Yes, you are correct.  The "B" part number is the new style.  Improved success is usually found through the newer style plug - it definitely was for me.

So I am FINALLY all ready to put the head cover back on. (Thanks in part to Verslagen and his aftermarket plug. More on that to come at http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1412889755)

I was curious when I am applying my gasket sealant, do I install the plug (the one that is between the head and head cover, not the one that is covering the headbolt access) and then sealant over it or should I put sealant all the way around the plug, then slide it into its groove, and then sealant the head, then assemble?

Another question.  If I am not putting the chrome covers back on.  How important is it to get the pressure from the chroming bolt to hold the head together?  It appears that from the two bolts next to it, that should be enough, but I have never done this before and I am looking for a consensus.

L55 should go right in, or do you mean L70?

Although, it might be easier to take the screws off, I don't because when I first did it I didn't have an impact driver.

So loosen the adjustment nuts and back off the bottom one till it comes off the barrow.  Then slip the 10mm wrench under the decomp lever and pry up and pull the cable with the other hand till the barrow comes out of the bracket.  then slip it to the slide to get the cable out.  then disengage the cable from the lever and you're done.

If you leave the top nut alone then it easy to put back together and have the right adjustment.

Hello everyone complete newb at this so ill do my best to explain what ai did so hopefully someone can so me where i may have gone wrong. so i recently did the plug cap replacement and i thought that everything had gone pretty smoothly until a couple days later I tried to start the bike and nothing happened turns out i had blown a fuse. The yellow number 20 under the seat on the inside... I replaced the fuse tried again and blew it again... so here’s a few things that after reading the whole topic (which I’m now realizing i should have done in the first place) i think i may have done wrong, i never set the bike to TDC, i was following the list and pictures which someone posted and it didn’t mention anything, or could i have adjusted the solenoid when taking it off??  

[quote author=5A6F787A422B282D1D0 link=1099227295/0#0 date=1099227295]Where does the leak start?

There is a plug/cap in the headcover/camshaft cover, that is right above this cylinder nut.

Okay friends I am about to change this cap to stop the oil leak that is driving me insane. Is there any updated recomendations on which sealant to use for the head cover??

Hi Team Suzuki Savage!

As a newbie here, I just rejoice for being able to do something with the famous head plug leak without dropping the engine down in frame and opening the top and investing on time and new gaskets and also avoiding the associated bloody knuckles and hurting back. The following folk remedy is presented without a whiff of any kind of responsibility from my side - this is just what I did, your circumstances and success will be different. I hope this helps someone - kindly comment anyway!  

In short: I turned the engine so that the exhaust valves were fully open in order to gain some workspace for this job. I replaced the S30* -bolt (see the cylinder head top diagram a couple of pages back in this posting) with M6x60 full-thread bolt and a Nyloc (R) nut and dropped one OD about 20mm washer on the bottom of the famous plug's 'cup' and on top of that, I dropped three OD 20.1mm washers. This washer pile is necessary to re-enforce the otherwise flimsy plug so it stays in form. Then, I tightened the replacement M6x60 bolt down so it now squeezes the plug down to the level of the bottom edge of the plug hole.

This stopped the leak - for now - on my 2004 650LS. Details are here, use of this home remedy is granted on your own discretion and risk:

The fix for this yakuza-supplied plug which nobody in Hamamatsu dared to glue in properly in these thirty years, is well documented and Verslagen's replacement is the way to go.  However, I was reluctant to open the valve top when I took a look at my 2004 head plug with only 3000 miles on the clock. The plug had clearly crawled (as I kind of learned later during the process) about one and a half mm up and there was a very small amount of oil when I wiped the hole plug's area over the forward right cylinder pin bolt. There must be some vacuum up in valve chamber and also maybe the heating - cooling -cycle makes the plug swell and shrink and move up.

My first home remedy idea was to bluntly drill a 5.0mm hole over the leaky plug's center from up and thread a M6x60 etc. bolt there to hold the plug in place but controlling the aluminum chips and dust from drilling and tapping is not quite viable and I would have needed the engine drop and gaskets anyways)

Enter the excellent 'Motorcyle Handyman' -CD files, made available for free here! Thank you very much Mr. DuBois!

By looking at the cylinder valve top cover, I noticed that the hole marked S30* for the exhaust rocker shaft lock is rather close to the famous plug. I could see the edge of the plug after removing the bolt 'S30*' from the top (The rocker shaft seems to stay put with the bolt removed - good news!)

If I can just find a long enough M6 bolt, this may be able to hold the plug down when I turn the bolt down, pushing the plug to be tight? Yes. it looks like this is possible.

Material:

- One 1mm thick washer, with about 20mm outer diameter
- Two or three 1mm thick washers with  ID of 9.2 (and not a hair bigger) and 22.1mm (22.2mm or even 22.3mm I think would work also? I have not tested these - not so hard to test I think if these are what you have - the hole diameter is critical - the washer(s) can of course be blind also without any holes. Old valve shims? 1st one small.
- One M6x60mm bolt with full thread (any hardness, really, mine is regular 4.6 - no markings) You may get away with a M5x50 bolt sans the nyloc nut - you can always file the bolt down in lenth - I just had this M6x60 bolt and wanted to keep things safe for alternatives...
- One M6 Nyloc (R) nut with 1mm thread pitch - the most usual one. See above. Not so hard to try different bolts after the washers are in?
- Original M6 gasket washer from original S30* bolt's neck (to control leaking of oil above the S30* -hole  - may a dab of need silicone if this leaks - mine does not leak - yet)
- Tweezers and / or long-nose pliers
- Some thin cotton? Nylon? thread on long loop may be helpful if you are of the belt-and suspenders -type - or use a pick-up magnet in telescopic arm if you anyway drop the washer in a wrong place.  The valve chamber is quite safe area for parts this big but anyway. You are on your own.
- Long fingers and ob-gyn -hobby helps - the plug hole is quite far from both the valve lash adjustment hole and cylinder head's forward edge.
- Cellphone camera for before, during and after - And don't push the plug too far down; only to the edge of the hole. Mine has a very small threshold: I can just feel the edge of the hole. See the pic.

The plug is just a rubberized metal pressing (in my 2004 at least) with rather flimsy construction. I re-tightened the rocker shaft bolt and turned the crankshaft so that the exhaust valves opened fully.
Now I had some space and I could see into the plug, at least enough to try the idea of just piling some washers in it thus making the plug's cup bottom a bit stronger. I reasoned that the plug's 'cup' is rounded from its bottom like any USPH pot as the picture I took up from near the exhaust pipe seems to suggest this. I tied some thin thread over a 20mm O/D galvanized washer (I have a small telescoping magnet picker, just in case) and by using tweezers, I guided the washer down. By using the loose thread loop, I was able to pull it back out - thus a reversible procedure. The loose thread loop was easy to get rid of after the washers were all in. If the noose had been tight, the removal would not have been so easy. I just wanted to avoid the dropping of the engine and the gasket kit cost and wanted to be careful and able to reverse my dirty deeds - this is a budget build of a well-rusted bike with very nice sounding, low miles engine...
The actual diameter of the plug cup's 'straight' walls I estimated to be 22-23mm. Maybe the hole diameter is 25mm? I found three 1mm thick, galvanized washers with 20.1mm outer diameter and 9.6mm inner diameter. This seemed to be quite close to the actual 'cup's diameter and also with wide enough rim so that the M6 bolt would hit it. I piled three of these 1mm thick washers over the one 1mm thick 20mm washer. This filled the plug's cup and made it suitably stiff to take the push.

I threaded a nyloc-nut high up on my M6x60mm (Thread length 57mm) and added the original washer from S30* -bolt with its rubber gasket in. The gasket surface is not perfert as the thread can leak oil but this seems to work and all is dry - up and down. A M6x50mm screw may work also - this is not so hard to check?
I turned the M6x60 bolt until it reached the washer pile. By carefully turning it, I observed the pile moving down in a straight manner. Good. Now, I reached down to the hole from front of the cylinder top and drove the plug further down. When I passed the edge, there was some oil that seeped through. I was very lucky with this as the plug nicely reversed itself when I loosened the M6x60 bolt up. The plug has shoulders to prevent it from falling down into the hole and this was my advantage. I adjusted the plug's bottom to be just a hair above the hole's edge and locked the bolt in place by tightening the neck nut.

All appears to be tight and dry after several heat-cool -cycles. Watch this space - I will call my bluff if it leaks - then I need the Verslagen plug.

This may very well not be an all-encompassing home remedy for every leaky plug there - If the plug is already too high up to follow the hole'e edges straight with this off-center force, this home-smitheroo will certainly not work but it will only destroy the plug by distorting it. There may also be dirt or deposits between the plug and its hole so that the operation is not possible. But I think that if the plug is not far up, then this would be worth considering in conjunction with the next valve lash check / adjustment?
I suggest that the crankshaft should not be moved without some kind of bolt in the  S30* -hole - things may get hairy with the exhaust rocker out of alignment.

I have had several heat-cool cycles on this home remedy and so far everything is dry above and below. Your mileage may wary as they say.

Please comment!

Cheers!
JJ

LS650THUMPER wrote on 03/23/21 at 17:18:51:

there are 6. I'd replace them if they leak.