86 R head gasket

[jrooster]

I have some coolant dripping out of my overflow of the rad. Its not shooting out but i noticed some dripping. It seems like it is also wet around the head gasket. I dont know if it dripped down on there or if i have a bad head gasket. Is there really any way to check? what is the best gasket i can get for it? I did a vin search on my motor and it comes up as a 86 trx if that makes a difference. Thanks

[yaegerb]

Keep an eye on it. Have you noticed any fluid puking out of the reservoir?

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Connect a line to the overflow and route it well away from the head. If you still have coolant leaking at the head gasket after doing that, well then you will know it's time to do the head gasket. Might want to true up the head using a flat even surface like a pane of glass with a piece of sandpaper on it then swirl the head around till the entire mating surface is freshly cleaned by the sandpaper.

You can have excessive coolant overflow for a couple of reasons, one could be that it is running too hot, and another could be a bad head gasket allowing engine compression/combustion to over pressurize the cooling system. Is the coolant getting discolored???

[christph]

I recently rebuilt my 86 250R and learned a neat trick if you want to bump up the compression a bit. I even used an old gasket to do it. If you have a 3 layer metal gasket, you can drill out the two rivets that hold them all together. You'll then have 2 thin gaskets and the 1 thick one from the center. If you spray one of the thin gaskets with copper gasket spray, you can use it as a head gasket. It bumps up the compression a bit and you will notice it. I didn't invent this trick; I read about it elsewhere. You can also use an 89 CR 250 gasket but the flow holes are a little different, and why buy a new gasket if you don't need to. I've ridden maybe 10 times since doing the mod and have had no problems. Just be sure to use the copper gasket spray. You can get it at auto parts stores.

[deathman53]

one sure way to find a bad head gasket is to run the bike with the radiator cap off. If you see big air bubbles, you have head gasket issues.

[jrooster]

looked today and gaskets were junk and the head nuts were loose. Found my problem