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OK, you had it figured out, right. If so, you're better than I.
I pulled the head to search for the alleged crack. After a good cleaning, nothing was evident. Looking at the studs coming from the case, I noticed that two of them were oil covered. A cracked head wouldn't do that, I thought. Why would oil be on the studs?
When the head is placed on the bike, it's fastened to the lower case by cap nuts, each with a COPPER WASHER underneath. By re-using the copper washers, which just crush to seal, I was unable to get a good seal again. So the oil from inside the head was leaking past the cap nuts and running down the stud, coming out from between the fins!
I ordered new ones form Honda at about $4 a pop!! Replaced the head-problem solved!
OK, lets adjust the valves (since I had to take the cams out earlier). I followed the normal procedure, and all was well. Before closing it up, I hit the starter to turn it a few rpm's. GUESS WHAT? I heard this awful snap! Talk about feeling sick!
I apparently hadn't seated a shim properly, and as the cam lobe pushed on it, it broke into about 3 pieces! I pulled the pieces out with my trusty magnet, BUT..........
The valve lifter would not come back up! It was stuck partially down, leaving the valve partially open. Not good. Did I bend the valve when the shim broke? Do I need a new head? Not a good day.
So.......time to pull the head-AGAIN!! I took the head off, removed the keepers from that valve, and removed the valve. Took a long time to pull the lifter out. Inspection of the valve showed it was not bent. What happened was the shim, when it broke, put a gouge into the bore that the lifter rides in. The lifter would go down past the burr, then get stuck coming back up. Even the springs couldn't muscle it past. Upon consultation with my local dealer, I wet sanded the bore with some sandpaper until I could no longer feel the burr. Upon re-insertion, I needed to work it a few more times and the valve lifter was once again working fine! Put it back together again, and it's been a great bike ever since.
Hopefully a lesson can be learned here: BE SURE THE SHIMS ARE FULLY SEATED, DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK THEM, SO YOU WON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH WHAT I DID!
