Leaky head gasket

[orionrider]

I've got a leaky head gasket on my 97 R1100GS (19K miles), Is this a common problem? I posted this question to the Adventure board and I got a reply mentioning that I might have some stripped out bolts causing the leak.. Is there any truth to this? If there stripped out threads then I'd need some help. Does any one know where I could get some "thread savers" as mentioned on the other board?

What would cause the stripped out threads?

Any advice or comments will be helpful.

Thank you

Derek

 

[oblertone]

Too tight ?

The screws holding the valve cover on, only require about 8nm from memory and so are very easy to over tighten. Try releasing them, remove the gasket and wipe both it and the mating surface until they are oil free, then replace and torque to setting. The plug gasket is a common weak point and VERY easy to misalign causing spectacular leaks !
Search the 'links' section above for setting the valve cleances, it goes into detail about replacing the cover correctly.

 

[Rob Farmer]

I blew two head gaskets on the right hand cylinder of my 1100. It was a weak point on the 1100's and BMW tried several different styles of head gasket to cure the problem, the current one being a multilayer gasket, I would have thought that your model would have had the latest gasket fitted. The studs holding the cylinder head in place run through the barrels and into the crankcases so if these have stripped you will need major surgery. If you are just getting a light misting from the gasket it may be worth just tightening them up a little.

The later head gasket has three rivets holding the layers together and these are visible if you look at the joint between the cylinder head and barrel. Is you bike a genuine 97 or a 96 registered in 97 if it is you may have the older weak gaskets fitted.

I dropped my bike off road and stripped the rocker box threads out of the head, this is easy to repair with a helicoil kit, electric drill and a steady hand http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8796&highlight=helicoil


I hope that helps.

 

[skywalker]

Tri metal composite gaskets found their way into production on the 1150,s as std.The new type is a replacement on the 1100 and wasn't std at the time.When you fit the gasket you will also need to run a small bead of silicon gasket goo around the locating dowels on the head.
With the cylinder head fitted torque the 4 nuts to 20nM & also the M10 bolt.Turn the nuts through 90 degrees, then 90 again.Finally torque M10 bolt to 40nM surrounding m6 bolts to 7nM.
Don't forget that after approx 600ml the heads will have to be retorqued to allow for gasket settlement.