Another Head Weeping Followup

Bedifferent

Old man on a bike
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
1,764
Location
Coldwater, MI
Ride
2015 Rocket 3 Touring
I have made several posts about this and here is the original

Tell me this isn't happening!!

I decided to try this fix and see what happens. I have outlined what I did as follows...

After deciding the most likely spot of where my oil weep was on the head, I decided to fix things with least intrusive repair possible. As I have mentioned, I can find no evidence the weeping is coming from the gasket. The spot with the arrow in the picture seems to have oil weeping through the RTV silicone I had put over it on an earlier occasion. When I touched my finger to that area, the RTV was spongy and there was oil on my finger from just that spot. Thus, I think it is coming from behind the area.

The first thing I did was remove the valve cover bolt at that location on the head. I ground a little over a 1/16 th of an inch off the end of the bolt. I thought it might be bottoming out making matters worse. When I gave that bolt an 1/8 th of a turn the weeping seemed to be worse in an earlier effort to isolate the leak. There was also oil at the bottom of the bolt hole which I removed before putting the bolt back in.

Next I ground a small area clean with my dremel and used a small dremel wire wheel to further clean things up. I tried not to get to carried away... and used disk brake cleaner to further clean the area. I then applied a two part mix and coat of JB Weld Quik Steel Epoxy to the area. Only a 300 degrees rating, but I wanted a more fluid sealer in the area first. After that set, I molded some Blue Magic Quik Steel Epoxy Putty over the area. It is suppose to be good to 500 degrees and impervious to chemicals. Lastly I smeared some Mac's Black RTV sealant over the patch area to blend and color match things. I found this spray can (see picture) of Design Engineering Hi-Temp Silicon Coating 1500 Degrees. After a test spray on a piece of pipe it appears to be a perfect color match with the low satin finish on the engine. Typical of what I see after washing and putting some Engine Brite on the engine. I'll mask things around the area and hit the repair spot with a little spray of the silicone coating for a finishing touch at a later date. Recommendations call for warmer temps.

I'll do a follow up as to the status of where I'm at after I have had a chance to do some riding. The weather is not great at the moment.

If I still have a weep spot, I guess I will have to rethink what I will do next and where I went wrong with this repair and the leak. I still do not think it's the gasket.

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Bummer this has happened. FWIW, never use silicon, except for gasket areas. Getting something to properly bond after silicon has been applied is a real challenge.
 
If your repair doesn't work there's a coating you can apply on the inside of the head that will prevent weeping in the future. Application is a bear, but, it'll never weep again after being applied.

Makes me wonder where all the weeping heads are so I can fix em lol.

 
I took the ole beast out for about an hour today. No oil weeping or leaking anywhere. If you didn't know, you would never notice where I fixed it. All is pretty well blended in and the paint is a match. Hopefully I will still get a few more rides in this year and give one last update. I guess the true test will be a long ride on a 90 degree hot summer day.

Obviously... a new head would be best, but I can live with this.
 
FYI...I thought I would do a final follow up on a problem I had with my cylinder head weeping oil from what I suspect was a porous casting. I have put quite a few miles on my bike under hot conditions since I posted this fix and I am happy to report I have no more oil seepage. Maybe not the best way to fix things, but it seems to have done the trick.

Thanks guys for all the alternative suggestions everyone gave me.
 
If your repair doesn't work there's a coating you can apply on the inside of the head that will prevent weeping in the future. Application is a bear, but, it'll never weep again after being applied.

Makes me wonder where all the weeping heads are so I can fix em lol.


That has to be one of the best technical presentations I've seen - even if I never have the desire to coat the inside of my engine.
 
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