Yehaa!! Oh Bugger...Head gaskets gone

[Rob Farmer]

Well being as the sun was shining I thought I would go for a run after work. The bike was running really well so I gave it a big handfull... a very large handfull for several miles. When I eventually pulled up at a junction I could smell hot oil...to cut a long story short I've taken out the right hand cylinder head gasket.

has anybody replaced a head gasket. If you have is there anything to watch out for?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

 

[the celt]

Hi Rob,
I replaced my righthand cylinder gasket at about 42K, it had a slight leak, the only real problem is when refitting the cam chain and sprocket to the cam, it is easy to fit the sprocket on the wrong grove, I have known a few people do this,the best way is to avoid this is by painting markers on the cam, camchain and sprocket. the rest is pretty straight forward. I also to be on the save side turned the engine over by hand by the back wheel just to make sure everything ok.
regards
jose

 

[Rob Farmer]

Thanks Joe,

How's that exhaust going? Are you still on for the seat?

 

[the celt]

Hi Rob,
Exhaust going great, should be able to pick up seat next week if this okay will pm you.
thanks again
joe

 

[Rob Farmer]

Joe,

No rush mate. It's got your name on it so whenever suits you, If you want to leave it longer then it's not a problem.

Cheers

 

[Howard Millichap]

Sorry to hear this. Another example of BMW longevity? Start debate.

 

[Rob Farmer]

Howard,

I really don't blame BMW for this head gasket and don't think it reflects on the reliability. When I first got the bike I blew both head gaskets within the first week. I took the bike back to Balderstones (Peterborough) who fixed it and told me they had replaced both head gaskets, however, when I took the head gasket out last night it has a 94 date stamp on it, they probably just pulled the heads down untill they stopped leaking which was a bit naughty.

I've had the bike for 3 years and have done 32k on it so it was not a bad fix. Untill recently I had a laser race pipe as well as the BBChip and have given the bike plenty of stick. To only have a head gasket blow, especialy as its so easy to fix, is quite an acheivement. I have recently had the gearbox rebuilt/upgraded, again I new of the weakness of the early gearbox (1994/95) and accepted the risk when I bought the bike. If it was a standard bike that had been gently tootled about then it would be a different matter.