Losing My Sense of Humor...and oil.

[BlackBike]

How? How does a tightened cover bolt just back out. Did you forget to tighten after checking valves? I am not saying this to belittle you. Just trying to understand what happened jb. This just sucks. You have enjoyed the hell out of this bike and have poured on the miles. It seem hard to believe that It froze in that short of time but it may have been long enough on the hot engine. Yes it is froze now because currently there is no oil. I think it will run but may have dinged the rings. Refill and manually Spin it over with the socket and you will feel if damaged pretty quick I would think. CRAP

[jbfla]

Originally Posted by BlackBike

...How? How does a tightened cover bolt just back out. Did you forget to tighten after checking valves? .....CRAP

I've been pondering what happened.

The simplest explanation is that I didn't tighten the bolts enough, and they vibrated loose.

I could take responsibility for that except for the stripped threads in the hole where the missing bolt was, and the "galling" on the bolt on the exhaust valve cover, which resulted in another stripped hole.

I know the threads were not stripped only 500 miles earlier. I wouldn't have been able to fasten the cover, and would not have ridden the bike.

In addition, "galling" is usually caused by over-tightening the bolt in soft metals, as in soft aluminum and soft steel.