Head gasket leak

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Mr Bonehead
Posts: 272
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 9:28 am
Location: Rural France/originally from Leeds

Re: Head gasket leak

Post by Mr Bonehead »

mizzytheman wrote:If I remember correctly Suzuki recommend you should use leak sealer when commissioning/rebuilding the engine.

I used this with no issues. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184282635677
Hi mizzytheman,thanks for the advice,ordered some radweld so see what happens
Cheers
Mr Bonehead
Posts: 272
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 9:28 am
Location: Rural France/originally from Leeds

Re: Head gasket leak

Post by Mr Bonehead »

Hi,just a quick update about the leaky head gasket.Noticed that 2 of the holes for the bolts in the gasket were slightly out iso gently made them larger with a rolled up piece of sandpaper also put a tiny wipe of sealer at the base of the stud screw after gently cleaning off the rust with wet and dry,then over the space of a few days torqued the head down,started at 20 lbs ft for the 10 mm bolts and 8 lbs ft for the 8 mm ones,increased by a few lbs every day in the sequence in the manual until I got to the specified torque,filled up with coolant and a day later no leaks or drop in level.I put a wipe of copperslip in the threads of the head bolts (as recommended by a forum member )so I got a correct torque reading without friction and put each bolt back into its original hole,I got one mixed up and you couldn't finger tighten it more than 2 turns but in its original hole it went right down to the washer by hand,might not have made any difference but worked for me.
First attempt was with one of those bendy bar torque wrenches ,just tightened up the bolts in sequence 1/4 turn until correct reading then put coolant in,didn't work,bought a £40 draper torque wrench from Amazon for the second attempt.
Long post I know but might save some one a bit of time,it wasn't a £120 original Suzuki gasket but a £25 eBay UK Italian job
Thanks to everyone for their advice and keep safe
Cheers from France Mr B
Ps Haven't used the radweld yet but see what happens when I fire her up
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