I recently stripped the top end on my beloved CB500K, hoping to find the source of excessive top end clattery noise. Long story short, I couldn’t find anything terribly wrong so I put it back together with new seals and gaskets. Before this, I had some oil weeping out of the valve cover in a couple places including the end cap o rings in the right side. Every so often I would wipe the top of the head clean with a rag.
So this time around, I tried to get smart and be very careful about the orings and gaskets. I made sure the new ones were clean and lubricated them with a little dab of red grease. After getting the engine all together and running it 100 miles or so, all looked well until this morning, when I noticed a slight film of oil on the horizontal top surface of the head, as though oil is seeping out of the end cap orings and collecting there. I looked real close and could see a slight bubbling around the right oring of the valve cover end cap. I also detected a slight film of oil under a couple of the valve inspection caps.
So what have I done wrong here? Overtorquing? Was the red grease the wrong choice to lube the orings?
Is it simply a matter of wrong oil choice? I’m using 15w40 Rotella, but the temps are getting into the 80s here in New Hampshire.
I used the “NE” brand gasket set from 4into 1. It seemed to be of good quality.
Interestingly, these are the same couple places I seemed to get leaking last time.
Thanks and I hope you all can help alleviate some frustration!