Blown Head gasket. Tri-Z back outof action

[J.D.]

Here's some pics for you fellas to enjoy.

[J.D.]

One more. Man this pisses me off, I wanted to go buy a stock carb, throttle cable and thumb throttle but now I have to take that money and spend on a head gasket. I think I'm gonna use sealer this time. What sealer do you guys recommend for head gaskets?

[tecatecrazy]

I wouldnt use any sealer on the head gasket! If your head and jug are smooth and flat you shouldnt need anything but the head gasket. be sure to torque it properly. just one mans opinion. ---Joe 8)

[TRI-Zbrian]

like said before you should go get the cylinder and head decked thats what i am going to do because i had the same problem. well i had coolent slowly bubbling out of the head gasket but pretty much the same.

[J.D.]

I wouldnt use any sealer on the head gasket! If your head and jug are smooth and flat you shouldnt need anything but the head gasket. be sure to torque it properly. just one mans opinion. ---Joe 8)

Thanks for reminding me about the flatness. I checked for warpage with a straight edge, and my head is FLAWLESS. I went down to my smallest feeler which is a 15-ten-thousands(.0015) and I coulndn't make that go under the straight edge. Maybe I should check my cylinder for straightness?

BTW, ALL of my headbolts had an even amount of torque (20 ft/lbs).

And if your wondering why do I think it was blown - you should have seen all the smoke I was pouring out when I went up a hill at Dumont. 2-strokes aren't supposed to smoke ALOT when warmed up, right? And, my radiator fluid was frothy, and bubbling even after draining it and putting brand new in. Blown head gasket, es correcto?

[twgranger]

What happened to your air box plastic cover? :x

[TRI-Zbrian]

he put a zinger tank there :-D

[twgranger]

he put a zinger tank there :-DI don't see no tank.

[TRI-Zbrian]

he prolly took it out to work on the trike :D

[CHAINSAW]

I dont suggest putting sealant on any gaskets..
if both surfaces are clean, a gasket will be sufficient.

[J.D.]

Ok then explain this to me. Both surfaces were clean to start off with, I torqued them before I fired it up, I idled it for 15 minutes, re-torqued. I re-torqued once more before the dunes to make sure, and it was still leaking. What gives?

To answer the question about my airbox....I was going to put a Tri-Zinger tank there, and run a K&N clampon filter, but I think I've changed my mind and just decided to go all stock.

[TimSr]

Duct tape fine sandpaper on a pane of glass, put teh head on it and sand in a circular motion. Then look at it, and youll easily see whether its flat. Heads also get grooves worn in them from the gaskets. If you do this and are satified the head is not the problem, take the studs out of the top of the cylinder and do the same thing with it.

When you reassemble, theres nothing wrong with using a proper sealer since head gaskest areent supposed to be reused anyways. I use Copper Coat which I think is made by Permatex. Your auto parts store will carry it. It comes in a spray can, and covers the gasket with a thin copper film in an adhesive like carrier that dries tacky, almost like copvering it with paint. I use 3 or 4 coats. This stuff is made specifically for head gaskets, and works great. Ive also had great success in using this stuff to reuse a head gasket in a pinch.

[Red Rider]

Tim, if both surfaces (head & cylinder) are flat, there is absolutely no need for any sealer whatsoever. I wouldn't want any sealer getting squeezed into the coolant passages, where it could restrict them, or into the combustion chamber, where it could cause pre-ignition. In my opinion, silicones & sealers are used way too often these days as a crutch for improper maintenance. Also, when would you need to reuse a head gasket? I could understand it if you were broken down in the middle of the desert and that was the only way to ride out. But, I'm certainly not going to goop up an old head gasket with sealant and reinstall, just so I could go riding. I'd rather pass on a couple of days of riding, until I could get a fresh head gasket, and do it right the first time.

[CHAINSAW]

Hey Goku.. one thing I didnt notice the first time..

DONT RUN CHEAP PAPER GASKETS!!! Buy a metal head gasket. That could be your problem, them paper ones aint worth wiping your butt with!

[J.D.]

Hey Goku.. one thing I didnt notice the first time..

DONT RUN CHEAP PAPER GASKETS!!! Buy a metal head gasket. That could be your problem, them paper ones aint worth wiping your butt with!

I didn't get no cheap paper gasket. I bought a 85 YZ250 headgasket that cost me 28 dollars.

Also someone said I could have installed it upside down, but I looked ALL OVER the gasket, and there were no marks that said "UP" or "HEAD UP" or anything at all, so I just installed it on there. Who the trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro knows.

[mike from long island]

i rebuilt my Z topend and used vehash gaskets. have not had a problem yet. i didnt sand the head or jug or anything just slapped her together and off i went. i did blow the top end though. wrong jetting my fault. when ever i see gaskets on ebay i buy them up. i have three sets two top end and one complete bottom and top end. something does sound weird if you keep blowing them??? good luck

[J.D.]

i rebuilt my Z topend and used vehash gaskets. have not had a problem yet. i didnt sand the head or jug or anything just slapped her together and off i went. i did blow the top end though. wrong jetting my fault. when ever i see gaskets on ebay i buy them up. i have three sets two top end and one complete bottom and top end. something does sound weird if you keep blowing them??? good luck

No this is the first one I've had to go on me. The one that was in there before this one was a (I guess) stock Tri-Z gasket because it was solid metal, no weird stuff on it like the YZ250 gasket. Interested in selling a top end kit? PM me with a price if you do.

[twgranger]

i rebuilt my Z topend and used vehash gaskets. have not had a problem yet. i didnt sand the head or jug or anything just slapped her together and off i went. i did blow the top end though. wrong jetting my fault. when ever i see gaskets on ebay i buy them up. i have three sets two top end and one complete bottom and top end. something does sound weird if you keep blowing them??? good luckI thought you sold your Tri-Z? :?

[TimSr]

A TriZ gasket is a 3 piece metal gasket. If you are using anything else, the TriZ torque specs are not valid. The torque specs are based on the stock gasket. If it were that simple to get higher performance with no side effects as simply using a less expensive one piece gasket already being made for another machine, I wonder why Yamaha never thought of using it?

Red Rider, Copper Coat is a spray-on film, and its awful hard to get enough of it to squeeze out anywhere, and clog anything. Its made for head gaskets. When you remove a normal stock metal head gasket youll find that watever it was coated with partially peels off when you remove it. The purpose of that coating on a mfg's head gasket is to serve as gasket sealer. You are right in that if everything is okay, it should not be necessary to use an additional sealer, and thats because your gasket already has a sealer coating on it. If you reuse a gasket, this coating must be repaced, which is where Copper Coat comes in handy. What constitutes "in a pinch"? I have yanked a top end in the field before, but Ive also been in situations where a major weekend ride or race was coming up, and I couldnt get a gasket locally in time. If you recoat the used gasket, and it actually seals, what is the harm? You obviosly dont want to run it if its not sealing, but I know how to check for both internal and external head gasket leaks on a Z, and if its sealing, I have no problem running it for an event, and if its okay, I wont pull it back off and replace it until I have a need to remove the top end again. On a 3 piece gasket you have to drill out the rivet and coat both sides of each layer, though. This isnt a practice I recommend, but if you know what you are doing, it can be done.

[mike from long island]

i have 6 of them :-P jk havent sold it yet ill only sell it to buy a house but it is for sale

[CHAINSAW]

Hey Goku.. one thing I didnt notice the first time..

DONT RUN CHEAP PAPER GASKETS!!! Buy a metal head gasket. That could be your problem, them paper ones aint worth wiping your butt with!

I didn't get no cheap paper gasket. I bought a 85 YZ250 headgasket that cost me 28 dollars.

Also someone said I could have installed it upside down, but I looked ALL OVER the gasket, and there were no marks that said "UP" or "HEAD UP" or anything at all, so I just installed it on there. Who the screwed knows.

You sure about that?? As far as I know (at least with my 87) the YZs used big O Rings as gaskets... not paper. Like TimSR said.. go with the Tri Z gasket.. dont be trying this CR/250R head gasket trick to get more compression in a machine that is just used for play anyhow. Get the right gasket, install it right, and it will work right! :rolleyes: you want your uncle CHAIN to do it for you? lol

[84250r]

Goku,

Just go back to stock Tri-z head gasket and be done with it! :)


I have two of them,but there used. heh.

[J.D.]

I know guys, I am going back to stock. Tim, I didn't think about different gasket different specs....maybe it wasn't tightened down enough and I could have saved it by tightening it down more? Damnit...oh well, I guess what they say about "To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid(I'm in this stage right now)" is true. Live and learn....rock and roll.

[TeCaTe_MaN]

Hey Goku.. one thing I didnt notice the first time..

DONT RUN CHEAP PAPER GASKETS!!! Buy a metal head gasket. That could be your problem, them paper ones aint worth wiping your butt with!

I didn't get no cheap paper gasket. I bought a 85 YZ250 headgasket that cost me 28 dollars.

Also someone said I could have installed it upside down, but I looked ALL OVER the gasket, and there were no marks that said "UP" or "HEAD UP" or anything at all, so I just installed it on there. Who the screwed knows.

on the 85 tecate there is a little tab on the gasket and it points twards the exhaust port...maybe that one has one of those too...