly, your mechanic said the leak was not at the rocker cover gaskets so I presume those covers are off. You need to unbolt and remove the rocker cases. Once they are off, you will see the cam seal. The seal sits half in the cyl head and half in the rocker box and just pulls out straight off the camshaft. A small bead of silicone on the bottom side of where the seal goes and slide the new one on. You should have a manual when doing this job unless you have someone totally familiar with the procedure. When the rocker box is off, do not turn them upside down cause this will allow the oil to run out of the hydraulic lifters and then they will have to be removed from the rocker box to prime them . Don't ask me how I know this! :) There is no gasket between the cyl head and rocker box. Instead, Makaw has chosen to use a bead of silicone to make this seal. At least for the 1500 engine and I presume for the 1600. Again, you should have a manual for this job.

[macmac]

rallyjunkie, and Cougar, You both need to have a look at the spark plug wire holes near these leaks. As seated right side rear clyinder. Simply pull the plug wire out, easy and slow, so as not to disturb any 'evidence'. If these are clean and dry wires then just put them back on, and I will be WRONG.

If these wires show signs of engine oil the problem will be evident, and that is the cam chain has stretched and cut the tubing the spark plug resides with in.

This problem isn't so very bad. If this turns out to be the problem, cam chain extenders and a new tube are the parts you would need.

Gadjet has a 'How To' on getting this done.

I have no way to 'see', so I could be wrong.

[rallyjunkie]

Thanks for the help MacMac,
After looking at the area, I noticed that the oil "very small amount" appears to be coming from under the chrome valve cover. There is no sign of any oil around the plug wire, or below the full cyl. rib above the plug..I rode saturday, putting around 120 miles on, and at every stop did not notice ANY oil..When I got home and parked it, and rechecked it an hour later, there was a small amount. .You can wipe off the oil with 1 swipe of your finger..not much there...Is this the valve cover leaking, or?..I can take pics of the area if need be.

[macmac]

I sure would like a pic, as neither my 01, nor my 06 Nomads leak anything... The 01 was stolen, and replaced with the 06. I don't have 2 nomads..

It is quite a chore to drop the engine enough to remove the upper parts from out under the frame. The cheat so far as i know is to do much of what you would to pull the engine out..

But you stop before the engine is out.. I am not sure if that can be done leaving the swing arm in place or not.

According to the book the chrome cover must lift straight up to get it out about as high as it is tall.

Then other finned pieces are can come off to the sides, 2 each per jub, and then the same thing starts over with the real valve cover, just to get to the (2) cam saft seals.

It appears as the chrome cover uses a gasket, and the rest is one or another form of sealers..

To me it appears as the engine needs to be lowwered to total the distance between the frame and the top of the real cylinder head as much as the chrome cover is tall.

There may be a cheat in simply checking the 12 bolts on the top of each jug to be snug and evenly torqued to 78 INCH POUNDS. (Note 1600 specs as I have none for any 1500's)

[karospirit]

Well, here is the update: My mech lowered the engine, looked at the cylinders and found out it's not the valve covers. It's the head gasket. He is going to seal it from the outside (it's a cheat) to save me from disassembling the engine and paying with an arm and a leg.
One year ago (bike had a previous owner then) the engine was rebuilt. They probably haven't done that right. Idk. It's a 2003 Nomad 1500, btw.
Thank yo guys for all the help and information. I surely learn a lot with you. :)

[macmac]

Ouch..... You will want to put some pennies away for this one, and keep an eye on it. To keep an eye on this one every so often it will be a wise idea to pull both spark plugs and look for oil.

If not then one day it will be likely you will discover a stream of gray blue smoke emitting from the exhaust. The head gasket contains all the compression and the power the piston combined with the cylinder bore makes, and is critical to engine operations.

So long as the leak is external the cheat should be ok, but once the leak developes internally there will be no choice other than to replace both head gaskets.

Head gaskets blow from time to time, since they are under stress, from heating and cooling, which make the metal parts bigger and smaller.

If there is a sudden change in coolant level, and or you see white smoke, stop the engine ASAP and have the head gaskets replaced as a set.

If coolant gets into the combustion chamber it will wash the oil of the cylinder walls, the piston, and the piston rings and create a hot spot, which will incure metalic skuffing on these critical parts.

The head gaskets hold compression, and seal oil and coolant passages, and this is never a good thing.

If this bike engine ever over heated this can warp a cylinder head. Depending on the engine set up most of the time some machine work can repair this to as good as new. I would have to look in the book more to see into the problem.