Blown Head Gasket?

[Switchaxe]

Hey all I have an 03 predator and today I was riding and while I was in 5th gear I heard a backfire from the exhaust and then soon after I started to loose power. I immediately shut of the bike and started it once more with the help of the throttle, the bike started but conked out. After that it would not start. The oil is a blackish color and I have slowly been loosing coolant before this happened. I have spark as well. Does this sound like a blown head gasket or do you think it is a more serious problem? Thanks in advanced.
-Jake

[katch26]

well if the oil is blackish I wouldnt think its the head gasket because it would generally be a milky or really bubbly. Where is your overflow bottle? is it hooked up?, the reason I ask is because some people remove them and if you did that then coolant would absolutely be leaving the system. Also with coolant leaking into the oil it would thin is out to the point it would more than likely leak past the rings and out the pipe as white smoke or blueish. Hows your fuel? do you have any? petcock set to the right position? To me if you were trucking along and it started loosing power I would lean more towards fuel. Check all of your carb boot fitting if they start to come loose more air gets introduced and leans it out making it a ***** to start or stay running. I wouldnt lean towards the head gasket unless you know for a fact at some point is severly overheated but that just my opinion.

[katch26]

now that I see that you had a backfire in 5th gear pinned and lost power I would def lean towards your carb coming loose. Those polaris hose clamps like to come loose or strip fairly easily so check that first.

you said after it would start but conk out and after that it wouldnt start but would it still turn over? if not, and it does absolutely nothing, check your battery connection.

[Switchaxe]

My overflow is hooked up. Yea it does turn over so my battery connection is good. But I will def overlook the carb a bit more tomorrow with some more light. I will let you know if that is what it was.

[Switchaxe]

After taking a look today my carb looks fine and the battery is also hooked up fine....Im just hoping I dont have to rebuild cause im short on cash at the moment:(

[katch26]

have you adjusted the throttle cable? sometimes theyll get out of adjustment and the throttle has an electronic kill so it wont start if its to loose

[Switchaxe]

Yea I adjusted the throttle cable and no luck there. I changed the spark plug as well. I also sprayed some carb cleaner in the cylinder and it did not fire....so I dont think its the carb....any other input or suggestions?

[coalrat]

I would check your compression as your next step. I think it should be about 150, or somewhere about that. the oil could be black if you have not changed it in awhile.

Is it easy to crank over? maybe an exhaust valve, maybe jumped time, spark timing or valve timing.

The oil could be black if you were getting blow by past the rings.

for the coolant--- are you using the correct 50/50mix?

Yes, oil mixed with water turns milky and goo.

Your coolant can still leak out the head transfers and directly out the exhaust and not getting to your oil, so have it been smoking white lately? that would be the gasket then.

stuck valve, bent valve, bad rings, old oil, blown head gasket, valve timing, i think its in this list somewhere.