So i took the bike out yesterday, and was trying out low range which is working great and also got to try out my new zilla tires which also work great!

Two things happened on my trip my spark arrestor broke free in my muffler, and came out, and I noticed that I am getting oil from between my cylinder head and the cylinder. It is only on the gearshift side and it dripping on that header. I looked and I could tell that they had used gasket maker to make that gasket and that there was also one bolt missing on that side. Now I am not loosing much oil at all, but It does worry me, and its a real pain in the arse. Just wondering what you all think of that, should I get the right gasket put in there pronto, or should I try tightening that down and hope for the best...

Originally Posted by Summiteer

hopefully the bolt is missing and not broken off inside

true enough, I took the logest bolt I have here a size smaller than what it is there just to see and it bottems out so I maybe alright. I can remember looking in there earlier and I do not remember missing that bolt.

Originally Posted by leonard

If your leaking from the head gasket Id get a cometic head gasket kit and also replace the head bolts.

I see, thanks, how bad is that to do?

Originally Posted by leonard

Power Sports

can find your part numbers there.

basically so long as your not changing anything . seems to be a matter of just taking the head off . the kit would replace both gaskets but if they used RTV on it it probably needs both anyways.

so
1. remove plastics / tank
2. head and cylinder the piston can stay but it will fall out of the head .
3 put the lower gasket on put the head back on you will probably need a ring compresson tool to keep the rings down while you put in the piston its kind of hard to do it otherwise in my experience.
4. cylinder on put the head back on and bolt it up with the new headbolts.

you should probably get a repair manual if you can because you might have to get the motor top dead center and make sure the cam stays how it is if the timing chain needs to be removed.

you should probably do your valve adjustments when your doing this as well so you get it all at once.

haven't done anything on the 600 myself but im assuming they are pretty similar .. if someone sees i forgot some steps plz jump in.

about as big of a job as I thought...well now I know. I will have to look into getting a repair manual this week for it, do some light reading and prepare for the disassembly.

You said about removing to replace both gaskets, are you talking about hte base gasket and the head gasket? Or is there two gaskets there? I think that the base gasket is still the original gasket, not sure why they have that RTV on the head gasket tho, I am going to have to stop buying used bikes...

I am just wondering after reading this through and looking at it again if I am actually not leaking through what I would call a valve cover not really the cylinder head, but yea it is the top section that it is leaking from with the RTV on it, Here is a pdf of what the head looks like.

I am missing bolt (11) and washer (17) and it seems to be leaking from that region and dripping on my header on that side.

Not sure if this changes anything but maybe I was leading everone down the worng path...lol;

was the oil leaking when you bought the quad, if not, the missing bolt may have something to do with it. get the bolt torque specs and install with a little blue locktite. If some moron put the motor together without the proper gasket, what else have they done. May be worth your while to investigate a little further. not sure but valve covers usually have a rubber o ring seal? spray some grease remover, engine cleaner, and hose it down good, run the motor and see where it leaks.