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Post by vectisitch on Sept 12, 2021 16:09:20 GMT 1
31k, can you or should you reuse the head gasket? A new head gasket is over 50 quid at fowlers. With the constant maintenance and fiddling we all do it could get expensive if we have to get a new one everytime we take the heads off??
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Post by mouse on Sept 12, 2021 16:42:47 GMT 1
As someone once kindly said to me when i was new 'there are no stupid questions, just questions'.
To answer yours i would say no, do not ever reuse a head gasket.
HTH
Mouse
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Post by jackjabba on Sept 12, 2021 16:48:08 GMT 1
Back in the early 80's money was tight, I use to use the old gasket with some red gasket sealer. Never ever had a failure. These days I fit a new one.
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Post by steve h on Sept 12, 2021 17:46:30 GMT 1
Reused them several times back in the day, I wasn't the only one either  I never had a problem. And they were non oem ones too, Noboru brand gaskets. |
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Post by steve63 on Sept 12, 2021 17:57:51 GMT 1
31k, can you or should you reuse the head gasket? A new head gasket is over 50 quid at fowlers. With the constant maintenance and fiddling we all do it could get expensive if we have to get a new one everytime we take the heads off??
I raced a 31K and it was stripped quite often. I used the same bike on the road for work and did a trip to Spain on it as well. I can't honestly remember ever buying a new head gasket. I would smear a thin layer of Blue Hylomar on both sides and stick it back in. I can't imagine many of the production racers bought a new gasket everytime they took the head off. None of the ones I knew did anyway. I suppose the short answer is yes you can. My GSXR1100H developed a head gasket leak after about 10,000 miles from new. I stripped it, put a new head gasket in (Blue Hylomar both sides) and I never had even the slightest leak again. If it wasn't for the fact it took about ten times longer than than changing a YPVS head gasket I might have just tried the gasket sealant on the old one but I wasn't prepared to risk it. |
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Post by stanlc7189 on Sept 12, 2021 19:12:18 GMT 1
I've re-used my current one 3 times with no sealant at all. No issues at all, but the next time it will be a new one.
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Post by tacky1 on Sept 12, 2021 20:16:34 GMT 1
I reuse them, I spray them with copper gasket spray and never had a leak.
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Post by headcoats on Sept 12, 2021 20:21:48 GMT 1
The gaskets have a black coating on it and when you remove a gasket , the coating breaks away , so how do you get around that
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Post by 29davyt on Sept 12, 2021 21:17:45 GMT 1
I’ve reused , not one problem encountered ( always smear a smidgen of sealant on anyways )
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Post by steve h on Sept 12, 2021 21:47:53 GMT 1
The gaskets have a black coating on it and when you remove a gasket , the coating breaks away , so how do you get around that Use non oem ones. The ones I used had none of that sealing compound on them. (Isn't it on oem gaskets in lines around water ways and the combustion chamber and not an overall covering?) |
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Post by Norbo on Sept 13, 2021 8:59:19 GMT 1
Live every one i reused old ones back in the day with sealant, some times they held some times they did not . I allways fit new ones now but i all so use instent even with new now as ive had rotten luck with head gaskets in the past even new ones .
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Post by firmstools on Sept 13, 2021 11:34:21 GMT 1
The gaskets have a black coating on it and when you remove a gasket , the coating breaks away , so how do you get around that Back in the day I used silver aerosol spray paint on the gasket, gave it 5 mins then re used. I used this on 2 strokes and my ZXR400 and CBR600 race bike. Dont know if other colours work, I was told silver and I stuck with it and never had a problem. |
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Post by vectisitch on Sept 13, 2021 16:50:45 GMT 1
Thanks guys. I'll see how it looks when taken off and decide
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Post by Gitram on Sept 13, 2021 18:56:38 GMT 1
I pretty much always reused them unless bits fell off when i was stripping the top end, smear of gasket gunge did the trick.. I did run my 375 without a gasket for about 1000 miles, just a slathering of blue Hylomar and that worked fine, squish was 0.9mm but my local engineer reckoned that was a bit borderline and i should put the gasket back in..
"Pah, what does he know..? " probably more than me.. i put the gasket back in.. didn't want to give him another £200 to fix the crank and rebore it following the episode with the Taiwanese pistons..
marti
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Post by reedpete on Sept 13, 2021 21:47:43 GMT 1
The answer comes down to wether you ( or someone who Google’s the question and finds this answer in the future) has the knowledge and awareness to evaluate condition and consequences of reusing consumables.
The default is to use new every time, not much can go wrong then….
However for those who can evaluate and understand when you can, when you can’t, the tell tails to look out for if there isn’t a good seal, then reuse is a pragmatic and economical action.
Most times successful reuse is accompanied by the use of a gasket compound. My go to is Permetex copper gasket spray.
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Post by steve63 on Sept 15, 2021 12:51:56 GMT 1
The gaskets have a black coating on it and when you remove a gasket , the coating breaks away , so how do you get around that Off subject slightly but anyway...The 4L0/1 gaskets would often tear as the head was lifted off but if they were fitted with a thin smear of gasket cement, Hermetite Gold was my go-to at the time. Remember the advert with an RG500 race bike and the tag line something like 0 to 150mph and Hermetite Gold keeps the power in" or something like that? It worked for me cos that's what I would buy. It would mostly go on the garage floor at it was stood on but anyway.........If they had a bit of gasket goo on them they would usually be OK. The same really goes for the YPVS gaskets as far as the rubberised black coating goes but I'm pretty sure I've re-used them even if some of the black had come off. I can only remember two instances of head gasket issues. The first was on my LC350. I fitted a brand new genuine gasket and torqued it to recommended as per the manual. 17Nm is purely from memory. It leaked. I turned the wrench up to about 20 and it never did it again. I decided that the actual figure is less important than all eight being equal and left it at that. The second was my current engine, YPVS F1. I had an issue with water being forced into the header tank under the side panel (4L0 chassis). After a lot of pratting about and everything being blamed it turned out to be a slight ding in the top of one cylinder mating face. probably where it had been held in a vice. I put a tiny blob of Aralidite in the indent and it never did it again. I might be out of order but a lot of us have more spare money than we had in the old days. Certainly I have some as apposed to zero that I had  so that always has a bearing on these things. It's good to know that genuine new gaskets are still available. Anyone had experience of copper gaskets? I used to anneal my RD200 gaskets over the gas hob while my Mam was out . I then left them out and used my favourite gold gasket goo. BTW moved over to Blue Hylomar or 3 Bond now. Please don't mention Hermetite Red. I never want to see or smell that stuff ever again! |
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Post by steve63 on Sept 15, 2021 12:56:56 GMT 1
I pretty much always reused them unless bits fell off when i was stripping the top end, smear of gasket gunge did the trick.. I did run my 375 without a gasket for about 1000 miles, just a slathering of blue Hylomar and that worked fine, squish was 0.9mm but my local engineer reckoned that was a bit borderline and i should put the gasket back in.. "Pah, what does he know..? " probably more than me.. i put the gasket back in.. didn't want to give him another £200 to fix the crank and rebore it following the episode with the Taiwanese pistons.. marti My 4L0 was 1mm. Stan the Man took 0.5mm off the head and then I took some off the cylinders later to bring it down to there. It did eventually shat it's self in a bit way but I couldn't blame just the squish for that Isn't a gasket about 1mm? |
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Post by steve63 on Sept 15, 2021 13:00:05 GMT 1
The gaskets have a black coating on it and when you remove a gasket , the coating breaks away , so how do you get around that Use non oem ones. The ones I used had none of that sealing compound on them. (Isn't it on oem gaskets in lines around water ways and the combustion chamber and not an overall covering?) From what I remember people had more problems with new non-Yamaha gaskets than re-used genuine ones. |
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I never had a problem. And they were non oem ones too, Noboru brand gaskets.
so that always has a bearing on these things. It's good to know that genuine new gaskets are still available.