Boxerworks.com

Did you first check the clearance?

I am not saying that you won't find an error. I am saying that the way to find it is by checking the clearance. If you find that the clearance is off by enough to be worth resetting, say .001 or .002" then check the head bolt torque.

If you find the clearances to be perfect, or quite close, then don't check the head bolt torque.

When you do check it, do you just put the wrench on it and tighten it up? Or do you use a beam type where you can see the numbers and remove the torque and then pull it up again to spec?

I hope that the regulars here realize that if you have a stable top end, then the clearance is identical both hot and cold. I know that the factory is adamant about allowing it to cool off, but it isn't necessary. Don't believe me? Check it for yourself. Come in from a ride and remove a valve cover. Rotate it around for that side and check the clearance. Write it down. In the morning when it has cooled over night, check it again. If it isn't the same, or very close, then you have something that is drifting and it shouldn't be.

Don't change the way that you do the checking.

I hope that a few of you will do this simple test and report back.

Yes, I first checked the valve clearances. Too loose. I have a beam type torque wrench. Interesting that you say hot or cold doesn't matter (other than burning one's fingers). I did not check the valves when I changed the oil yesterday evening.

The job of the oil ring is to scrape all of the oil from the cylinder wall on its way to BDC. Oiling the top rings only supplies oil for the hot end of the piston to bake into grunge that inhibits ring sealing in the groove. If the rings don't seal in the grooves, the compression/combustion pressure can't push the top rings against the cylinder wall as hard as it needs to to create the best ring/cylinder wall seal.