SuzukiSavage.com - Blown head gasket

kojones Full Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 223 Finland	Blown head gasket 11/04/17 at 05:18:53 My Savage started to consume some oil (~0.8l / 100 km) so had to do something. Wasn't hard to locate the problem. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ej5wo8ggqz7wphy/pahvi.jpg?dl=0 That south-western hole is for the oil return galley...
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Dave

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Re: Blown head gasket
Reply #1 - 11/04/17 at 06:00:54

Make sure your head and the top of the cylinder are flat before you put them back together.

Take a sheet of 400 sandpaper and duct tape the edges to a sheet of glass. Wet the sandpaper and then run the head (remove the locating dowels) back and forth and see if the paper shows any high spots. Continue until everything is flat. You can use a rougher sandpaper if you find you have a lot to remove - but follow up with the 400.

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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Blown head gasket Reply #2 - 11/04/17 at 08:36:16 Wouldna believed it without a picture. That's the first one as far as I can remember. Lots of people have declared a busted gasket, and at least one had waded off into it, but it's usually just a puny little leak.
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kojones

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Re: Blown head gasket
Reply #3 - 11/05/17 at 06:21:10

Dave wrote on 11/04/17 at 06:00:54:

Make sure your head and the top of the cylinder are flat before you put them back together.

Take a sheet of 400 sandpaper and duct tape the edges to a sheet of glass. Wet the sandpaper and then run the head (remove the locating dowels) back and forth and see if the paper shows any high spots. Continue until everything is flat. You can use a rougher sandpaper if you find you have a lot to remove - but follow up with the 400.

Is this absolutely necessary? Checked them both with a steel ruler and looked straight. I'm running a 95mm Wiseco and the head gasket was a cheapo, 3000 miles since the last engine rebuild, honing marks still visible in the cylinder walls. Pulling the jug would require a new hone and rings..

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Armen

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Re: Blown head gasket
Reply #4 - 11/07/17 at 03:33:16

Why would it require new rings if you pull the jug?
I usually start with fairly rough sand paper. Spray some WD-40 on the glass (or other flat surface), and lay the wet and dry sand paper on the glass. The WD will help the paper stick to the glass. And it gives the metal a nicer finish. Then move the head (or jug) in a figure 8 pattern using with hands.
If you just go back and forth, it is easy to rock the piece a bit, making the edges higher.
I did one with very fine paper, only to find out that the gasket doesn't want to stick to something so smooth. Def don't go finer than 400. Maybe even coarser.
If you think this takes to long, remember-if you don't have the time to do it right, how do you have the time to do it twice?

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Dave

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Re: Blown head gasket
Reply #5 - 11/07/17 at 06:13:50

You don't have to install new rings just because you took the cylinder off....they are both broken in and you can put them back together without any issues. You will need a new cylinder base gasket.

Because you are the first person to have an actual head gasket failure, I do believe there is the potential that the top of the cylinder and the head are not matching up very well.....something likely is not as flat as it needs to be. It would be a real shame if you had to do this head gasket repair again!

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Armen Serious Thumper Offline Half-Witted Wrench-Jockey from Jersey Posts: 1452	Re: Blown head gasket Reply #6 - 11/07/17 at 06:39:44 Correction: Using 'both' hands oops
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kojones

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Re: Blown head gasket
Reply #7 - 11/08/17 at 07:41:04

I think you’re all correct, I was in the impression that the cylinder needs to be honed if the piston is removed, don’t know where that came from.

Unfortunately I put the head back on sunday, altough I checked the head and cylinder surfaces very well with a metal ruler. The previous head gasket was cheap and I think I didn’t torque the head tight enough as my torque wrench is only capable of 24Nm. Will do tighter this time.

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