vic28222 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I am in the midst of tearing my 99 VFR800 down to do a valve check and the rear Valve Cover (Cylinder head cover) will not come off. I have removed the plugs, the hoses, the coils to get them out of the way and the four bolts that hold the cover to the head and it will not come off. I have pulled on it and tapped it with a block of wood and a hammer and it will not come off! The bike has 51K on it. At about 16K I checked the valves and did not have any trouble getting the cover off. Several valves (3) were close to the outer limits but were still in spec so I buttoned it back up. At 32K I had a mechanic adjust the valves and bring all of them closer to the midpoint of spec. Now at 51K I cannot get the cover off. I called the mechanic to see if he had used anything like Hondabond or similar all the way around the gasket and he said no. He said he did use Hondabond on the cam cutouts (half circles) but that is all. He suggested that I spray a little brake cleaner on the edge of the gasket to help loosen it up, which I did, but it still won't come loose. Anyone else ever have this happen and, if so, how did you break the cover loose? I can't pull on it any harder and I am reluctant to hit it any harder than I have. For the sake of time since I am in the middle of this project, please send any suggestions to vic5491@yahoo.com (vic5491 at yahoo dot com) so they will get to me asap as well as post to here for the benefit of anyone else who may have this problem at some future date. Thanks in advance for your help. I am stumpted and stuck and need to move ahead. Cheers, Vic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 maybe try PB Blaster--- just a suggestion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic28222 Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 I finally got it off by spraying Liquid Wrench around edge of gasket for 2 days. What a PITA. The last mechanic that had the valve cover off put it back on with a generous coat of Hondabond all the way around the gasket. Did the same on the front too. As a result, I had to buy all new gaskets... $94. Getting them off ruined the gaskets. BTW, what sealant is good to put on the half moon areas on the new gaskets when reinstalling them? I do not want to use Hondabond after this experience. I am thinking I will use Permatex Ultra Rubber Gasket Sealant. Any thoughts on this? Vic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PACIFICMAN Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I used Permatex Anti-Seize when I would check / adjust the valve on my old Kawasaki. It allowed the valve cover gasket to be reused and did not leak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoothsailin Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Did you pay to have a mechanic at a Honda dealership check the valve clearances last time? If so, I'd take the old gaskets to the service department to prove how gasket sealant was used improperly, then direct them to service manual pages 1-21 and 8-34 which both clearly show the use of sealant was only recommended around the semi-circular cutouts in the cylinder heads and cylinder head covers. I'd then demand that the dealearship cover your cost to replace the gaskets, If they say "no" I'd still push for them to cover at least 1/2 the cost, for it's obvious the prior mechanic caused the problem you experienced. Although after +/- 12 years' use replacement of the valve cover gaskets might have been worth considering anyway. However, based on my experience I've concluded that Honda seems to use top quality rubber materials in their hoses & gaskets. Although I've had the valve covers off my '94 St1100 several times over the years, I've always re-used the original gaskets and (so far) none of them have ever leaked as long as they were correctly positioned upon reassembly. Also, last year I paid an ex-Honda mechanic to replace my ST1100's timing belt and clean the carburetors. I also asked him to check the condition of all the coolant and vacuum hoses while the plastic and carburators were off. He told me they were fine despite the mileage (89k) and years' use (16+). I'm curious: Did you find all the valve clearances still near the middle of the recommend range of clearances this time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MBrane Posted February 26, 2012 Member Contributer Share Posted February 26, 2012 I finally got it off by spraying Liquid Wrench around edge of gasket for 2 days. What a PITA. The last mechanic that had the valve cover off put it back on with a generous coat of Hondabond all the way around the gasket. Did the same on the front too. As a result, I had to buy all new gaskets... $94. Getting them off ruined the gaskets. BTW, what sealant is good to put on the half moon areas on the new gaskets when reinstalling them? I do not want to use Hondabond after this experience. I am thinking I will use Permatex Ultra Rubber Gasket Sealant. Any thoughts on this? Vic I use a light coating of Gasgacinch on the cover side of the gasket, and a light coating of fresh oil on the head side. They will "seep" around the the edges a bit this way, but will come right off next time, and be reusable many times. If for some reason you do need to remove the gasket from the cover it will come off without damage, and the Gasgacinch is pretty easy to remove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic28222 Posted March 26, 2012 Author Share Posted March 26, 2012 I did pay a Honda mechanic to do the previous valve adjustment but he did it on the weekend from home at a greatly reduced price. I spoke with him about his excessive use of Hondabond and he said that normally he requires customers to buy new gaskets at the 36K service but since I resisted this, he put the Hondabond on to be sure "the old gasket" did not leak. Personally I think his doing so covered his ass at my expense but I was not willing to strain the relationship by arguing with him. I bought new gaskets ($94 with tax) and put it back together and have simply moved on. The valves were still all in spec which is the main thing I was concerned about. Vic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.