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Blown Valve cover gasket


robhawk
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So here it is my 2007 zx6r has a blown valve cover gasket, 2,800 miles on it!!!! WTF,...... I guess after researching the issue that its a common problem with the new zx6r's, so now I have to take it in to have the work done.... god only knows how long thats gonna take.... at least its still covered under warranty.

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A valve cover gasket sounds easy. Take off the plastics and bodywork/tank to get to the heads. Loosen the bolts, Take off the head. Check valve clearances and the cam chain while you are in there. Replace your gasket, Put the cover back on. Re-tourque the bolts down to spec, reassemble and your good to go.

It would take a person probably less than 6 hours to do it. Whenever you work with valves, you need to let them cool before checking clearances. Just take the bike down (remove bodywork) the night before. Take off the valve cover, but leave it sit on the motor and dont leave any exposed holes where shit can get in. Wake up in the morning and it should only take a couple hours to button up. I know with my CBR there are some mods like the pair valve for free power. Do the work yourself and do a few little things to it if possible to boost the performance. Does the jumper mod work for your bike?

But if it is still under warranty then you might not want to do it yourself.

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A valve cover gasket sounds easy. Take off the plastics and bodywork/tank to get to the heads. Loosen the bolts, Take off the head. Check valve clearances and the cam chain while you are in there. Replace your gasket, Put the cover back on. Re-tourque the bolts down to spec, reassemble and your good to go.

It would take a person probably less than 6 hours to do it. Whenever you work with valves, you need to let them cool before checking clearances. Just take the bike down (remove bodywork) the night before. Take off the valve cover, but leave it sit on the motor and dont leave any exposed holes where shit can get in. Wake up in the morning and it should only take a couple hours to button up. I know with my CBR there are some mods like the pair valve for free power. Do the work yourself and do a few little things to it if possible to boost the performance. Does the jumper mod work for your bike?

But if it is still under warranty then you might not want to do it yourself.

The jumper mod works good, and yea its still under warranty and I think Im gonna get the extended warranty now.

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The jumper mod works good, and yea its still under warranty and I think Im gonna get the extended warranty now.

+1 on the extended warranty man. I just bought 5 years from Suzuki for $425 and it has already paid itself off. My bike is in the shop and they're thinking of changing the ECU which is like a $1000+ part not including labor.

Long story short, if the bike is still under warranty take it to the shop and then get the extended warranty. It pays to have a little peace of mind incase some other shit happens.

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So here it is my 2007 zx6r has a blown valve cover gasket, 2,800 miles on it!!!! WTF,...... I guess after researching the issue that its a common problem with the new zx6r's, so now I have to take it in to have the work done.... god only knows how long thats gonna take.... at least its still covered under warranty.

Couple of things. You don't blow valve cover gaskets per say. It's leaking... It's also under warranty and what you really need to do is two fold.

1) Try and tighten the valve cover bolts to OEM specs. If they are at OEM specs, see #2. If they are not, get them tightened correctly and wipe the oil off and ride it and see what gives. If it still leaks, see #2...

2) It's under warranty for 12 months and unlimited miles. So, don't go and do a bunch of things that could possibly have a dealership throw up a red flag. PAIR valve mods are a red flag... Just call the shop and see when you can get it in. It is a quick fix and shouldn't be more than a day.

As far as issues with 07s, check the build date. If it is an early 2007, there's a piston issue, as well. Later 07s were updated...

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Couple of things. You don't blow valve cover gaskets per say. It's leaking... It's also under warranty and what you really need to do is two fold.

1) Try and tighten the valve cover bolts to OEM specs. If they are at OEM specs, see #2. If they are not, get them tightened correctly and wipe the oil off and ride it and see what gives. If it still leaks, see #2...

2) It's under warranty for 12 months and unlimited miles. So, don't go and do a bunch of things that could possibly have a dealership throw up a red flag. PAIR valve mods are a red flag... Just call the shop and see when you can get it in. It is a quick fix and shouldn't be more than a day.

As far as issues with 07s, check the build date. If it is an early 2007, there's a piston issue, as well. Later 07s were updated...

Thanks for the advice, I've already set up an appointment to have it serviced. I would however like to know about the Piston issue if you know more?

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06 14's had this problem. and the valve cover bolts were actually to long and were bottoming out before the gasket was actually sealed all the way. there were three options for that: 1. get thicker gasket 2. get shorter bolts 3. get some washers to use as spacers. we did one and three just to be safe.

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"stock 06zx636 (its a kawi why mess with it)"

I don't know if that's a safe tag in this post.

its is when the only thing i have had to do with mine is change the oil.

seeing that he has and 07 which is a brand new bike pretty much from the ground up its gonna have a few bugs. im betting even suzuki had a few problems when they bring out a brand new bike off the drawing boards.

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Thanks for the advice, I've already set up an appointment to have it serviced. I would however like to know about the Piston issue if you know more?

Sorry so long on the response to this. Here's what we know:

When the wrist pin boss lets go, the rod beats the cylinder wall to death and ruins the cases,valves, etc. You have to pull the head to get the cast in numbers on the piston. Friend has the casting numbers and said he'd give them to me. I'll let you know as soon as I get numbers...

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...

So the gasket started leaking AGAIN!, Kawi is going to fix it again, with a new part. The old gasket was to thick they say... no recall just a factory auth repair. So now the bike is down at the beginning of the season... :mad:

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So the gasket started leaking AGAIN!, Kawi is going to fix it again, with a new part. The old gasket was to thick they say... no recall just a factory auth repair. So now the bike is down at the beginning of the season... :mad:

That really sucks dude.

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So the gasket started leaking AGAIN!, Kawi is going to fix it again, with a new part. The old gasket was to thick they say... no recall just a factory auth repair. So now the bike is down at the beginning of the season... :mad:
put a very thin layer of honda bond on both sides of the new gasket when you put it on, it will never leak on you again. some gaskets actually require this on install. and some bikes valve cover gaskets have a gasket sealer on them directly from honda factory.
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I've seen a few R6's blow out the side 1/2 moon section of the valve cover and every time the guy found that he accidently unhooked the crankcase breather hose from the airbox.

the intake vacuum from the engine is necessary for proper crankcase ventilation to keep the engine from blowing out seals. just like the pcv system on your car/truck. it's very important to keep this system intact.

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  • 11 years later...

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