93 head gasket leaking

Paul.1478 · March 04, 2019, 02:49:35 PM

So bad day. Broke a tooth last night. I work with the wife so i rode the FJ in so I can leave early and go to the Dentest. On the way in I got a ticket 71 in a 45. About 350.
Dentest said your cut is 500 for the crown. When I left the Dentest I noticed oil on by right boot.
Read a few threads so I sprayed it down with breakcleaner and blew on some cornstarch.
How is this possible 13k (not 113k) miles and leaking head gasket ? Should I be worried about a warped head?
I hate messing with timeing chains and valve timeing. How hard is the head in the FJ?

Firehawk068 · March 04, 2019, 03:26:00 PM

It may not be your head-Gasket leaking (although the fix would be just as bad)
If I remember correctly, there are two O-ring seals and a copper-washer on one of the head-studs.
They seal the oil pressure passage for oiling the upper cylinder hardware.
Those seals harden over time, miles may not have a lot to do with it. It may even be worse for them if the bike never gets ridden?

The stud in question is on the right side of the engine. It would probably leak right where your picture shows?
The copper washer is under the top head-nut to seal the top of the stud to the head.

racerrad8 · March 04, 2019, 07:07:24 PM

It could be the oil cooler fitting o-rings at the cooler or the valve cover bolt grommets and/or gasket.

The leaking of the dowel seals Alan mentioned is not a very common leak.

Randy - RPM

Sorry to hear about the injury.

Paul.1478 · March 04, 2019, 10:01:19 PM

Hello randy and thanks.
Oil Cooler and valve cover all dry. After it cleaned it I added the cornstarch and ride for 5 min.
Leak is commong from where you can see on the photos.

Urban_Legend · March 04, 2019, 10:16:52 PM

Re Torque the head bolts...maybe.

I had an oil leak fron the back of the cylinder barrels. Turned out to be a bolt that i hadn't torqued up properly from when i had split the cases..
Its always worth a try.

aviationfred · March 04, 2019, 11:22:20 PM

Quote from: Urban_Legend on March 04, 2019, 10:16:52 PM
Re Torque the head bolts...maybe.

Its always worth a try.

I agree with Mark. Before tearing anything apart, check all of the head nuts for proper torque, (25ftlbs). Clean the existing oil from the cooling fins and take another spin around the neighborhood.

Photo of the proper torque sequence. Extremely important. 5 and 7 will be cylinder #1, 6 and 8 will be cylinder #4. IIRC The copper washers that were mentioned should be under nuts 6 and 8.

Fred

Old Rider · March 05, 2019, 03:17:29 AM

Fred i think you have mistakenly mixed some tightening sequence charts . Here are a pic from the fj1200 manual i got.
The leak can also come from camchaintensioner the oil is dripping forward when bike is standing still thru the cylinder and then get blowed out to the sides when bike is in motion
just a guess.

Paul.1478 · March 05, 2019, 04:30:13 AM

When I adjusted the valves about 800 miles ago I did check the toque and they were all right. Or at least my toquere wrench told me they were. Also changed the valve cover grommets and gasket.

So this seems rather uncommon. I will re-check the oil cooler again as Randy recommends but it looked dry and sure seems to be coming from the head.

Old Rider · March 05, 2019, 04:48:51 AM

Did you use a little rtv on the 2 halfmoons when replacing the valvecover gasket?

racerrad8 · March 05, 2019, 05:54:36 AM

FYI, the photo of the torque sequence is correct.

But, the indication the copper washer are to be installed under the nut 9 & 12 is incorrect. They should be installed under nuts 10 & 11.

It is worth checking around, pulling the tank and making sure. The oil can also leak from the head gasket and leak forward out of the head moisture drain hole. Then once the bike is ridden, the oil can be blow around and to that area.

A little more investigation is required.

Randy - RPM

Paul.1478 · March 05, 2019, 06:05:44 AM

Randy,
Thanks for your input!
can you please explain a little more what I should be looking for? maybe a photo of were to look and what to look for?

racerrad8 · March 05, 2019, 06:24:56 AM

There are drain slots on the front of the head under the exhaust cam. They are down at the base of the fins at the spark plug thread level. This allows rain water pumped into the head via the side fairing cooling ducts a way to drain.

If the valve cover or bolt seals leak, the oil can run into the area and out the front of the head. Then as I mentioned already, the oil can then be blown around the fins and side of the engine.

I'll be away from the shop until next Monday, so I can't offer any photos.

Randy - RPM

ribbert · March 05, 2019, 06:53:16 AM

Quote from: Paul.1478 on March 05, 2019, 04:30:13 AM

When I adjusted the valves about 800 miles ago I did check the toque and they were all right.

Paul, when you checked the tensions did you back off the bolts first (one at a time), then re-tension them in one fluid motion? This is really important.

A bit late now but my recommendation would be to leave them alone.

Noel

Paul.1478 · March 05, 2019, 07:01:32 AM

Thanks for the input.
No, I just set the toque wrench and verified. no idea I should have done this.
I think what Randy was trying to say above was leaving from the valve cover gasket not head gasket and leaking out the drain hole. So I want to check that.
I will pull the tank off today when I get home and pull the valve cover. Check around for any signs of oil and same with the oil cooler. I hope to find something other that the head gasket. It would suck to change it and still have the leak.

Old Rider · March 05, 2019, 07:36:00 AM

If you did not aply rtv silicone where the 2 red square is it will leak.

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93 head gasket leaking