I blew a head gasket today

[muaymendez1]

Stopped at a light got the antifreeze smell and loss of white smoke. Uggh. Just did the valves, and so much other maintenance.

So how involved is this job abd do I need to take the heads to a machine shop

[frankd]

Are you certain that it's a head gasket? It's much more likely that it's a loose or damaged hose, or a radiator leak.

 

Frank D.

[muaymendez1]

It's leaking into the combustion chamber and coming out as steam from the left exhaust.

[jasonm.]

the head is NOT likely needing machining unless it happened due to overheating. You said losts of maint. just done. Did you change the coolant and maybe not fill it up ? Does the '99 have a temp gauge ? if it just has a warning light that you may have not noticed........... how many miles ?

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

I have never heard of this in the past so I do hope some of the long time 2nd gen guys step up to help with this.

[muaymendez1]

Ok so I got some info on the bike. My buddy left it for me abd passed away. So a mutual buddy told me that on his last trip. Last September he had an overheating issue. Not sure how many overheat cycles he went through but they had to nurse the bike to a shop on north Dakota. After three days they diagnosed that the radiator cap was bad and not holding pressure. It leaked fluid. They changed the cap filled the fluid and on the way he went. I ride it 1300 and only 200 of them were in warmer temps. I guess the system needed to operate and there for shows the failure . I will begin today.

The bike has 60k miles. Bummer

Ill have a shop check the heads and mill them if needed

[RedRider]

Ok so I got some info on the bike. My buddy left it for me abd passed away. So a mutual buddy told me that on his last trip. Last September he had an overheating issue. Not sure how many overheat cycles he went through but they had to nurse the bike to a shop on north Dakota. After three days they diagnosed that the radiator cap was bad and not holding pressure. It leaked fluid. They changed the cap filled the fluid and on the way he went. I ride it 1300 and only 200 of them were in warmer temps. I guess the system needed to operate and there for shows the failure . I will begin today.

The bike has 60k miles. Bummer

Ill have a shop check the heads and mill them if needed

 

My general practice has been to mill the head if you take it off. It is easy and inexpensive to have it milled. It is a real PITA if it needed it and you didn't do it.

 

RR