Expected gasket life?

[Maggie]

Hi all!

Just a quick question...is there a relative time one might expect gaskets to last? I have on oil leak on the left side of the cylinder, did my research here and got some new exhaust gaskets, thinking that would likely be the culprit. Then, pulled the muffler (no leaks from exhaust) and saw that the leak is coming from the gasket between the two parts of the cylinder (is that the head gasket?). I think it is part #11141-38201 on Ron Ayers. Anyway, looking back over my service receipts, I see that I paid $80 for "top end gaskets" to repair a "leak on left cylinder" in May of 2011 when I had 9,000 miles. I now have just under 13,000 miles. That seems a pretty short time to have this leak crop up again (and I have had it for a while, just haven't followed up with the repair). I also see that a different shop did some kind of repair for a left cylinder leak back in July of 2008. Looking at the microfiche, it looks like the head gasket replacement might be a little too much for me to do alone, but before taking it in, I'd like to see what you guys think. :??:

[alantf]

might not need a new gasket. When I started getting black gunge at the joint, I took it to the shop, and the mechanic tightened up all the bolts. Simple as that. Cured it, and no further problems. Hope that this is all you need. :2tup:

[Water Warrior 2]

For those who have tightened the head bolts etc. Is it possible to remove them one at a time, dab some Loktite on the threads and reinstall the bolts. Tighten as needed. This would be done on a cold engine too. I wonder if Maggie had her bike done and the engine wasn't cool enough to work on properly. All it would take is for a tech to ride the bike into the shop to heat up the engine a bit.

[jonathan180iq]

These things do seep some oil, but usually a snug down of the bolts have at least slowed it enough that it hasn't really mattered to most people after that. You're talking about looking at your third head gasket replacement since the bike was built... that's crazy excessive.

With your home tool kit, you should be able to snug the head bolts down and see if that at least parlays the issue if nothing else.

[Goose51683]

Has anyone come across an actually torque value for these bolts.

I noticed I have some leaking as well, which is impressive for an engine that hasn't actually run yet.

Regardless, I would feel much more comfortable knowing a torque value that I can safely apply to these bolts.

[jonathan180iq]

I haven't browsed the service manual in a while but those have to be in there. The is a whole torque spec sheet in the back.

[Goose51683]

Thanks, ill have to check it out

[JohnC]

The 4 main cylinder head nuts, 10mm thread, tighten in a crisscross pattern to 38N-m, 3.8 kg-m, 27.5 lb-ft. The 6mm nuts tighten to 10N-m, 1.0 kg-m, 7.0 lb-ft.

[Goose51683]

Thanks John