SuzukiSavage.com - head gasket replacement

sunny Senior Member 2004 No Login Offline rock this town Posts: 293 d/fw texas Gender:	head gasket replacement 08/30/04 at 11:40:44 my head gasket is seeping. i still have compression so i know it isn't blown, but it looks like i'll be busy this winter... how difficult on a scale from 1 to 10 is it to do this? 1 being easy...
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jendesigner Junior Member 2004 No Login Offline Stop, Drop and Chop Posts: 99 Chicago suburbs Gender:	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #1 - 08/30/04 at 11:42:55 Just curious, how do you know it's the head gasket? Have you replaced the "infamous" plug on your bike?
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Jon Ex Member	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #2 - 08/30/04 at 12:22:44 > my head gasket is seeping. My bet is also with the plug issue. In the interim before you get it fixed, clean the engine with Gunk degreaser occasionally so the weeping oil doesn't bake onto the fins.
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sunny Senior Member 2004 No Login Offline rock this town Posts: 293 d/fw texas Gender:	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #3 - 08/30/04 at 12:23:02 the reason that i know it is the head gasket is because just the seam and the fin below where the gasket is located has oily black junk on it.
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sunny Senior Member 2004 No Login Offline rock this town Posts: 293 d/fw texas Gender:	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #4 - 08/30/04 at 12:27:28 and i just washed my bike two weeks ago so i know it is recent, and not baked on or old.
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jendesigner Junior Member 2004 No Login Offline Stop, Drop and Chop Posts: 99 Chicago suburbs Gender:	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #5 - 08/30/04 at 12:31:31 Mine had that same thing and it was the plug. When I first got the bike I had the head gasket replaced and when I got it back, it started in all over again. Cheaper to replace the plug first and then if needed, the gasket. To this day I don't know if I really need the head gasket replaced. But it did have 10,000 miles on it.
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Jon Ex Member	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #6 - 08/30/04 at 12:48:26 > Cheaper to replace the plug first and > then if needed, the gasket. The cylinder head cover will be off to do the plug, and at the same time you can retorque the head (gasket).
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jendesigner Junior Member 2004 No Login Offline Stop, Drop and Chop Posts: 99 Chicago suburbs Gender:	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #7 - 08/30/04 at 12:57:50 That makes since. I had a dealer do the head gasket and they never even said anything about the plug. No, I'm not surprised. I know so much more now, so I chalk it up to experience.
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sunny Senior Member 2004 No Login Offline rock this town Posts: 293 d/fw texas Gender:	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #8 - 08/30/04 at 13:36:08 the area underneath and around the plug is clean. the only area with black junk is in the imediate vicinity of the head gasket.
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Savage_Greg Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Don't go around your ass to reach your elbow... Posts: 7844 SW Washington State Gender:	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #9 - 08/30/04 at 14:27:02 sunny wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:08: the area underneath and around the plug is clean. the only area with black junk is in the imediate vicinity of the head gasket. Just to be sure....you are absolutely sure that it is leaking from here?
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sunny Senior Member 2004 No Login Offline rock this town Posts: 293 d/fw texas Gender:	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #10 - 08/30/04 at 15:14:27 yes. that is exactly the place.
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Jon Ex Member	Re: head gasket replacement Reply #11 - 08/30/04 at 15:52:58 > yes. that is exactly the place. Don't doubt you, but I'm scratching my head. From that area the oil would come from the camchain tunnel. If the head was loose enough to allow oil weeping, you should also be getting compression leakage. Curious. Any thoughts, Greg?
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Savage_Greg

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Re: head gasket replacement
Reply #12 - 08/31/04 at 03:01:49

Jon wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:08:

> yes. that is exactly the place.

Don't doubt you, but I'm scratching my head. From that area the oil would come from the camchain tunnel. If the head was loose enough to allow oil weeping, you should also be getting compression leakage. Curious.

Any thoughts, Greg?

One or two...

There is, in fact, a pressure oil passage next to the cam chain tunnel. And the head gasket has 2 sets of sealing adhesive ridges. There is also an "oblong" ring that seals the area where the oil is rerouted up from the cylinder and through the head. So there is pressure oil present within the head gasket, and the oil can leak out without a loss of compression.

Another thought is that the use of external oil lines on engines like the Enfield Bullet isn't such a bad idea.

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wrench

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Re: head gasket replacement
Reply #13 - 08/31/04 at 09:05:19

> Another thought is that the use of external oil lines on engines like the Enfield Bullet isn't such a bad idea.

Until you've owned an Enfield Bullet. The banjo feed line fitting at the head needs to be loosened/tightened at every oil change to let air escape so the rockers get oil. Exterior lines are soft tubing, and they break or pinch, so after a while you end up buying new line. It was the same with all the early bike designs.

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Savage_Greg

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Re: head gasket replacement
Reply #14 - 08/31/04 at 14:41:30

wrench wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:08:

> Another thought is that the use of external oil lines on engines like the Enfield Bullet isn't such a bad idea.

Until you've owned an Enfield Bullet. The banjo feed line fitting at the head needs to be loosened/tightened at every oil change to let air escape so the rockers get oil. Exterior lines are soft tubing, and they break or pinch, so after a while you end up buying new line. It was the same with all the early bike designs.

Oh, I know, and you can tell from my photos that I've been there. I'd rather find another oil line than change a head gasket, but I didn't know other little procedure of cracking the line for air. Most early bikes had them because it was easier for machining/casting the engine parts...times have changed.

Anyway, this old timer finds those chrome, shiny, rounded, shapely, exterior oil lines kinda sexy Tongue

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