head gasket

[Guest]

Head gasket question: is it necessary to change the head gasket whenever you take the head off? I'll order the head gasket, cylinder gasket and o-rings all at once, but just want to make sure. Is there a reasonable alternative?

I have read what I can here on changing heads and there's a lot of talk about valve work when the head is off, but not much about the gasket itself.

[doctorgonzo]

I'm in the midst of a head swap too, getting the new head ready now. If you pull the head, you have to replace the base gasket as well as the head gasket. The release of tension will probably make it leak when torqued back down.

[flyingace]

The manual recommends it, but I'm not sure it's that hard-and-fast of a rule. I replaced the rings about 8K miles ago and didn't replace the head gasket. I torqued it down just slightly more than spec. No leaks, bike runs great.

[Matchless]

There are some that say you can reuse an MLS head gasket but not the older types that compress when torqued down. A gamble probably if you do not change it.

[82Shafty]

I did a head gasket on a CB750 and did not replace the base gasket; thankfully, it is not leaking.

[bwringer]

If you very recently replaced the head gasket and all, there's a chance you can re-use it.

If the head gasket has been in use for more than a few hundred miles, it will very likely be destroyed when you remove the cylinder head.

If the base gasket has never been replaced, there's a good chance it will leak if you don't replace it if you remove the cylinder head. If it's more recent, you can probably get away with it. The problem is that it's very tough or impossible to safely remove all the head gasket residue from the block without getting mung into the cylinders.

[Suzuki mad]

You didn't say why you had pulled the head off the bike, nor how long ago had the head been off previously.

As a standard its best to replace but thats not taking other factors into acount.

Suzuki mad