Post by ralph on Dec 5, 2018 19:03:22 GMT
Symptoms: 1) The engine runs, but there was an oil leak evident somewhere from the cylinder head. 2) white smoke (oil) from the left hand cylinder (as seen from the front).
A close look at the front of the cylinder head revealed oil covering one of the front cylinder head bolts (but not the other one)...
Thinking now that it's likely a head gasket problem, as that might explain both symptoms. But having got the rocker cover off, I discovered that the bolt in question was clearly not tightened up (as you can see from the slight gap between the top of the bolt and the copper washer)...
UNFORTUNATELY... the reason for this isn't that the bolt hadn't been tightened up... it's because it had been tightened up too much and the thread was stripped in the engine casing. So now the head and barrels have to come off and a helicoil insert fitted. Engine out so far, next weekend I may summon up the energy to strip it down. I'm wondering if the head has been damaged by the lack of an effective bolt... and whether I should go the whole hog and rebore it and recondition the valves?
Or just fix the bolt, put it back together and ride it!
A close look at the front of the cylinder head revealed oil covering one of the front cylinder head bolts (but not the other one)...
Thinking now that it's likely a head gasket problem, as that might explain both symptoms. But having got the rocker cover off, I discovered that the bolt in question was clearly not tightened up (as you can see from the slight gap between the top of the bolt and the copper washer)...
UNFORTUNATELY... the reason for this isn't that the bolt hadn't been tightened up... it's because it had been tightened up too much and the thread was stripped in the engine casing. So now the head and barrels have to come off and a helicoil insert fitted. Engine out so far, next weekend I may summon up the energy to strip it down. I'm wondering if the head has been damaged by the lack of an effective bolt... and whether I should go the whole hog and rebore it and recondition the valves?
Or just fix the bolt, put it back together and ride it!
