Head gasket leaking

[Dune Surfer]

I could hear a noise coming from my engine. After looking it all over I could see some carbon deposits around the head gasket, looks like I have a leak. The question is what to do. I had this engine built six months ago and won't take it back to the same guy. How hard is it to fix? It has good power should I fix it now or wait untill after desert season. Will it hurt anything?. Is there an easy way to fix it? What do you guys think? I have never taken the engine apart before, but I do have a manual.

[fuddrucker]

If it were me, I would wait till the season is over. You know how it goes,,, A simple repair turns into a big job and now you miss half the season. Sounds like all that is happening is that you are hearing the air getting past the gasket which in turn, means you are just loosing a bit of compression. Just keep an eye on it and make sure it is not getting bigger and causing you to loose more compression.

Just my .02

[Rebel300]

You should replace it now before somehting happens. It wont get any better, It really isnt a big job. It should take u only like not even an hour. It is pretty simple. If u dont replace it u could loose compression and then not be able to start. My friends blaster had the same problem he just put some caulk over it. If u rnt goin to replace it than do wat he did. It works so far.lol, and we do some hard riding.

[AtvMxRider]

Originally posted by Rebel300
You should replace it now before somehting happens. It wont get any better, It really isnt a big job. It should take u only like not even an hour. It is pretty simple. If u dont replace it u could loose compression and then not be able to start. My friends blaster had the same problem he just put some caulk over it. If u rnt goin to replace it than do wat he did. It works so far.lol, and we do some hard riding.

I agree I would not wait. You stand a chance of running it lean and burning it up.

[Rebel300]

I ment gasket maker, not caulk. sorry

[13RAZOR13]

its a big problm when you have a built 400trx motor leaking head gaskets, and head bolt problems....
ITS EASYYYYYYYYY to fix with a good manual
thats if you have done work like this before

[type3tom]

I would also get that problem taken care of ASAP,and do check to make sure you didnt pull a head stud(been there) if you did CT Racing has a head stud kit that sell for about 80.00 and its well worth the money.My compression is getting raised rite now so I just odered those studs,its worth putting them in while everythings apart,good luck.

[ChadEXer]

I have VERY good advice for you!!! GET IT FIXED NOW!!!! You DO NOT want to wait, i cant believe people would even tell you that! Thats the same exact thing that happened to mine, i had a small leak and was hearing a small noise, the next thing I knew I lost almost all compression and power!! I know my motor has quite a bit more compression than most do, but trust me, you want to get it fixed! I kept on and kept on riding it with the blown head gasket and I cracked the cylinder in 4 different places!! Tom at TC told me that there was no head gasket left at all by the time he got it back!!! Good thing for me was, even though it was my fault Tom still fixed it all for free!! but a head gasket is a pretty cheap and easy fix!! I would do it now!!

[fuddrucker]

Ok, forget what I told you and go with the experts!:D Sorry about the shotty advice. I have learned a ton of info from this board. Now I also know that a small leak in a head gasket is more serious than I had thought it would be.

Thanks.

[y2k400ex]

Dune Surfer

What compression piston are you running ?

[Dune Surfer]

I am running 11to1

[Dune Surfer]

Hey Chadexer did you ever get that lectron carb dialed in? Would you recomend it? By the way I ordered a new head gasket from C&D yesterday. Thanks for the advice.

[RED121572]

I ran on a slightly leaking headgasket for a good six months. (made the mistake of not replacing my head bolts, the bolts can stretch)

I didnt experience any problems, but replace that gasket soon as you can get around/afford it.

[Dune Surfer]

It' alive!! OK I just finished. A new head gasket installed in about four hours. Not to bad. It was my first time diving into my motor so I was a little scared. I read the manual and It's not so bad, easy really. I adjusted the valves at the same time, that wasn't bad either. It's true what people say, these are easy to work on. Now I feel ready to rebuild the engine next time I'm ready. I like it!!!

[RED121572]

Cool beans man. Glad to hear everything worked out fine.

[ChadEXer]

Originally posted by Dune Surfer
Hey Chadexer did you ever get that lectron carb dialed in? Would you recomend it? By the way I ordered a new head gasket from C&D yesterday. Thanks for the advice. When I first got my quad back together, I jumped on it and rode it around the yard a few times, and the carb seemed to be doing good except for a little bogging on the low end. Well we loaded up for Little Sahara(We were getting everything done last minute, including putting my quad back together) so I didnt have time to mess with the carb, I figured I would at LS. Well we assumed it was running too rich so we leaned the carb out, then we did it a little more. Well shorlty after I blew my head gasket out! I found out after talking to Tom that it was a tad rich at 1/4 throttle but at 3/4 throttle to full throttle it was running lean, and of course I leaned it out even more causing an extremely lean condition, which made the head gasket blow!! Even with the head gasket blown(still didnt know at the time that the noise I was hearing was a head gasket) I was talking to Tom on the phone and dialing in the carb,,,well after doing what Tom said I had the thing pulling twice as hard(with the blown head gasket)!!!
Some people are scared of a Lectron because they are a little tough to get dialed in, but the good part is they are 10 times easier to adjust than any other carb,,,,fact is if your somewhere and realize your carb is off,,,with any other carb you would have to take the carb off the bike, and tear it apart to get to the jets,,well with the Lectron you can leave it on the bike and make adjustments in less than 5 minutes!!! Doesnt get any easier than that!!!
I just might be selling my Lectron carb, not sure yet. I am getting another Lectron setup for alky. Dont know yet if i will ever need my gas carb again?????