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Stator cover bolts question

8K views 19 replies 7 participants last post by  SunnyEveryday 
#1 · (Edited)
Anyone know how bad it is for the stator cover to be secured by all the bolts minus 3 at the very bottom of the cover? would it leak?


Thanks!
 
#8 ·
Yes it will leak.

I left a few loose while I waited for a new engine cover and had oil leak out and that was only a couple of week and engine never cranked over.
Hey TWW, Do u happen to remember exactly how many you left loose? and were they separated or right next to each other?

Doesn't matter much but i just wanna get any idea of what my odds are.
 
#4 · (Edited)
If you're not going to run the engine until you get those bolts, you can prevent it leaking by either using a race stand to hold the bike upright, or you can turn the handlebars to the left and lean the bike to the right, up against a wall using the right handlebar to support the bike, with a bit of cardboard between the handlebar and the wall, to protect the handlebar.

If you're going to run the engine, it will leak oil without those bolts. The best thing to do in that case is space the bolts so that there are two bolts, then no bolt, then two bolts, then no bolt, and so on. And you could smear some silicone on the gasket or faces of the join. Or you could move the bolts around (except for the one with the copper washer) so that all the bolt holes in the bottom half of the case have bolts in them, and every third hole in the top half is missing a bolt, using silicone again.

Having said that, running the engine with bolts missing from the cases is well dodgy.
 
#5 ·
Thanks Uncle Tom!

Sorry, I should have been more detailed in my post. My problem is not a matter of missing bolts.

It kinda hard to explain without pics so I will get some photos ASAP. Meanwhile I'll try to explain:

My engine cover broke off during a low-side. When it broke off, it forced the bottom 3 bolts to break the engine casing.

So the bottom 3 bolts, the hole where you thread in the bolts is broken in half. Meaning you can't even put a bolt in there.

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#6 ·
Oh boy, this sounds like bad news.
Not sure off the top of my head, but I don't see why you couldn't drill deeper and tap them again. You'd have to see just how many threads you have now. A good engineering minimum is six. But with the heat cycles of a motor, I'd err on the safe side.

How much lip is left to seal against?
And is the unbroken surface on top or bottom?
 
#9 ·
Oh boy, this sounds like bad news.
Not sure off the top of my head, but I don't see why you couldn't drill deeper and tap them again. You'd have to see just how many threads you have now. A good engineering minimum is six. But with the heat cycles of a motor, I'd err on the safe side.

How much lip is left to seal against?
And is the unbroken surface on top or bottom?
Drilling deeper may be an option although i don't know how thick the engine casing is and i'm afraid ill drill right through the casing and into the engine and risk oil leaking through the bolt.

Not sure i understand "how much lip is left" i hope the photo shows.

the unbroken surface is the top part i think connected to the engine casing.
 
#7 ·
Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. Here's a photo of the issue. As you can see,i'm very much F***ed on this one. The thread holes are broken in half and there's no way to put a bolt in it as it is. I was think of using some type of sealant in addition to the gasket but i don't know if it will hold with the heat and pressure. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, i don't care if it requires me learning a new skill ass this bike already taught me a million. And i don't even know what plan B is in this situation- replace engine, thread new holes, or maybe just wield the stator cover and pretend it will never burn again. I'm so sad right now.
 

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#16 ·
I'm sorry, op, but you are asking for trouble.

Say it holds. Yay! You can go riding! Maybe it will hold forever. But I doubt it.

And if it fails, it will fail quickly. The repeated stress cycles are going to make the rtv brittle. Then, one day, as your oil warms, it'll find a crack and spray out. Maybe it won't hit the plastics, then get pulled back by wind so it ends up right on your tire. But it seems like a good chance.

Let's assume it doesn't. You have good grip. You're comfortable on the highway, when all of a sudden, your engine light comes on. Do you pull over and kill the engine in time that oil starvation doesn't warp anything?

That would be a costly repair. If I were you, I'd look around for a machine shop in the area, and call them up. It'll probably be $3-500 to weld up a surface big enough to drill and tap. They don't necessarily have to build up material to the mating face. And they will probably just center punch based on your current cover, so the hole position won't be exact. But it will work.

I imagine you're tight on funds, as we all are at points in time. Sorry to rain on the little hope you have, but it just sounds way risky to me, and could put you out of more money, or health...
 
#17 ·
I'm sorry, op, but you are asking for trouble.

Say it holds. Yay! You can go riding! Maybe it will hold forever. But I doubt it.

And if it fails, it will fail quickly. The repeated stress cycles are going to make the rtv brittle. Then, one day, as your oil warms, it'll find a crack and spray out. Maybe it won't hit the plastics, then get pulled back by wind so it ends up right on your tire. But it seems like a good chance.

Let's assume it doesn't. You have good grip. You're comfortable on the highway, when all of a sudden, your engine light comes on. Do you pull over and kill the engine in time that oil starvation doesn't warp anything?

That would be a costly repair. If I were you, I'd look around for a machine shop in the area, and call them up. It'll probably be $3-500 to weld up a surface big enough to drill and tap. They don't necessarily have to build up material to the mating face. And they will probably just center punch based on your current cover, so the hole position won't be exact. But it will work.

I imagine you're tight on funds, as we all are at points in time. Sorry to rain on the little hope you have, but it just sounds way risky to me, and could put you out of more money, or health...
I hear ya, rsparky. I'm pretty concerned about all the points you made too. I guess my real issue right now is I'm clueless on the topic of welding. But maybe once I do enough research and call up some machine shops, it wouldn't be as daunting as it seems now.

Although I was aware of some of the points you made, you made one really good point which was that no matter how good the gasket maker solution is, it will eventually break loose. Whether it's while I'm riding or someone else is riding my bike. And for that reason, I realize it's pretty risky solution that could end up costing more than the welding when it fails. So I'll start calling up some machine shops and see what it'll take to get this fixed properly.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll try to keep this updated as I realize this is actually pretty rare. Searched everywhere for the same problem, couldn't find anything.

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