comedo

A few days ago I thought I'd check valve clearances. It's been a while since I did so. I had the valve covers off and I thought it would be a 15 minute job.
I removed the timing hole cap without difficulty. I tried a 10 mm. allen key on the Crankshaft Hole Cap and it didn't budge. I hit the end of the allen key with my hand to break it loose and it didn't budge. I had the same result when I hit the end of the allen key with a hammer, used a breaker bar with a socket, used an impact driver with a two pound hammer, used a hammer and punch to try to rotate it and tried the same thing with a chisel.
My spouse came to check on me and asked why steam was coming off the top of my head. Well the garage was cold , I'm bald and I was miffed. The Crankshaft Hole Cap was not pretty.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I DO NOT RECOMMEND doing this. I boiled water in a kettle and brought it to the garage. I covered the Crankshaft Hole Cap with a rag and slowly poured the water from the kettle on the top of the case cover. The punch and hammer worked this time. The cap rotated and out it came. There was still grease on the threads. The case cover didn't crack.
I've no idea why it got so tight. A new Crankshaft Hole Cap was less than $20. I'll make a pendant of the old one.
There's got to be a better way to keep it from seizing and to remove it when it does. Suggestions are welcome.

E.Marquez

Common problem on ALL makes and models with a similar cap. No, there really is not a better way of removing.. Chisel is a viable tool at that point. When you use an impact driver, often the back of the hex recess pops out,, and now it's in the crank case cover, which has to me removed to fish it out....

Over tightening it is the leading cause as far as I can tell. It's aluminum on aluminum... Use Antiseize next time and not grease,, and go light on the torque when tightening.. The Al on Al will gall and seize with little effort.

comedo

Thanks for the advice. I never had a problem with the cap on my Hawk GT but I used moly spray on the threads. The VTR manual just talks about grease. I'll do it the way you suggest. Really appreciate it.

skokievtr

This is a real issue. I've experienced similar problems. I've tried anti-seize and teflon tape with lighter torque than spec'd and still had problems. I did not dawn on me the back of the cap hex whole can puch through, I'll be carefull next time!

Motohead

I've trashed a couple of those things over the years. No more; I use anti-seize and low torque. The frustration of it backing off and losing it on the road (if it ever happens) will be nothing compared to the frustration of not being able to get it off when I need to. I've always anti-seized all dissimilar metals (steel into aluminum) on my dirt bikes, but never have seen such seizure with similar metals.

Another idea for those stuck is try Sea Foam Deep Creep or PB Blaster, both can be picked up at a NAPA auto. I've had pretty good luck with this stuff in other applications.