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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Head stud gasket leak?
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Message started by Rylee on 06/21/15 at 16:52:38

Title: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by Rylee on 06/21/15 at 16:52:38

So I think I've narrowed it down to a small bolt gasket that's the cause of the leak just wanted to know if anyone else has had this issue and is there a hardware store gasket/grommet I can grab instead of having to order a gasket and wait.

The head bolt/nut that's directly in front of the spark plug. That area started getting oil in it one day and I couldn't figure out what or where it was coming from. Cleaned it out real good and watched it iver the course of the next week. I'd say maybe a tablespoon of oil in that weeks time if tha much but that was definitely wher the leak was coming from. I tried snugging the nut down to see if that helped. Cleaned out the space and it took a little longer to get oily again but sure enough it still leaks.

I know it's not the head plug that was replaced and this oil is contained in that particular area.

It's number 25 on the head schematic sheet

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by Dave on 06/22/15 at 03:17:49

There is no reason the oil could be leaking from around the head stud.....it does not pass through any oil passages....and the washer is not a gasket.

The oil most likely is coming from somewhere else and just looks like it is coming from the head stud area.

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by verslagen1 on 06/22/15 at 08:07:22

I believe technically it's the head gasket.
It's the seal around the oil port allowing oil to seep in and out where ever it can.
Take the nut and washer off, clean, then coat the washer with RTV, let cure and reassemble.

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 06/22/15 at 09:53:24

You'd be ahead to have it start leaking again in a few months than get all
I'm Not gonna be coming back here again
with it and snap something off.
Might be time for a torque wrench... The beam,, 3/8ths from Sears, cheap,

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by gizzo on 06/22/15 at 18:37:55

Hate to tell you, Dave, but that stud hole is an oil passsage to the cylinder head. There is oil flowing through the stud hole. Mine leaked in the same spot. I took the nut off and noticed it is copper. That's not usually done for laughs so I annealed it and reassembled. Fixed that leak.
Just for fun, I have just popped that nut off and started the engine. Oil came out. Now Im'a have to anneal it again I guess. Taking one for the team...

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by verslagen1 on 06/22/15 at 20:56:52

25 is nearest to the decomp lever. The oil passage bolt is on the opposite side.
http://images1.snapfish.com/347447863%7Ffp342%3Enu%3D323%3A%3E639%3E697%3EWSNRCG%3D32338747%3C74%3A4nu0mrj

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by gizzo on 06/22/15 at 22:03:35

Ah well. What did I expect? Perhaps antipodean Savages are upside down to US models. I pulled off the nut on the stud in front of the spark plug, per the OP, and pretty much underneath the decomp. I observed not only oil pooled around the general vicinity, but watched oil coming out the stud hole while the engine was running. I annealed the washer under the nut. I put the nut back on. the leak stopped. I did it today, just before posting, to make sure I remembered properly and to avoid giving misleading information.There quite possibly is an oil feed on the other side and it is indicated in the drawing but seeing it's inside the rocker box I chose not to pull that one out. Perhaps you might like to? I'm just trying to help out. ::) If you don't believe me thats fine. Forget it.

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by verslagen1 on 06/22/15 at 22:07:21

I have/had a leak there too...
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1335737953

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by Rylee on 06/22/15 at 22:38:00

Thanks for all the info guys.

@Gizzo
I did your same method just to see if it was actually that spot that was the leak problem. Pulled the nut and washer off and started her up and sure enough oil came out.

@Justin
Everything that has a torque spec gets torqued on my bikes. I have 1/4 drive 3/8 drive and 3/4 drive torque wrenches.

I'm gonna clean it up one last time and use Verslagen's method of putting some RTV on the washer and letting it cure then reinstalling it to torque specs. I'm over this leak! For an 18k mile 19 year old engine it's darn clean and I'd like to keep it that way.

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by Dave on 06/23/15 at 03:50:19

110B0F0D0C32031016100B060507620 wrote:

One of the cylinder head cap bolts on the right rear of the cylinder has the the oil passage....not the left front cylinder stud. If oil is getting to the left front stud.....and is pressurized......it is a bit of a mystery how it is traveling to that spot. The right rear stud has a rubber O-ring between the cylinder and the head, and the entire cylinder/head mating surface is sealed with the head gasket.

If the oil is coming from that left front.....glad you got it sealed up. Sometimes folks have the nut/washer under the intake or exhaust port leak oil....that one is a mystery as well as the bolt doesn't even penetrate into the top of the cylinder head where there is oil....so I guess it is moving around in the laminations of the head gasket.

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 06/23/15 at 07:31:12

:-/u
06445E5C555855370 wrote:

I use a torque wrench on a head, I just use feel on everything else, well, sometimes I just jam lug nuts on with the impact, the clutch cover, I did by hand, slow, several passes, no goo. Id never go without goo again. Those little bolts were scary tight before it stopped all dripping.
I can Feel the bolt better without a torque wrench. The valve adjust covers, just hand snug. Theyre wimpy.

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by Rylee on 06/23/15 at 22:08:15

@Justin
I grew up in dad's garage and he was a blue loctite and torque wrench on everything and it stuck with me.

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by Dave on 06/28/15 at 10:00:42

I think I learned something this weekend. I took apart an engine that I got from a Theft recovery....and I noticed the head gasket was oily in the section between the raised area at the cylinder and the raised area on the outer edge of the gasket. The gasket has a formed lip on the inside and outside edges...but not around the studs. It seems that the oil from the oil supply hole does have the ability to move around between the laminations of the head gasket. So....it does have the ability to leak oil around the head studs! Who knew?

That may be where the small bolt/nuts at the under the intake and exhaust ports get the oil when they leak.....as neither one of those stud in in contact with oil any other way.

Also....the left front cylinder stud is the drain for the head. The oil runs down the head and cylinder around the outside of the stud....so oil is flowing underneath the washer and nut. Crankcase pressure can push the oil out of that washer/nut if it is not sealed.

Title: Re: Head stud gasket leak?
Post by gizzo on 06/28/15 at 15:26:10

764D4057464A51574C444956250 wrote:

So....it does have the ability to leak oil around the head studs! Who knew?

We knew.