Blown headgasket.... damn shame

[shotgunjoe]

Went for a mountain ride today... the bike has been leaking oil from the drain plug for a while now. I have been monitoring the oil level though. I didn't use my best judgement however... should have put oil in before leaving.

Got 5 miles out of town the bike started pinging going up a steep grade, then died. I coasted it to the side of the road, and it was smoking from the headgasket. I let it cool down and road the 5 miles back to town where a shucks was, put oil in and she smoke out of the exhaust when cold.

Damn shame. I hope my stupidity can be a lesson to someone else.

On a brighter note... looks like I'll be doing a big bore kit sooner than later.

From to then with a little mixed in, to

 

[bloodthirstysystem]

when i got one of my xs's it smoked at the gasket and exhaust.. i pulled the head and the gasket was fine, i re-used it.. that was two years ago. must've been torqued down wrong..

 

[Punkskalar]

Double check your rod bearings and tranny bearings... I toasted a crank bearing a while back doing the same thing....

 

[Liftrat]

Double check your rod bearings and tranny bearings... I toasted a crank bearing a while back doing the same thing....

+1 on that. Same thing happened to me when I ran low on oil on a road trip, and didn't have an extra quart with me. Locked up the crank about 500 miles later, even though I'd added oil as soon as I could. I hope you're luckier.

 

[shotgunjoe]

great...

 

[Punkskalar]

You have to remember, that the Bottom end is spinning 2X faster than the top end. If you find top end damage (cam bearings, cam lobes, rocker arms, etc...) then you likely have bottom end damage as well. Pay close attention to your small ends on the rods. If they are black looking on the outside (burnt from getting hot) and the copper coating is gone from the ID of the small end of the rods, you are looking at a fairly intensive rebuild..

I'll help in anyway I can, I have lots of used parts laying around...

 

[shotgunjoe]

Appreciate that Hugh. I'm tearing apart my wifes engine now. Just need to get one of my friends to loan me a impact driver to finish.

I may just buy a whole parts bike and get into this thing later down the road... we'll see.

Too many irons in the fire. I've got my wifes bobber I'm building, and a buell bobber too. As well as some neat projects I've been dying to get into for several years. (DIY Girder)

 

[shotgunjoe]

Found out theres a group ride with my club coming up on sunday. I decided to try the easiest thing first... and I may have gotten lucky! I loosened the headbolts a quarter turn, and retorqued them. Went back around again and retorque was good, fired it up, and NO SMOKE.

Obviously this doesn't mean the bottom end will be fine, or that the headgasket will hold... BUT it does seem like good news, so far.

I will report back after sunday. Maybe a shorter ride saturday will be a good shake down run.

Thanks for the support guys. As always, its appreciated.