Valve cover bolts

[musicman]

So I've only had my FJ for 200 miles or so now, last night on the way home from work (little after midnight), the oil low light starting coming on and going off on the highway, first thoughts were "crap, must be an oil burner". Well, it came on steady and stayed on, turned off the highway, and being about 4 miles from home with an up-hill ride to my house, I idled it up the road a little ways, and before I knew it I had oil on my helmet, windshield, all over the bike (least it won't rust!), it's everywhere. Called around and found someone awake with a trailer at 12:30 in the morning to come get me home. I shut her down before it started making sounds of it's displeasure. Today I start pulling the bike apart to figure out what the heck happened, get the tank off finally, and I have a missing valve cover bolt, and washer, hoped it fell down next to a plug but it's gone entirely. And ALL the valve cover bolts weren't even finger tight.

So my thoughts are this vibrating 4 banger is working the bolts loose, are they supposed to have a thread locker on them? Next question, since now I have parts to replace, what all makes up the bolts for the VC? Bolt, washer, is there a rubber seal? Anything o\in the aftermarket or do I need to hit the dealer for my newly missing bits? Gotta say I'm frustrated, doesn't feel good when the bike you just bought this week takes a dump  Least it's an easy fix though, and the engine is ok.

TIA!

[Yamifj1200]

Don't blame the bike, blame the previous owner. I have a tad over 110,000 miles on mine and it has never lost a valve cover bolt or any other bolt due to vibration. I'd say who ever worked on it last didn't properly tighten up the valve cover bolts.

The valve cover bolts are shoulder bolts designed to tighten down on the camshaft caps. If you look at this link you should be able to see where the valve cover bolts go.
http://www.yamahasportsplaza.com/pages/oemparts?aribrand=YAM#/Yamaha/FJ1200B_-_1991/CYLINDER_HEAD/FJ1200B_(1991_MOTORCYCLE)/CYLINDER_HEAD_(FJ1200B_-_1991)

When replacing these bolts be use care not to overtighten them, they are easily broken it overtightened. HTH


Eric M

[FJmonkey]

Check with Randy at RPM, anything FJ engine related, he has it. http://rpmracingca.com/

[SlowOldGuy]

When replacing these bolts be use care not to overtighten them, they are easily broken it overtightened. HTH

Also, if you overtighten them, you will risk stripping the threads in the ALUMINUM cam cap.  It can be repaired, but it's not a fun job keeping the resulting aluminum shavings out of the oil passages.

DavidR.

[bigbore2]

I bought new seals from Randy and installed them and no leaks at all.  Previously had just bought bike and oil all over engine. The bolt will stop on its own as it bottoms out compressing the rubber seal, and just a small amount more of tightening is needed. Maybe 1/16 of a full rotation, just enough to snug them. Clean where seals go before tightening.

[racerrad8]

A couple of things you should check...

Most of the ones I have seen come out of the engine were a result of stripped cam cap threads. If the threads are stripped, then you need to remove the cam cover and the stripped cam cap. A Heli-Coil can then be installed and the cap reinstalled.

The other issue would be if the cam cap thread into the head are stripped. The cap comes loose allowing the bolt to loosen and fall out.

I recommend replacing the V/C gasket & all eight grommet to ensure the gasket & grommets are not so hard they are causing the threads to strip since they cannot compress.

I have a good used bolt & washer I can throw in if you order the other parts.

Randy - RPM

[musicman]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

My thoughts are the PO had a valve adjustment done, possibly a valve cover gasket (can't for the life of me read the mechanic's writing on the receipts very well...). I ordered a new bolt, washer, and grommet from a dealer in the area just to get me on the road again, should be in soon. As with every bike I've owned, I plan to tear into this thing this winter and go through it, so in a couple months I'll pull the cover off and go through the valves, replace all the grommets, gaskets, etc. As for the threads, they're fine, my only guess is since all the bolts weren't even finger tight that the shop forgot to torque them down, and I got to be the lucky guy who had one do the twist and take a hike.