Cam chain cover gasket

[Guest RFusi]

Hi all. My '03 sport blew the cam chain cover gasket and pumped ( I do mean pumped) oil all over my boot and the right side of the bike and back tire.

 

I am lucky that i am not in the hospital as just prior to noticing it, I had gone through a nice little twisty section at 80+.

 

Guzzi sez it is from "over spray" at the factory.

 

Closest Guzzi dealer..........Little Rock or Eldorado, Arkansas. 3 and a half hour drive.

 

DoHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

Randy

[Guest northend]

Same thing happend to me but it was the outside oil line at the front of the motor came loose. Thank God I caught the traffic light before the right hand turn (1/8th. mile up the road). Right side of mine was also covered with oil. The Le Mans was only a couple of weeks old when this happened,and would be a good thing to check . I was not happy to say the least , and could've been very painful .

 

Best of luck .........Jeff

[Guest Thundering Subash]

Many other posts on this exact problem. I have an '02 Lemans, which has been in the shop TWICE this summer (the first summer that it has been on the road) for this issue. As a matter of fact, I just picked it up from the shop on Friday after the so called 2nd fix, and it leaked a nice puddle on the floor of my garage as soon as I parked it. Hopefully thinking that perhaps it could be the result of some residual oil on the motor (silly me) I washed and rinsed the motor thoroughly, took it for a nice long ride in the brisk Minnesota 40 degree weather, and found that it was indeed leaking, finding a nice puddle of fresh oil on the ground when I stopped to fill the gas tank.

 

To be honest, I'm at a loss.

 

While I love my bike, and all is forgiven when I get on it and ride, it is a bit much to have these kind of issues with a new bike.

 

 

Any suggestions on what my dealer should be doing different to once and for all solve this leaking timing gasket cover problem.

 

Ride on.

 

-Chris

[al_roethlisberger]

Hrmmm, hard to say. But some thoughts...

 

1) Make sure the threads on the fasteners and threaded hole are clear of paint and debris

 

2) Make certain that the mating surfaces of the engine case and timing chain cover are also clear of paint and any debris

 

3) New gasket

 

4) Perhaps a THIN coat of silicone gasket sealer??

 

Mine failed within a month of owning the bike, but has so far held up since it was replaced. I had heard that the surfaces hadn't been properly prepared, and had some paint on them. But I had also heard that in many examples, the fasteners simply weren't tighted

 

Good luck

[Guest Jeff Kelland]

My experience is the same as Al's, leaked within a month. It has been fine ever since, 9500 miles, no further leaks.

[Guest motorheadbob]

My gasket started to leak badly at 600 miles,dealer 3hours away.i chose to replace gasket myself,gasket was pinched when built.Check for paint under screws retighten screws after running for awile .No leaks in 8000 miles.I also found a crossthreaded bolt on front motor mount,Good time to check all fasteners and locktight them! :

[belfastguzzi]

Seems like the same problem I posted about earlier. I have put instant gasket on the outside to see if it will seal the leak. I then smeared black sealer over the blue stuff.

 

I suspect that the gasket could have been damaged on assembly at the factory. I noticed that bits of gasket were sticking out of the joint at the engine mount area, where the leak seems to be.

 

I've also encountered the flaking black wrinkly now. The leaked oil seems to have got into or under the black finish and it peeled off around the leak.

[mik]

I've seen the mechanic at the local MG shop replace a bunch of these gaskets. It seems that most of them are 'pinched' or torn slightly from not enough care being taken at the factory. The gaskets are so thin and flimsy that a fine coating of silicone does help hold them flat onto the stationary surface allowing for a more trouble free installation of the cover. I just hope that my LeMans ...an '03, doesn't suffer from this malady. I was told to check everything on the motorcycle for tightness after riding it for the first 40 or 50 miles...nothing fell off or leaked. Thats all I had time for before winter set in. I guess I'll find out for sure in the spring what riding a 'Guzzi' is all about.

[twhitaker]

For a while I thought my timing chain cover gasket was leaking. A closer inspection revealed it was actually the ignition timing pickup.