Leaking Head Gasket Questions?

[AtvKid4Eva]

Hey guys when we built my brothers 426 about a year ago we had GT Thunder HD Head studs installed and im almost positive we used the best cometic Head Gasket we could get from them. I torqued the head studs to spec and when we got it all back together it started and has been running perfect. However it has always had what looked like a bit of oil coming from the head gasket. Now it seems to be leaking more oil from the head gasket in the front of the motor, we noticed this since we have been rebuilding the bike. My question is, could i have gotten a bad gasket from Cometic? We plan on replacing it here soon, but i want to make sure i use the best gasket i can to replace it. Are the Honda ones better than Cometic? Any tricks to getting them to seal correctly? let me know what you guys think. Thanks.

[Zakradu398]

Use the rubberized metal gasket from Cometic and make sure to cross torque everything slowly.

[DragonGunner]

In a extreme case, you could have a slightly warped head that needs milled.....I had one that kept blowing gaskets and had it checked for warp and it was.....guy at worked plained it for me.

[CJM]

Yep, could be a warped head. Could also be the non rubberized cometic gasket causing a leak (if its just the fiber kinda gasket).

Could also be a torque down problem. Did you torque 1/4 of the final number, then 1/2 then full torque?

[AtvKid4Eva]

i doubt the heads warped, i mean anythings possible but i just dont see how that could happen. I used the metal Cometic gasket. I believe it was supposed to be the best one they made. And yes i torqued them properly, from corner to corner.

[CJM]

Either the gasket failed or you have a warped head.

[426kidz]

How exactly does a Head warp? :confused:

[DragonGunner]

Heat, hours......manual shows how to check for warp.

[426kidz]

The bike has barely been ridden, Up and down the road and some trail ridding. Not many hrs on it. Also in OH and it never gets super hot here and if it does its not out in it very often. We will check that when we take it apart. I want to say its a faulty Gasket

[CJM]

Sounds like a gasket problem, but if the gasket looks fine then it can only be the head.

[on the rocks]

i got a head from canton ohio and it was warped. had it decked and its not on my 440 doing work.

[AtvKid4Eva]

We will check for a warped head when we take it apart. If it is warped we will get it decked. Thanks guys

[CJM]

Good luck!

[AtvKid4Eva]

we had a broken exhaust stud a while back when we were doing the 426kit. The front of the head was heated up pretty hot with torches now that i think about it. It may be warped from that. The back is not leaking only the front by the studs.