A story about Oilhead Filler Caps

["Tom Brown" <tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fredrick:

I've had terrible luck with stock oil filler caps.   I bought one with a 
metal sleeve (insert?) that fastens to the bike with set screws.   It really 
seals well to the head cover.   The filler cap is also made of metal and has 
a really good Viton gasket that never leaks.  I've been very happy with this 
setup.   It's trouble free.  You don't have to periodically take everything 
apart and clean it to prevent oil leaks.  It just works.  I think I got mine 
from Suburban Machinery.   They make nice stuff.   It had an Allen socket in 
the top...same size that fits the oil plug on the bottom of the engine.  I 
had this 50+K miles on my R1100RT and it worked flawlessly.

I bought an 1150 twin-spark after that.   The head cover on that has a lip 
around it that helps contain leaking oil a bit better, but I still ended up 
buying a threaded cap setup for that.   I sold that bike at 20K to buy my 
R1200RT.  Lo and Behold, the new RT has a threaded cap that seems to hold. 
I did replace the O-ring with a fatter one from my stash after losing one on 
the road.   This has been perfect.  No leaks no matter how hard I ride the 
bike.

A word of caution:  A friend of mine wanted to install his new threaded 
insert and cap just before a trip.   He was in a hurry and thought he could 
install the insert without removing the valve cover.   He dropped the tiny 
2mm set screw down into his engine and couldn't find it.   I even came over 
late that night with magnets and special lights to fish it out.  No luck. 
He had to cancel his trip and have the left side of his engine dismantled to 
find the screw...which was perched between the timing chain and the 
tensioner.   Might have caused damage if he'd started the bike.

Lessons learned.  1. Threaded filler caps are better than bayonett filler 
caps.  2.  Just take the cover off to install one of these metal inserts. 
It takes about 12 minutes and you do not want to drop the little screw down 
in the engine.

- -TB