Head gasket blown

[Rhondabee]

I own a 2008 with under 30, 000 kilometers, and was told my head gasket is blown??? Any one have this experience? My husband rides a venture with almost 200,000 k on it and has never done anything but general maintenance on it. Not to happy !!

[ARtraveler]

I do not recall seeing blown head gaskets being posted before. Could you spare a few more details.

Are you the original owner? Did you buy it used? How long owned? How many miles have you put on it before the gasket problem?

[Rhondabee]

I do not recall seeing blown head gaskets being posted before. Could you spare a few more details.

Are you the original owner? Did you buy it used? How long owned? How many miles have you put on it before the gasket problem?

I purchased it 3years ago, it had 9,000 k on it, I bought it at a dealer. I actually noticed a small pool of oil on the floor of the garage when I was taking it out for the first time this year, was bringing it in to get an oil change and new tires!

[DrewNJ]

Pool of oil on the garage floor is no way a head gasket....

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

....I agree with Drew, I had some seepage from the Gaskets on the cylinders on my 2011 RSS , it was just dirty looking not a blown gasket.....was fixed under warranty.........A puddle of OIL does not occur from blown gaskets........I think the dealer is BS'ing you because of your gender ????....There are A-holes who will try to take advantage because they think they can..................Mike

[Highwayman2013]

Probably the valve cover gasket. Did it run ok?

[GOZFST]

Get a second opinion, most likely a valve cover gasket rather than a head gasket. Does it use lots of anti-freeze,can you see anti-freeze in the oil or oil in the anti-freeze? A compression test will tell if it's a head gasket and there is a sniffer that can be used to detect carbon monoxide in the radiator.

[SPYDERGUY1]

Hey Rhonda, not a mechanic but pretty handy, a blown head gask will not leave a pool of oil on the floor, check out a different dealer. Good luck and hope you enjoy the ride.

[spacetiger]

One common sign of a bad head gasket is coolant leak into the cylinder; this is seen as a white cloud coming out of the exhaust system. Did you see signs of this?

Another sign pf a blown head gasket is a small leak back into the coolant system from the pressure from the engine cylinder(s); this is seen as an over pressurized coolant system which causes the coolant to get blown out in small amounts via the coolant cap/bypass system. You might see small coolant leaks under the bike when just parked. Eventually, the coolant level drops enough to the point it cannot cool the bike, so it over heats. Have you seen any evidence of this?

Another sign is coolant getting into the oil system. Check the oil level dip stick. If there is lots of coolant in the oil system, you might see it on the dip stick.

Another sign could be oil in the coolant system. You have to look at the coolant reservoir or radiator cap and check to see if there is any oil in the coolant system. I have not ever heard of an oil leak associated with a head gasket. I suppose it is possible if the gasket is bad enough to allow an exterior leak, but you would also see a coolant leak.

The only other way you can tell is to run a compression test.

How do you know you have a head gasket out?

[ARtraveler]

It does indeed sound like the valve cover gasket. For me, the situation reared its ugly head while the was parked in the garage for its winter sleep. A puddle of oil appeared under the Spyder. Valve adjustment was completed just before the end of the season. Turns out that when I had the valve adjustment service, the mechanic failed to put a new gasket on. A new gasket (on the dealers dime) fixed the issue.

[Chupaca]

you would have had a lot of other problems if you had a blown head gasket. Have seen a few valve cover gaskets going out. As mentioned you need to have someone else check it out to make sure your not tearing the heads off needlessly. Which cylinder is it..?? Typically it is the rear cylinders with problems. Hope its just the valve cover but they can check the valves while they're there...

[Rhondabee]

I own a 2008 with under 30, 000 kilometers, and was told my head gasket is blown??? Any one have this experience? My husband rides a venture with almost 200,000 k on it and has never done anything but general maintenance on it. Not to happy !!

Thank you for all the advice!! I wam going to contact the dealer and have a conversation this morning! My bike has run like a charm, no issues until this leak!!! I am getting a second opinion for sure!

[oldgoat]

Could also be oil dripping from the air intake box & making a mess on the front of the front cylinder.

Caused by oil being blown into the airbox by the engine. Mine did it & I put an oil mist remover in the breather line to the airbox.

[Bob Denman]

I believe that Spyderjockey is having the same issue: a small oil loss from up top on the front cylinder...

He was looking for some advice about the teardown process. If anybody that's in the know could reach out to him; it'd be great!

He's got a GS with over 108,000 miles on it!

[jerpinoy]

There's lots of good advice posted and I could use most of them thanks SL's.

[jtoro1]

Probably the valve cover gasket. Did it run ok?

I agree i have the same leak rear cam cover gasket. I removed the side covers and saw the leak. If it runs but leaks oil it does not have a bad head gasket.

[wyliec]

............A puddle of OIL does not occur from blown gaskets.........Mike

Mike,

I had a blown bottom gasket on the rear cylinder, and there was a puddle. Or, are you just talking head gaskets? I know I caused the problem on my spyder, and removed what I had installed. The original leak was almost gone after removing the part; but, was still dripping a little. It was covered under warranty.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Mike,

I had a blown bottom gasket on the rear cylinder, and there was a puddle. Or, are you just talking head gaskets? I know I caused the problem on my spyder, and removed what I had installed. The original leak was almost gone after removing the part; but, was still dripping a little. It was covered under warranty.

Head Gasket as reported by poster..................You are right , the bottom gasket is going to leak lots of oil.......Mike

[Rhondabee]

I own a 2008 with under 30, 000 kilometers, and was told my head gasket is blown??? Any one have this experience? My husband rides a venture with almost 200,000 k on it and has never done anything but general maintenance on it. Not to happy !!

UPDATE!!!! My husband went to the dealer yesterday with all your posts in hand!! It turns out that it was a valve cover gasket , not the Head gasket, which is great news!

C ant thank you all enough for your expertise and help, I think you saved me a few hundred dollars! Ride Safe.... Rhonda

[Bob Denman]

[Spyderjockey]

I believe that Spyderjockey is having the same issue: a small oil loss from up top on the front cylinder...

He was looking for some advice about the teardown process. If anybody that's in the know could reach out to him; it'd be great!

He's got a GS with over 108,000 miles on it!

Mine did turn out to be just the valve cover gaskets, although I had been told also by one dealer that it was probably not the valve cover gaskets, but more likely the head gaskets and the cost to fix it would be any where from $1500 to $2500. I was pretty sure it was the valve cover gaskets and had started to work on doing the repairs myself, but it looked like more than I wanted to get involved in with inaccessible screws and the rear cylinder looked even harder to get to. I took it up to Ingles in Phoenix, NY and they replaced the both valve cover gaskets for $220, which I thought was very reasonable, especially after I saw how much was involved after starting to do the job my self.

No more oil leaks and am now well on my way to 110,000 miles and the bike is running exceptionally well. This bike has been such a great machine and am very impressed with the quality of our Spyder especially since it was one of the premiere builds of the GS back in 2008. Thanks BRP!!!

[Dan McNally]

UPDATE!!!! My husband went to the dealer yesterday with all your posts in hand!! It turns out that it was a valve cover gasket , not the Head gasket, which is great news!

C ant thank you all enough for your expertise and help, I think you saved me a few hundred dollars! Ride Safe.... Rhonda

Two things . . . first, congratulations on the fact that it wasn't a head gasket, and second, thanks for sharing the results with the group. So many people come here, ask opinions about a problem . . . and then never say what the issue turned out to be. "The rest of the story" is important to the rest of us, as, over time, it builds up a list of most likely solutions to shared problems and is of great value. So, thanks, again, for sharing the answer to your problem.

[Bob Denman]

Mine did turn out to be just the valve cover gaskets, although I had been told also by one dealer that it was probably not the valve cover gaskets, but more likely the head gaskets and the cost to fix it would be any where from $1500 to $2500. I was pretty sure it was the valve cover gaskets and had started to work on doing the repairs myself, but it looked like more than I wanted to get involved in with inaccessible screws and the rear cylinder looked even harder to get to. I took it up to Ingles in Phoenix, NY and they replaced the both valve cover gaskets for $220, which I thought was very reasonable, especially after I saw how much was involved after starting to do the job my self.

No more oil leaks and am now well on my way to 110,000 miles and the bike is running exceptionally well. This bike has been such a great machine and am very impressed with the quality of our Spyder especially since it was one of the premiere builds of the GS back in 2008. Thanks BRP!!!

Hi Jim,
I am so glad that a solution has been found!!
To 110,000 miles... and beyond!!