Thoughts on athena gasket set?

[Guest]

My 79 GS750 has 34,000 miles on it, and its probably time for a top end rebuild in the least. On bike bandit they have the gasket set for 75.00 bucks. What are your guys experiences with the athena kits vs. OEM. Have any of you used them? Thanks.

[hjfisk]

Buy OEM if you don't want to do it twice

[Mekanix]

I don't think anyone has ever had anything good to say about them.
Many have used them and complained of leaks and poor quality fitment or the gaskets claiming to be for a certain model actually don't fit.

OEM are more expensive because they are better, its just more work putting it all together.

Do a search and type in athena. Also click on "show posts"

[GregT]

i'll go against the tide and report that the last athena GS1000 set I used was perfectly fine...
The most noticeable difference was the triangular O rings for the barrel oil feeds - earlier sets were not thick enough so didn't seal. This set had rings which when compared to OE were actually thicker...
i assume they react to criticism....

[tkent02]

34,000? Really?
It's just getting broken in.

134,000 it may need a top end.


Although some people can screw up anything.

[gs750caferacer]

i'll go against the tide and report that the last athena GS1000 set I used was perfectly fine...
The most noticeable difference was the triangular O rings for the barrel oil feeds - earlier sets were not thick enough so didn't seal. This set had rings which when compared to OE were actually thicker...
i assume they react to criticism....

Thicker? thats positive! I would think that if someone was making aftermarket stuff that someone would try to make it better than OEM.. If thats true how long have they lasted since you put them in???

[mike_of_bbg]

If there's no indication of a problem, I'm not sure why you'd tear it apart just based on mileage?

In any case, I bought an Athena gasket set for my bike, which had a head gasket leak and twisted crank. The side cover gaskets have been fine. The head gasket did not seal. This is probably actually due to the base gasket, which apparently are "squishier" than the OEM base gaskets and allow the head stud clamping force to relax over time. At the very least with an Athena gasket set I would buy an OEM base gasket to go with it.

But I think the old adage applies here, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

[pete]

I wouldn't go Athena for anything critical.

The OEM gasket kits for the 450's are discontinued so I got an Athena kit as the distributor here said he swears by them... I learnt the hard way I should've stuck with OEM!

So far the head gasket is holding up but I bought a genuine gasket for the base at least.

I've already replaced the valve cover and valve breather cover Athena gaskets with OEM ones as they just would not stop weeping no matter what. I always had fresh oil on the outside no matter what I did, but replacing with OEM has solved the issue.

Having said that, the Athena gaskets on the clutch, stator, and timing covers seem to be holding up ok.

[DimitriT]

I just pulled an Athena set after 10K miles because I was getting oil leaks.

Here's what I saw:

the rubber over the flat o-rings that go around the oil channel studs was deteriorated
and flaking off. I found little pieces of it stuck around the cam shaft bearings.

square o-ring in the center was compressed and brittle and had broken in a couple of
spots. This was the cause of the leaks. I had even applied some sealer to it in the hopes
that it would hold up when I installed it.

The head gasket itself was ok, otherwise.

I also applied sealer to both sides of the base gasket (the areas which come into contact
with oil) and that held up.

The valve cover gasket is fine. As is the stator cover gasket.

I haven't checked the valve seals or anything else. I think in general their rubber seals
may be inferior. I'm betting the valve seals have also started failing.

[gsgeezer]

Thanks for all that info! I have only used OEM, too, so far.

I can't imagine a GS need a top end rebuild at 34k, either.
(I've gone longer than that on other bikes, even my old
Suzuki T250 two stroke!)

[NBraun]

Thanks for the replys guys. Itsnot so much i want to change it because its at 34k, but because on startup i have some smoke fron the 1+2 exhaust. I also have 120psi across all cylinders except the number one.

It sounds like the generao concesus is a big fat no on the athena gaskets.thanks!