Dont be like me, Check your bolts.

:rtfm:I went for a 212 mile ride today. When I stopped for fuel right near my house, I did my little visual inspection after filling it up. I notice something on my rear tire. I think well it might be chain lube, but I know I didnt over use it last time and I have rode it enough that it should off. So I start looking for oil leaks. I look at my chin fairing and it doesnt look right. I touch it and it moves. I look real close and it has oil on it. I touch the braquet and its loose. The bolts have backed out and let the oil pan gasket start to leak oil.
I took it home. I am waiting for it to cool so I can fix it. One bolt is missing, one bolt is stuck in the braquet. I have quite a few spare bolts from where I replaced all the engine bolts in a kawasaki.
I will have to see if the gasket seals back or not.

Anyway oil all over the rear tire could of been very bad had I not done the inspection and headed for a short loop of twisties near my house. I know it happened on the way, after a stop in Russelville 24 miles away for some popcorn chicken and a dr. pepper. The rear was dry there.

Anyway dont be stupid like me. Check those bolts for tightness. Back to the blue loctite on everything plan. I didnt think I would have to do that with the Yamaha, I did with the ninja.

Anyway glad I didnt go Whooopss skid spark skid skid spark thump scritch skid spark thump.
:rtfm::surrender:

wrightme43 said:

Anyway glad I didnt go Whooopss skid spark skid skid spark thump scritch skid spark thump.
:rtfm::surrender:

Click to expand...

and me as i would not have thought to check those bolts i go round with the thumb+finger/white knuckle test on all the allen bolts and a small ratchet on everything else everytime i clean up but not the engine bolts - spanners out tomorrow as cleaning after the sandy rain we have had recently:thumbup:

Now that you mention it I better check mine, cause actually I never check the bolts

Glad you didn't go whooopss skid spark skid skid spark thump scritch skid spark thump !

Its fixed now. Removed, matched with a kawi bolt, everything cleaned with brake clean, blue loctite and back together. Warmed to 180, and no leaks.

Also when tightening bolts.
Almost all stator cover bolts were loose, and two head bolts were loose. Everything else checked out fine.
Maybe it was my higher powers way of telling me to check my bolts before something major went wrong.
Anyway

Thanks for the well wishes. LOL I am glad I didnt pavement surf either.

That's two forum members in two weeks who've brushed disaster because of loose bolts.

Know what I'm doing tomorrow morning?

This one needs a bump too. Its bolt checking time for me again too. I havent done it since winter with anything other than my fingers.

Anyway glad I didnt go Whooopss skid spark skid skid spark thump scritch skid spark thump.

Click to expand...

classic. i may steal that from time to time.

Many thanks for bumping this!!!!

Checking bolts for tightness is something easy to do when lubing the chain; I'll add that to my list.

For our edification, prior to finding the loose bolts, were they factory tight prior to this?

Yeah... good bump! I lost both of the bolts that hold down the front of the gas tank, when I did my long trip a couple of months ago. Didn't even notice until I started hearing a strange rattle every time I went over a bump. It was, of course, my tank bouncing up and down... Needless to say, I checked every single bolt when I stopped for the night!

lonesoldier84 said:

classic. i may steal that from time to time.

Click to expand...

Oddly enough I did do this later. Thats pretty much what it sounded like too.

CHEMIKER said:

Many thanks for bumping this!!!!

Checking bolts for tightness is something easy to do when lubing the chain; I'll add that to my list.

For our edification, prior to finding the loose bolts, were they factory tight prior to this?

Click to expand...

Yes and checked.

wrightme43 said:

Yes and checked.

Click to expand...

Thanks! :thumbup: This highlights the need to add engine bolt torque check to a normal inspection, even on a new bike!