Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F

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Fri 12 May 2006 23:17
Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F - bikemade3
Any bikers on this forum changed a head gasket on a water cooled bike before.
My normally reliable CBR1000F appears to have possibly blown its gasket. when it gets warm i'm getting loss of coolant thru a jubilee clip ( they've been checked along with operation of the thermostat)Drained coolant, there's no sign of oil in it, checked oil no signs of emulsion, i'm thinking gasket failure from water jacket to cylinder.

Anyway how much of a job is it to get the engine out, break it down, rebuild and refit?

Also whilst it's out i'm thinking about changing the camchain tensioner and doing the valve clearances, what about the camchain (32K) as it needs to be split(?) to remove. It's between cylinders 2 and 3.

Advice please.
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Sat 13 May 2006 01:37
Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F - mark
A lot of work I am afraid

These water-cooled Hondas are very temperamental once disturbed.

The camchain is a sensible replacement at this mileage but its probably the case the head will need to be skimmed if the jubilee seal cannot be tightened any more.

Just take your time new OE gaskets albeit expensive are the way to go. Make sure you follow the head bolt tightening sequence when you put it back together with fresh coolant.

As ever

Mark
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Sat 13 May 2006 01:38
Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F - neil
Stop!

I had this... appeared to be weeping coolant on RH side of engine. When I tried to tighten the jubilee clip visible through RH fairing 'louvres' for want of a better description, I found that a small black plastic 3-way 'elbow' had hardened and split. Cost from Honda eleven quid, available next day. Might be worth checking this before you decapitate it! As for the cam chain, if its not noisy leave it alone - some do, some dont. Usually noisy by 24k if they're going to be, so I've heard.
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Sat 13 May 2006 11:46
Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F - bikemade3
Cheers Neil,
that's exactly where mine is leaking,on the pipe running from the water pump, had all the pipes out twice to tighten it. Started of as a small sepp then became full bore flow after disturbing and re tightening. Thing is it only leaks when warm which is why i,m thinking head gasket ( cylinder pessurisation ).
Will delay stripping the head untill i've replaced this "Elbow" replacig radiator pressure cap ( relief valve ) at the same time.
Appears that i don't need to drop the engine out, can do it in situ, if i need to do this then i'll do the valve clearance and cam chain tensioner at the same time.
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Wed 17 May 2006 21:43
Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F - bikemade3
Update:
Replaced the Elbow and Radiator pressure cap with new items, ran it for 10 minutes,( longer than before) no leaks. Appears that new Elbow has cured the fault.
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Wed 17 May 2006 21:49
Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F - bell boy
a very big cyber pint for neil then :)
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Wed 17 May 2006 22:51
Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F - bikemade3
Certainly is oldman, got some spare pennies to put new rubber on it.
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Thu 18 May 2006 00:48
Motorbike Head Gasket CBR1000F - neil
Glad to hear it mate! Cheers!

Neil
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