VICTORY! [Erm ... I think ;-) ]Norge Valdez in Galax

[Bill Hagan]

... Virginia.

Heading home from the western N.Y. rally. 

OK, sort of.

Larry and I left that Friday a week ago, then rocked and rolled on back roads over several days to Atlanta.  Larry rode on home to Florida, and I stayed to be with Mom for a bit.

Then, this morning, headed back to Virginia.  370 VERY WET miles, and the Norge was a grand mount. 





Until.
 








Assume (yes, I know) failed valve-cover gasket.

All fasteners are snug.  No oil anywhere except what you see in these pix other than splash-back on pork chop that I cleaned off.

Kathi is driving up from Atlanta tomorrow, so will pick me up, and I'll come back Monday with the trailer.

Bill
 

[wrbix]

Top it up (if even needed), ride it home.

[Dharma Bum]

Pick up some cheap rain pants to keep the oil off your legs and ride it home.

[Lcarlson]

Top it up (if even needed), ride it home.

Agree -- you don't need a trailer. Ride it home.

[pete roper]

Gasket fail. Easy fix. Get a pair of the Valpolini gaskets sold by MG cycle and probably others.

To get you home though Bill just lift the rocker cover, peel off the offending gasket and shit-can it then using a VERY THIN smear of T here one or some other high temp sealant on the mating surface of the cover and install it cold. Let it sit for an hour and then ride. Betcha it won't leak. Do replace with a Valpolini gasket when you get home though. Definitely no need for trailer! If you have to cut a gasket out of a cornflake packet like we used to when we were young, poor and riding leaky old pommy crap!

Pete

[beetle]

I had a recent experience like this after gravity snatched the Griso from my hands at 1 mph. Oil will spray onto your leg and make you a better motorcyclist. There's at least 3 litres of oil in there. Chances are you'll lose less than a litre and be able to stand tall, covered in oil. Kathi will admire you for that, I'm sure.

[Huzo]

Same thing happened with my '07 in Italy. Ditched the original ones which were totally shite and installed new green ones I got from Agostini's earlier, problem gone. Still reckon they look better with the lower fairing panels off...BTW, can I have my bike back please ?

[Bill Hagan]

Thanks all.

You are, however, missing a point that I did not mention: coming back down with the trailer gets me out of all sorts of work at home!  We've been gone for almost two weeks, and Kathi will want to water trees, etc.  I would, however, be on the road with my little -- newly suspended POS but beloved -- truck on a real-life and undeniable mission.   

But, we did just try with Kathi and Mike Craven on a conference call to find his gaskets in his garage.  We are staying at their place in Atlanta, as they, too, are away from home; they spend the night in Cross Junction with us on their return to Atlanta.  FAIL, as would have required Kathi to pivot his Norge on center stand; recipe for disaster.    Would have been one of those lucky things, as Kathi is coming by here c.noon to pick me up or cheer me on, gasket repair depending.

So, there is an O'Reilly's in Galax in sight of the hotel here.  It opens at 9 so I'll be down there to buy some high-temp gasket sealer.

Not sure how hotel management will feel about my doing depot-level maintenance out there on their drive-through loggia, but c'est la vie.    Actually, the manager -- not unsurprisingly a Mr. Patel -- is supportive and a near gearhead.

So, off to get some coffee and food Kathi would frown at my eating and get started.   

Bill

[pete roper]

Make sure you get all the old gasket off Bill or it will just leak again. And check both the head and the cover mating surfaces........

[Bill Hagan]

Make sure you get all the old gasket off Bill or it will just leak again. And check both the head and the cover mating surfaces........

Thanks, Pete.

I knew that, but have no scraper so would no doubt have been cursing soon. 

Will pick up something to do that chore (carefully!) when I buy the sealer.

BTW, MGCycles does not -- or, at least, I did not see -- actual mention of the name "Valpolini" in their list of gaskets.  I will order some for my harem when I get home.

Thanks again.

Bill

[Chuck in Indiana]

Shades of deja vu all over again. And, no.. he wouldn't have ridden it home. It lost half a quart in less than 20 miles back to camp from town..
Edit to add picture
2017-06-04_01-31-41 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

BTW, MGCycles does not -- or, at least, I did not see -- actual mention of the name "Valpolini" in their list of gaskets.  I will order some for my harem when I get home.

http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=170_174&products_id=4634

[Zoom Zoom]

Look on the bright side Bill. This is a much easier fix than a nail in your tire............. Like you have ever had that happen.

John Henry

[Bill Hagan]

http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=170_174&products_id=4634

Ordered!

Thanks, Charlie. 

You know, you could get here and "supervise" in a just few hours after Ingram's.  C'mon down.   

Oh, and thanks, too, John H.    As long as we are here -- tires -- MPR4's are awesome in wear and, more importantly, traction.  Never a worry on wet roads yesterday at a faster pace than I should have been riding.

Bill



 

[Lannis]

Not sure how hotel management will feel about my doing depot-level maintenance out there on their drive-through loggia, but c'est la vie.    Actually, the manager -- not unsurprisingly a Mr. Patel -- is supportive and a near gearhead.

Bill

I think that the Patel consortium (means "innkeeper" in Pakistan) has about 60% of the hotel rooms in the country now, so not too surprising as you say.

Your experience in having an oil-tolerant hotel manager is not as unusual as it used to be.   A few years back, three of us were riding our BSAs (a '55 M21, a '68 441 Shooting Star, and a '69 Firebird) up the east coast and back and stopped for the night in a Hilton at Niagara falls.   

All these bikes after a hard days ride would drip a little oil, from the chain oiler tubes if nowhere else.  We were prepared to park in a back corner of the lot, but the desk clerk encouraged us to park right under the forecourt shelter, in front of the main door.   We said "These bikes will drip some oil, though" and he said "We're used to that - we can clean it up.   People like seeing these old bikes like that, we get comments all the time when we have them."

Possible that our economic clout as motorcyclists is being felt these days!!!   Plus we have a pretty good on-line network to "get the word out".   I don't expect to be able to park under everyone's awning, but no one has discouraged me yet ....

Lannis

[Dean Rose]

Bill, I could take the gaskets off the Breva 1100 and bring to you, they are the silicone ones.

Dean

[Bill Hagan]

Bill, I could take the gaskets off the Breva 1100 and bring to you, they are the silicone ones.

Dean

Guzzisti are awesome.

Thanks, Dean. That would be your second rescue attempt of me in Virginia in the last well 12 years comma. Tempest does indeed Fugate. I have the valve cover almost off and bought some sealant which I intend to put on after scraping said valve cover. So many thanks for that extraordinary kind offer. If this attempt on the road fails, Kathy will be here at 1 and I'll be back with a trailer tomorrow. I dictated this and I'm going to post it without editing hope there's nothing embarrassing in autocorrect.

[Bill Hagan]

Well, untested victory, anyway, but I cannot imagine -- nor do I want to -- that this temp fix will be worse than the failed gasket's leakage.

Anyway, here's a pic of the work in progress.  Was too hot to wear gear, and I managed somehow not to get any oil on the street clothes.  When Kathi takes pix of me (as rare as I let that happen  ), she always tells me to suck in my gut.  Here, the cutie behind the desk didn't, so the truth hurts.   





I do not look forward to getting that liquid-gasket goop off, but I did use as little as I could yet still ensure full coverage.

Kathi shows up soon in the Fit with some ENI 10-60 she stole from Mike Craven -- Mike, if you see this, I'll give you one of mine tonight!     I'll add some -- it's at bottom of line now -- and watch for need for more.  Hopefully little to none.

Seriously, I VERY much appreciate the assistance from you folks here, with special gratitude to Pete and Dean.    World class friends.

OTOH, if I make it home without more moto-drama, I'll curse you all when I am working around the house tomorrow when I could be happily towing my trailer.   

Bill

[JeffOlson]

I'm glad you were able to repair your Norge. Now you've got me thinking that I should always carry a tool kit when I ride my Norge...

[ken farr]

Love your posts, Bill.

It is the PITA things that make it an adventure, and a cool story later on.

....and Dean Rose, 2 rescue attempts for you, and he held a hand out for my daughter years ago when she and other Keydets were stranded, he's a better man than
I ever will be.


Gotta really love this place.


kjf

[Huzo]

It really is worth the 5 minutes it takes to remove the tank, the top section is hard to get to otherwise.

[Lannis]

Gasket fail. Easy fix. Get a pair of the Valpolini gaskets sold by MG cycle and probably others.

To get you home though Bill just lift the rocker cover, peel off the offending gasket and shit-can it then using a VERY THIN smear of T here one or some other high temp sealant on the mating surface of the cover and install it cold. Let it sit for an hour and then ride. Betcha it won't leak. Do replace with a Valpolini gasket when you get home though. Definitely no need for trailer! If you have to cut a gasket out of a cornflake packet like we used to when we were young, poor and riding leaky old pommy crap!

Pete

Lemme ask this while we're on gaskets-on-the-side-of-the-road.

Unless the gasket is needed for dimensional spacing (in which case it will be copper or some kind of composite) or unless it's a rubber seal fitting into a groove or spline ....

.... why would you not just use a good anaerobic gasket product on a flat flange-to-flange interface, even in your shop?    I know it's a different thing in some ways, but the diesel mechanics hereabouts never use paper gaskets on metal-to-metal flat flanges, like timing covers or valve covers or chaincase covers .... they use Loctite 515 or 518.

I've reduced the incidence of leaks from my 4 old Brits considerably by going to this stuff ... AND you can carry it with you on the road ... !

Lannis

[Lash]

Well Bill - this is payback for trying to a) break my back and b) all those abrupt u-turns into off-camber, gravel parking lots.

My Norge had a few words with your Norge Tuesday morning . . . . . 

[rodekyll]

It looks like things are under control, so I'll mention my favorite "stop-gap" insta-gasket:  Waxed string or dental floss.

[jdgretz]

Hmm, must be that time of year.  The valve cover gasket on the right side of my Norge started leaking on my way back from breakfast at the Rock Store today.  Good thing I didn't head down to the Fathers Day bike show at Century Cycles but came back to the house.  I thought that I had changed that one to a silicone one at the last valve adjustment.  Maybe it was the left one    Guess I'll find out tomorrow when I pull the cover and take a look.  Fortunately I have a stack of the regular ones to get me back on the road.

jdg

[Muzz]

Good work Bill and all those who contributed.

I always carry a syringe of Loctite Master Gasket in the bike pack at all times. Had the same problem as you Bill, a 10 minute wait and it never leaked a drop and was replaced with the new type at the next valve clearance maintenance.

[Bill Hagan]

'Nuf said.





Well, tonight anyway.

Bourbon should not be kept waiting.   

Bill

[Travman]

Good job. Glad to see you made it home.

[Zoom Zoom]

Glad to see everything worked out for you Bill.

John Henry

[Kev m]

I do not look forward to getting that liquid-gasket goop off, but I did use as little as I could yet still ensure full coverage.

Did you go with silicone? If so you may be pleasantly surprised that it just peels right off, unlike say a dry valve cover gasket that bakes to the surface.