Recently at my SVA the engine started pouring white smoke out and the exhaust was pi55ing water out. The oil does have a lot of mayonnaise in it, but always has, making me think it was bad condensation. The water seems to drop its level but only to a certain point. Engine also has a misfire at high revs.
I replaced the head gasket a while ago but still have this problem so I'm thinking that the coolant is leaking into the cylinders somehow. Any ideas how? Alls I can think of is head gasket again or cracked block?

Sounds like a stupid question but did you torque the head bolts?

Yes torqued them. I remember doing it as it was only then that I realised my torque wrench didn't torque that low and had to go out and buy one

Did you get the head skimmed?

hi, i would guess a cracked cylinder head, this may explain why coolant only drops so far....

No I didn't have the head skimmed which I thought of too. It was stone cold when I took it off though.
With regards a cracked head how would this affect it? Where would the crack be to enable the water to get into the cylinder? I just can't picture it. It's a good point though about the level.
You can see the set up roughly from the picture but that expansion tank will only hold around 1/3rd to a half.


Scuttle Dash

[Edited on 8/1/09 by mistergrumpy]

Sounds head gasket related. Start it up and let it run for just a few min's and then check for pressure in the coolant before it gets hot. If compression gasses are escaping into the coolant it'll pressurise pretty quick once it gets hot water goes the other way. Also pull out the plugs and have a look at them. Are any "steam cleaned"? You could also look at the exhaust ports if its easy to get the manifold off.
Could be a cracked head. Any crack in the between the water galleries and the inlet or cylinder would give those symptoms but the gasket is more likely. Especially if you've had it apart (don't mean to doubt your ability but human error is more likely than casting failure!).

adrian

The plugs are slightly black but not wet as the last ones were before I changed the fuelling. The tops of the pistons look to be black and a little bit wet.
I'm thinking that I've not fit the gasket quite right or that there's a crack somewhere. I'm going to order a gasket at the start of next week but wondering if there's anything else I should order. TBH replacing the gasket wasn't that big a job and was quite interesting, never done one on a bike engine before.

Oh, one thing else if it matters anything. When the engine is switched off you can hear all the water gurgle back/forth in the header tank.

[Edited on 8/1/09 by mistergrumpy]

While you have the head off, have it crack checked, any good machine shop should be able, two coloured spray on dyes. Usual place to crack is between the intake and exhaust valves. Locktite used to make a home crack check set, we used it on Hewland gear boxes.

Ah right. I wondered if the head could be checked whilst it was off. Just take it to an engine fettler then?
Cheers for that.

Get them to presure/crack check it and make sure its not warped.

When you put it back together remember "Cleanliness is next only to Godlyness...except with head gaskets, when cleanlines comes first"

adrian

Okay so I've got the head off again. It seemed to come off a lot easier than the last time and you could hear the gasket "cracking" when each bolt was turned half a turn.
The whole lot seemed wet and covered with orange water when I took it off which I think is because it didn't come off straight upwards. Anyhow here's some pictures. Note the whiting crusty intake valves.


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What do we reckon. I noticed that the last intake valve was slightly darker? I'm going to get the head skimmed and see if he can pressure check it. Anything look obvious though?

not to well up on the r1 but could there be a leak between the oil cooler, I believe thats water cooled

Tony

Its a ZX9. The oil cooler is sanwiched between the engine block and oil filter on the engine.