I wanted to quickly post about part of the work I just did on my scoot. I Had the rocker boxes apart and put in new breather assemblies. I did the front cylinder and everything went just fine. It was time for bed so I decided to do the rear cylinder's breather assembly in the morning. Everything was going along fine as it really is a simple job to do. I put the right side bolt in finger tight and then did the same to the left side bolt. I then went and snugged the right side bolt down with my ratchet and socket. I followed this up with the left side. I always do it this way; finger tight, snugged down with ratchet, and finally torqued to specification. And this is where disaster hit me. As I was snugging the left side bolt down, the power of hydraulics (I think) reared its ugly head. I heard a loud tinny pop followed by a tinkling sound. The left side breather assembly bolt screws into a blind hole in the cylinder head casting just behind the spark plug. It is nothing more than a "pimple" in the casting (see picture below). The tinny pop I heard was that pimple like protrusion in the casting snapping off and the tinkling sound was that broken off piece hitting the concrete floor in my garage. Of course the sound following that was me screaming/crying/wailing like a baby with his pacifier taken away for the first time.
So now what? OK, I calmly (not really but it sounds better) thought the whole thing through. There really doesn't seem to be any real pressure in the rocker box and all I really had to be concerned with was losing oil through that bolt hole that was now a through hole rather than a blind hole. I checked and confirmed that the bolt did still tighten to torque specification. I then researched what the price of a new cylinder head would cost. Of course I had to add on the price of either having someone transfer the valves from my head to the new one or buying the tools to do it myself. After I cried some more (pricing came out to a bit over $1k either way and I've just been laid off) I made the decision to try something low tech, simple, and cost effective. I went ahead and used some Permatex Ultra Grey Rigid High-Torque RTV Silicone Gasket Maker. I put it on the left bolt just as I would use thread locker. I also went ahead and put it under the flange head on the bolt. I then went ahead and torqued that puppy down and wiped up any excess that seeped out after torquing the bolt. I then put a little bit on my finger and put it under the cylinder head where the casting broke. Like I said, it sits behind the spark plug so you can't see anything. On top of that I have the Accel Super Stealth coil on plug units so my disaster is completely hidden.
Today I did my second ride after all my work. Both rides were 75-100 miles and I made sure to ride the bike harder than usual. Careful post ride inspections show no oil leaks. Hooray!!!! I'm sure I'll get blasted for my repair but it really is all I can do for now. Maybe by winter I will have the money to replace the cylinder head and do the valve replacement myself. I just cannot get over the power of hydraulics. I have never heard of anything like that happening. I even took the old bolt and measured it and the new one to make sure I didn't accidentally use a longer bolt.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Oh, I also want to add that prior to this I did have quite a bit of oil in my air cleaner and now I do not seem to have any. My bike is now at 50k on the odometer. I'm wondering how often should the breather assemblies be replaced? I double checked my service manual and it is not listed in terms of scheduling. Does anyone know of a recommended schedule for replacing them?
Thanks for letting me ramble.
So now what? OK, I calmly (not really but it sounds better) thought the whole thing through. There really doesn't seem to be any real pressure in the rocker box and all I really had to be concerned with was losing oil through that bolt hole that was now a through hole rather than a blind hole. I checked and confirmed that the bolt did still tighten to torque specification. I then researched what the price of a new cylinder head would cost. Of course I had to add on the price of either having someone transfer the valves from my head to the new one or buying the tools to do it myself. After I cried some more (pricing came out to a bit over $1k either way and I've just been laid off) I made the decision to try something low tech, simple, and cost effective. I went ahead and used some Permatex Ultra Grey Rigid High-Torque RTV Silicone Gasket Maker. I put it on the left bolt just as I would use thread locker. I also went ahead and put it under the flange head on the bolt. I then went ahead and torqued that puppy down and wiped up any excess that seeped out after torquing the bolt. I then put a little bit on my finger and put it under the cylinder head where the casting broke. Like I said, it sits behind the spark plug so you can't see anything. On top of that I have the Accel Super Stealth coil on plug units so my disaster is completely hidden.
Today I did my second ride after all my work. Both rides were 75-100 miles and I made sure to ride the bike harder than usual. Careful post ride inspections show no oil leaks. Hooray!!!! I'm sure I'll get blasted for my repair but it really is all I can do for now. Maybe by winter I will have the money to replace the cylinder head and do the valve replacement myself. I just cannot get over the power of hydraulics. I have never heard of anything like that happening. I even took the old bolt and measured it and the new one to make sure I didn't accidentally use a longer bolt.
Has this happened to anyone else?
Oh, I also want to add that prior to this I did have quite a bit of oil in my air cleaner and now I do not seem to have any. My bike is now at 50k on the odometer. I'm wondering how often should the breather assemblies be replaced? I double checked my service manual and it is not listed in terms of scheduling. Does anyone know of a recommended schedule for replacing them?
Thanks for letting me ramble.
