Athena Gaskets... Garbage or bad batch?

[Nessism]

Ed the gaskets were brittle??? Old stock dried/baked up maybe? A gasket like that is a very simple thing ( I like the pizza box and disclaimer!) Has to be a reason for it to squeeze out , crankcase pressure? base gasket surface not flat? Missing or old hard cylinder o-rings? I'd be looking for some other causes as well. I used to glass bead all the motors I rebuilt it was part of our shop estimate. It also gave a nice slightly roughed surface quick way of removing gaskets too! Never had a failure. Yes you have to be very careful damage can result! NOT so quick because of the work cleaning up after. Just a FYI we had a power washer with hot water and degreaser it was the first stop after blasting then cleaned with air and on to the parts cleaner (solvent bath). All surfaces checked for true with a 12" machinists flat bar.Grease is applied to all except head gaskets....helps the gasket flow and aids the next guy when it is removal time. Did a replacement work out ok? Do anything differently? My pet peeve is I want to know why something failed simple replacement sometimes just gets a repeat failure. We do tend to take much more care too when we have to redo something, which is why I asked if you did anything differently.... please post about your replacement .......

Randy

I think Athena is using the wrong kind of gasket material for the base gasket; it compresses too easily and is brittle - bad combination. I haven't replaced the gasket yet since it's not leaking (fingers crossed it will stay that way). I'm building another GS1000 engine right now with OE gaskets and the base gasket is thinner and harder. The base gasket is a unique application within the engine and similarly needs a special type of gasket material. I didn't pay attention to this detail before and it looks like I'm going to be paying for that oversight.

Regarding other Athena gaskets, most seem fine to me but not of the same quality as the OE stuff. For example, the OE gaskets have an almost rubbery feel to them, and some are coated with something to supplement the seal. I do NOT recommend using oil/grease on gaskets, unless you are a racer and plan on tearing into the engine on a regular basis, since this will defeat the coating layer. The Athena gaskets are more papery so to speak for lack of a more technical description. Again, no worries with the majority of these gaskets but it's easy to see that they will tear more easily and not conform as nicely as the OE gaskets.

My wonderment now is if the Athena rubber parts are any good - doubt has entered my mind.

To be fair to Athena I don't know for a fact that these gaskets are bad other than the base gasket. For those people on a budget, I'd say get the Athena kit but order an OE base gasket and consider using OE rubber base gasket O-rings too since these parts are critical, yet not too expensive to order OE.

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[sam78gs750]

I think Athena is using the wrong kind of gasket material for the base gasket; it compresses too easily and is brittle - bad combination.
Regarding other Athena gaskets, most seem fine to me but not of the same quality as the OE stuff. For example, the OE gaskets have an almost rubbery feel to them, and some are coated with something to supplement the seal.
To be fair to Athena I don't know for a fact that these gaskets are bad other than the base gasket.

Regarding other Athena gaskets: As I said earlier in this thread, all I used from the Athena set were the valve cover and cam chain tensioner gasket, and both leaked on me. I used great care in installation. All surfaces were clean and flat and I torqued to the middle of the range specified in my service manual incrementally and in the proper bolt sequence. As soon as I had an OE valve cover gasket in my hands, the huge difference in quality was apparent. It did have an almost rubbery feel to it and seemed a lot sturdier in comparison. The Athena gasket paper was a fibrous material and seemed brittle and doomed to fail from the start. Indeed it did fail and started pouring oil down the side of my engine after only 150 miles. after removing it in one piece, I flexed it a little out of curiosity and it easily cracked into several pieces...after only 150 miles?!?!?! the ??? yr old gasket I took off that was held on with gobs of rtv didn't break so easily. I put about 1000 miles on the bike since replacing the Athena gasket with OE and there's not even a hint of weeping.... Actually, I did use the points cover gasket from the athena set too, and that seems fine, but that's only thin paper and there's no fluid flowing through there...
Regarding Athena: Use at your own risk, but I wouldn't recommend them to anyone....

[Nessism]

Pulled off the top end on my GS1000 tonight to replace the base gasket after only a few hundred miles. It was worse than I had thought; the gasket had extruded and was paper thin in the high pressure areas. Never again.

[posplayr]

Pulled off the top end on my GS1000 tonight to replace the base gasket after only a few hundred miles. It was worse than I had thought; the gasket had extruded and was paper thin in the high pressure areas. Never again.

that is totally ridiculous

[SqDancerLynn1]

I wonder if it would do any good to coat the gaskets in oil before installing them

[pete]

Aaaah crap Ed, that's a real shame.

I'm going to have no choice when I start reassembling my 450 but to use Athena as the cost of genuine is just ridiculous and I more than likely won't be able to get half of them either.

I have at least got a genuine base gasket already, and in fact I got all the genuine o-rings, oil seals, and gaskets that are for the bottom end.

I figure if I have to pull the head or valve cover or a side cover, then it'll be a pain but can all be done with the engine in the frame and probably only a few hours work at the most.

What I don't want to do is have to do things like splitting crank cases or remove the barrels due to a gasket failure.

What I find interesting is that the guy who distributes Athena here in Brissie is an ex-speedway rider who apparently was really good at riding and wrenching, and he swears by the brand, yet I see obviously on the forums here that there are so many issues with them... I wonder what the deal is with that? Has he just become a salesman now who will say what he needs to sell his product? Does he happen to know a way of ensuring he only gets the "good" Athena sets?

I'm also wondering if maybe the stockists in the US have heaps on hand and are therefore older stock and not as good, whereas this guy doesn't keep much on hand and has to order regularly, so he will be getting fresh stock all the time. I hope that makes sense...

[Skateguy50]

Im almost certain that was the aftermarket brand of my base gasket... leak started about 4k after install and this is after 6k. The chunk in the middle was MIA the other parts where just supper brittle and cracked. Also the valve cover gasket only lasted 1 check.

The head gasket from the kit held up ok but it was missing 2 orings and that leaked.

[pete]

So what do the retailers/dealers say when these things happen?

Do they say you must've installed it wrong? Do they offer some sort of warranty? Or is it so sad too bad?

I would hope there would be some sort of assistance because this isn't good...

[posplayr]

So what do the retailers/dealers say when these things happen?

Do they say you must've installed it wrong? Do they offer some sort of warranty? Or is it so sad too bad?

I would hope there would be some sort of assistance because this isn't good...

They say that the surfaces were not pretty enough

[pete]

Not pretty enough? I've seen enough posts and pic's on here from you guys to know you seem to know what you're doing, so I'd be surprised.

Guess I'll just havta wait and see how mine hold up when I get there, not feeling too good about it tho...

[Nessism]

Not pretty enough? I've seen enough posts and pic's on here from you guys to know you seem to know what you're doing, so I'd be surprised.

Guess I'll just havta wait and see how mine hold up when I get there, not feeling too good about it tho...

Hey Pete, this base gasket looks to be OE... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-S...ts_Accessories

I wouldn't be afraid of most Athena gaskets, but those green base gaskets are $hit.

[hampshirehog]

You guys in the US must have been sold a duff lot. Those pics from Ed show something made out of stuff that looks more normal for wiping your backside on. I've used a lot of Athena gaskets over here and have been impressed and they've always lasted well. Maybe we're using older stock and our time will come.....

The only complaint I've ever had with Athena is that they are sometimes a bit short on some of the smaller gaskets or O rings in their sets and you have to buy those on their own or make them up.

[pete]

Thanks Ed, already covered off the bottom end though.

I have OEM base gasket and oil seals etc., so hopefully the rest will be good with Athena.

Hampshirehog... I was wondering the same thing as the distributor here swears by them and hasn't heard the same stories I'm seeing here.

[Nessism]

Thanks Ed, already covered off the bottom end though.

I have OEM base gasket and oil seals etc., so hopefully the rest will be good with Athena.

Hampshirehog... I was wondering the same thing as the distributor here swears by them and hasn't heard the same stories I'm seeing here.

You'll most like be okay Pete. What kind of head gasket did you get? MLS or composite type? As long as the surfaces are smooth I wouldn't worry as long as you aren't using the base gasket and O-rings.

[pete]

Not sure yet Ed, just waiting for my tax refund to arrive and then'll I'll be ordering it.

The distributor here said his new stock is just passing through customs early last week, so should be available by the time the cash arrives.

One thing I do plan to be doing is making sure all those mating surfaces are 110% prepared.