Head Gasket on 1983 GS650GL

[c50t rider]

Dealer tells me the GS650GL I just bought needs a new HEAD GASKET.....also says they won't do it cos it's too old, and mechanics are too young, and have no experience with this model. Can I get this done at another dealer and how many $$$$ does replacing a head gasket usually cost? Thanks!

[brveagle]

Do it yourself...

But yes, most small time shops will do it

[c50t rider]

Thanks.....I'd do it myself, but it's my son's bike and right now his ONLY transportation, and he needs it ASAP. Any idea as to how much this repair might cost?

[c50t rider]

.....also, it's a minor leak, mostly just annoying, sprays a little oil back on his pant leg, etc......ok to ride til it's fixed?..would pushing a piece of foam or cloth between the cylinder fins to "wick" up the oil be ok til it gets fixed?

[jbs80106]

just a WAG but...

for someone who really knows what they're doing, depending on what they charge...takes maybe 3 hours total(thats a guess), $50-70 = $150-210.

But from what I've read on here, if you have it done, you may as well have all the gaskets and seals replaced. Probably adds nominal additional cost but then everything it known condition -- Good.


IF he doesn't mind getting oil on his leg, as long he checks the oil level to make sure he doesn't run dry he should be fine...

Where are you located anyway?

[c50t rider]

Northern Ohio

[kurifu]

I can replace my head gasket within about 10 hours, if I work hard and non stop, probably 5 hours, and I am not that experienced at replacing them, lets say a small time shop will use 5 hours and most charge around $60/hour, conservative value says you will probably not have your bike for a day and will pay about $250 + Materials (pick 'em up online for cheap).

This is really something you can do yourself though... for the cost of the materials and puts $250 in your pocket, you can buy a lot of beer with $250.00

[waterman]

Just wondered if you have retorqued the head bolts and nuts. Some people have had success in reducing their oil leak by tightening head back down.

As far as the gasket replacement, a complete aftermarket gasket kit is around $90. Figure a good day of cleaning and extra helper to get cylinder back on. The big stumbling block is usually you run into stripped bolt holes or broken exhaust bolts that will really slow you down during assembly. When I did my 650, the PO had stripped a good number of the bolt holes which I ended up putting helicoils in.

Depending on how much your son can stand the oil mess on his leg, if you keep an eye on the oil level, it won't hurt the motor. If he needs it, I would just drive it. Wait until weather changes before tearing it apart.

[c50t rider]

I was wondering about the headbolt tightness. I don't know the torque specs for the headbolts tho....I did tighten them a little, and they weren't very tight when I started to turn on them, so maybe that will help, I didn't tighten too much because I was afraid of stripping something..the engine was "hot" when I tightened them....should I wait til it's cold?........how tight do they need to be?...BTW, THANKS guys!.this site is great!......and it's great because of people like you.\\/

[c50t rider]

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[ron bayless]

I was wondering about the headbolt tightness. I don't know the torque specs for the headbolts tho....I did tighten them a little, and they weren't very tight when I started to turn on them, so maybe that will help, I didn't tighten too much because I was afraid of stripping something..the engine was "hot" when I tightened them....should I wait til it's cold?........how tight do they need to be?...BTW, THANKS guys!.this site is great!......and it's great because of people like you.\\/

I dont know how these guys can replace a head gasket in 5 or even 10 hours.It took me longer than that just to scrape all the old gasket crap off.I would say more like 400-500 for a shop to do the work.The gasket set retail for 90 dollars.That is all the parts you would need.But if you cant get the exhaust bolts off first then you aint gonna get the motor disassemled until you take care of that problem.If the exhaust bolts come out without breaking off, the whole thing can be disassembled in about 3 hours.A shop could probably do it in half that time.Doing this type of work on your bike can be a pain, but the engines are quite simple and there is almost no way to reassemble it wrong if you know the alphabet and numbers 1-12 which of course you do.Timing one of these for the first time can be a challenge but even that is simple once you know a few tricks.I had never worked on a motorcycle engine in my life and these guys guided me through it completely.For now I would tell the young man to ride it,check the oil, and if it gets too bad then park it.If you choose to retorque the head bolts they are 27 foot pounds.If you go inch pounds then there are 12 inch pounds per one foot pound.The four outer most head bolts use crush washers that come in the gasket set.The 2 outermost 6mm diameter head bolts on each end of the head and the one in the front of the head where the leak nearly always comes from is just good and tight,nowwere near 27 pounds of torque on those.Once you have time to do the job yourself it is a great learning experience.If it was my daily transportation i would definitely pay someone to do it and get it over with.Just my 2 cents.

[denydog]

I didn't tighten too much because I was afraid of stripping something..the engine was "hot" when I tightened them....should I wait til it's cold?........how tight do they need to be?...

Torquing the head bolts should be done with the engine stone cold. Mine is a different bike, but just for reference, the bolts (nuts) on mine call for 25-29 ft-lbs. That doesn't feel very tight with a common 1/2 drive torque wrench.

[chef1366]

Once you have a leak on the head gasket retorqueing will have little effect. Get a manual and spend some quality time with the son.