back story - 5 days ago my bike was riding fine till my thermostat got stuck, bike overheated and coolant came spilling out of the overflow in the reservoir. pretty sure i fixed that problem and flushed and replaced coolant and checked my fan while i was at it. i refilled my coolant but never started my bike to let it circulate. i then put ALL of my fairings back on.

so today when i tried starting my bike to make sure the battery didnt go dead, it didnt want to run. it would run for 15 seconds but wouldnt idle and never got above 1k rpms. after messing with the idle adjuster to make sure i didnt move it when i was replacing the fairings. i tried restarting the bike and it would just backfire, no idling. it would make a whirring noise like blowing across the top of a glass bottle and make one large backfire. then die.

if i ever get this bike running strong for more than 5 minutes, im going to drive it off of a cliff. >

 

plugs are definately fouled... any suggestions as to why they fouled? 16k miles on the bike. no sure if PO ever changed them.

 

head gasket?

 

if its a head gasket, might as well scrap the bike right?

 

just get ya some plugs and make sure u keep the batt fully charged and advance has the ngk plugs pretty cheap like 6 bucks or the irudium or whater they called for like 7 bucks. make sure u dont use any other plug thats fully threaded

 

i actually have 4 ngk iridium plugs on hand. from doing some research i think it is a blown head gasket. if thats the case. im furious. just sunk about 2000 dollars into my bike in the last 6 months. super excited to see what the resell value of my bike is that needs a new gasket... this is infuriating. lol

 

why not just get a new gasket and fix it? on cars they're not terribly expensive or difficult to do... i would imagine they're easier on bikes since there's less accessory stuff to take off and it's mostly open.

 

If it is the gasket it isnt as simple as just replacing it.
The head may have warped and may need to be skimmed.

 

If its the head gasket i will probably just take it to a shop. Its not as easy as it sounds. That requires me flushing all the coolant and oil (which i did less than a week ago) figuring out what internal problem caused it in the first place. Removing the airbox, carbs, radiator and then the head can come off. Changing the spark plugs. Taking the head to a machine shop to see if its warped. Replacing gasket, replacing head screws since im pretty sure those are a one time deal. Then reassembling everything with the HOPE that all of the man hours i put into it and all the work i just did was flawless and it fixed my problem. Thats a whole lot of work for a "i think this is what it is"... Do you agree?

 

ahh fair enough... depends on how hot it got. you can buy heads off ebay for what looks like as low as $100. studs and a gasket look like they'll run another $50. i'd budget $200-$250 to go that route. i have no idea what milling the head would cost, though. with the head milled, wouldn't you need to run a thicker HG, too?