HarleyTechTalk

I took the head off and there is oil in the exhaust valve relief and all the way around the outside of the C.C. and touching both valves.
The exhaust port is carboned up but dry. The intake is oily with alot of carbon on back of intake valve. What do you think ?

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If the guides are tight I'd say throw a set of seals at it, Lap the valves and call it good.

I'll take the valves out this afternoon...Do you know where I can get the seals ?...These are green...Thanks !

How about Rowe? They are in Simi I think

Sound like viton,IMO,the best seals money can buy.Look the seal over real well BEFORE and after removing the valve.I've never had one fail !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cometic or Goodson.
John 

I think I caused the leak...I drilled and tapped 2 holes in a alum plate over the head to check for valve clearance...
Maybe some alum. debris escaped my clean up...I will hopefully have this apart tonight...Thanks

Quote from: jsachs1 on December 18, 2008, 03:18:26 PM
Sound like viton,IMO,the best seals money can buy.Look the seal over real well BEFORE and after removing the valve.I've never had one fail !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cometic or Goodson.
John 

Yah know John. That's what they said when they built the Titanic... " the best money can buy." Max

Bruce,
Titanic.Too many people and too much cargo.
Like using .600" lift cams with .500" clearence,like 5 lbs.of oh where am I going with this,LOL.
John

I don't know crap in this arena but those photos look pretty normal compared to what I have seen and the tops of the pistons look really good. I might have missed it but how many miles on the build?

I cleaned it completly 800 miles ago when I put in new + .010 pistons and new cylinders...
I broke it in hard...The breathers are routed to ground...

Can you post a pick of the intake valve when you pull it . I would like to see what the deposits look like.

Quote from: tireater on December 19, 2008, 06:41:33 AM
I cleaned it completly 800 miles ago when I put in new + .010 pistons and new cylinders...
I broke it in hard...The breathers are routed to ground...

Unless the back of the valve looks worse than the photos I don't think it looks out of the ordinary.  What were your symptoms to begin with?

How about the fact that it's only got 800 Miles and the chamber looks like it's got 5000. Oil on the exhaust pocket? I've pulled heads with 25K that looked better than this.. Max

Quote from: MaxHeadflow on December 19, 2008, 07:32:04 AM
How about the fact that it's only got 800 Miles and the chamber looks like it's got 5000. Oil on the exhaust pocket? I've pulled heads with 25K that looked better than this.. Max

I agree. It certainly looks like either the guide is too big and took out the seal, or the seal was damaged during install.

QuoteI cleaned it completly 800 miles ago when I put in new + .010 pistons and new cylinders...
I broke it in hard...The breathers are routed to ground...

Scared to ask (hee hee) but what method did you use to clean with?
Perhaps you damaged it yourself?  (I've done stuff like that).

I already took credit for screwing this up....I made a jig for holding the valves open and had to drill and tap 2 holes over the head....
I thought I got all the alum. bits out...but I guess I was wrong...The cylinder looks good under the bad head....
I got a break and I'm going to fix the head at a late night indy...I'll bring the camera...There was wet oil around the entire C.C.

Just had something similar, check the valve guides very well, turned out mine were cracked, let about a quart of oil in 600mi. go through it!  jack

We replaced the seals tonight...My indy was suspicious of a guide leak...He said he didn't think the seals were bad....

He said they removed alot of metal by the base of the guide...Maybe the high lift cam is beating on the guide....

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If the cam was beating on the guide it would have smashed the seals. It is possible that oil is leaking past the guide. There's a way to check that too.

Yep

"Just had something similar, check the valve guides very well, turned out mine were cracked"

Seen this too and this happens, on the port side, almost always when the installer wings a valve on the pushrod adjustment, doesn't wait long enough or improper preload (valve held open).

How do you check if a guide is leaking...?

Quote from: tireater on December 20, 2008, 08:02:15 AM
"How do you check if a guide is leaking...?"

Evidenced by oil deposits on the back of the valve. The seal was either damaged during installation or the guide is loose enough to "waller" (stretch) out the seal.

The indy seemed to think the base of the guide was leaking. With so much metal removed...
He thought the cam was rocking the guide as the bike was running.
There was plenty of carbon on the back of intake valve...We cleaned it up and reassembled with new seals...

If the cam was rocking the guide the hole will be egg shaped or just plain wore out. If the hole measures good you can stick the head in an oven [unassembled & clean] for about an hour at 200*. If they have oil running down the outside when you take them out well...........