I am attending to the business end of the bike whilst I check the valve clearance (oil mist near/around valve cover gasket), Happy to report that at 12k km, valve clearances are still spot on, except for one exhaust valve (no 4) which is 0.276mm (still within range but not in the middle like the others).

Anyway, is there any order in the universe of valve cover installation so as to have a hassle free installation, and a tight seal? I've read Noel's post about sealant on the gasket, so I'm thinking:

1. Clean up surfaces and gasket with solvent;
2. Goo go on the valve cover, then place the gasket on it, leave to dry (so it doesn't fall off when reinstalling the cover);
3. Goo on the cylinder head, then place valve cover (with stuck on gasket) onto it;
4. Torque it down, and wait for 24 hours.

Please make any suggestion, or modification to above as you see fit. It wasn't easy getting the valve cover off, so I'm sure what I did probably could do with improvement. Thanks in advance.

Paul;
Goo in the top of the gasket, install gasket on cover, then install cover with gasket tighten bolts.....

You're trying to flatten the gasket with the head

When it cures, remove the cover/gasket clean the head mating surface and put a very light coat of goo on it

remount and you're good to go

Good catch Noel, I completely forgot about compressing the gasket because I was obsessed with ease of installation.

Move the radiator out of the way. Did you take off the throttle bodies? Getting everything out of the way possible eases the installation. It is the radiator hose, reservoir and its hose that cause the most trouble. Maneuvering around all that can knock the gasket out of the cover, and seeing that the gasket is still in place is difficult.

Most critical area is the half moons in the cam cut out areas. They have an inner and outer lip on the gasket that needs to be positioned properly. This is the area the factory says to put sealant on.

Just go slow and pay attention to the half moons before tightening down those bolts.

Ed;
My cover weeps all the way across the front, but not at the half moons

Tell you anything?
I certainly don't want to do the job twice!

Paul do it my way

Ed, yes I removed the throttle body, very difficult at first as I didn't want to break anything so I had to go in gently, but after half a day trying I called revhead1957 and he pointed me to the cast-in tabs on the throttle body that fits a crow bar perfectly and it took all but ten seconds to pry it loose using the tabs. The rest was reasonably straight forward as I had figured the reservoir hose clash with the ridge in the cover, and to deal with that I just shifted the cover slightly sideway then drop down.

Noel, I did it your way, (no brainer and thanks again) it's the way to go in order to properly compress (ie in two steps) the tongue n groove (top of the gasket) and the corrugation (bottom of the gasket), and have the goo fill gaps for a tight seal.

Perhaps you are doing it wrong?

Love you man!

Noel's cover weeps because he doesn't ever replace the gasket.
But everyone has their own method/rationale.

As for the half moons....they are unsupported by a groove where they fit into the head. There is a small ridge on the inner and outer edge of the moon. If this ridge is not seated cleanly the moon can leak. Hence instruction to apply sealant in this area on not just MVs but also Suzukis, Yamahas, Hondas.etc etc etc.

I was at a dealer just last month where the tech had done a valve clearance inspection on a big overhead valve v-twin. After getting it all together he did a throttle body synchronization. Life was good, put the air cleaner box back on, hooked everything up and did a final test start before taking it off the lift....funny huffing sound and oil spraying out left side.

The rear valve cover gasket intake cam half moon was slightly pushed out of place. Took it all back apart and discovered that moon had been installed just slightly out of place, compressing the inner ridge and failing to hold under the big V-Twin's crankcase pressure. Held on just long enough to do the throttle synch.

Technician error. New gasket installed and all is well....except for his lost time and a damaged part.


Like I said: take your time, do it right and pay close attention to those half moons.

Only one thing wrong with your fairy tale Ed.......

I've never taken the valve cover off

I've fixed the leaks at the reed valves and the F4 cover (never seen a flat one, but I make them flat
with a 16" Apex disc grinder and then RTV silicone)

I believe my Brutale was serviced at ProItalia, I know my F4 was ....
Apparently it was a come back and a Professional Mechanic porch monkey sabotaged the motor.....
It has new cams and buckets, the cams were out of time ....Here's what happened to my
5mm SnapOn Allen wrench when I removed the 6mm cam bearingblock bolts



Ed;
I have an '04 Aprilia RSVR.......the valve cover gaskets last 9-11,000mi and then they pour oil down the exhaust sides
of the heads.....using my method, 2 stages of RTV, the original gaskets have lasted 30,000mi and don't leak at all
Using new gaskets I could be ready to do the job for the 3rd time and would have to order and pay for the gaskets 3 times
and they're not free either

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See...that's what I said !!! You never replaced it.