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LMIII - head gasket leak

KnowFear

KnowFear

Cruisin' Guzzisti
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
103
I have put about 285 miles on my LMIII after an extensive refurbishing. Heads were stripped, new guides, etc. Everything assembled with new gaskets, seals o-rings etc. It runs beautifully.

Anyway, just after my last ride (@ 270 miles after new head gaskets), I noticed a light oil leak on both head gaskets just below the spark plug. This seemed like an opportune time to re-torque the heads. So I did that a couple of days ago. I just went for the post-retorque ride and the same spot on both head gaskets is still weeping oil.

Did I wait too long before re-torquing the heads, and now the head gaskets are ruined?

Thanks for your input.
Chris
 
A leak here is tricky. Confirm the oil is coming from between the head and cylinder. If it is in the spark plug area, it may be from the o-rings that seal the access plug for the top cylinder stud, or from the cylinder stud area. When I do a rebuild, I run the engine through one heat cycle, then re-torque. Then again at 500 miles. You may have waited a little to long. It is not the number of miles that has the impact, but the number of heat cycles. If in fact the leak is from between the cylinder and and head then it may be the gasket, or from the o-rings on the cylinder studs. Each side requires six o-rings on the studs. For the top and bottom studs, the o-ring goes between the bask gasket and cylinder, the other four are under the rocker tray. Some parts manual have an error and state that only five are used on each side, and the manuals aren't clear on their placement.
 
John - thanks for your reply.

The leak is definitely coming from the head gasket at the lower stud. I'm 99% sure that I did place all six o-rings correctly -- I was using the factory service manual.

I suppose fresh head gaskets is the next step? This time I will re-torque after the first heat cycle. Wish I had known to do that.
 
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