I hope no one tells me "I told you so", but here's my story:
This morning (early before the heat started ramping up), I ran all three motorcycles to keep them from getting crotchety while being laid up for Summer. I normally get a couple of long trips in, but things have conspired to prevent it this Summer. And I'm not happy about that...
Anyway, when I fired up the '78 GL, the right bank spewed steam for about a minute - then cleared. I guess there's a head gasket job looming when the weather cools down - along with other queued projects in the pipeline for the Valk and the CBX. But, this task might get some priority along with new timing belts as these are approaching 5 years old. I don't trust it to stay minimalist like it is now. The short duration of the steam makes me think the gasket allowed coolant to seep into a combustion chamber while sitting. It's not yet bad enough to be constant. So, I suppose it may not be "serious", but it didn't look good.
But, why am I worried about "I told you so" jibes? Well, you guys may or may not recall that I did a left side gasket in February 2016 on this bike. At the time, I decided that if it ain't broke (right side), don't fix it. So, it lasted two years and roughly 7500 miles. Was it worth waiting? I'm going with "yes". Lots of folks are of the opinion that both should always be done together. I'm not one of them.
I'll post a coupla shots when I do it, but it'll look remarkably like the left side did - only 2.5 years later...
This morning (early before the heat started ramping up), I ran all three motorcycles to keep them from getting crotchety while being laid up for Summer. I normally get a couple of long trips in, but things have conspired to prevent it this Summer. And I'm not happy about that...
Anyway, when I fired up the '78 GL, the right bank spewed steam for about a minute - then cleared. I guess there's a head gasket job looming when the weather cools down - along with other queued projects in the pipeline for the Valk and the CBX. But, this task might get some priority along with new timing belts as these are approaching 5 years old. I don't trust it to stay minimalist like it is now. The short duration of the steam makes me think the gasket allowed coolant to seep into a combustion chamber while sitting. It's not yet bad enough to be constant. So, I suppose it may not be "serious", but it didn't look good.
But, why am I worried about "I told you so" jibes? Well, you guys may or may not recall that I did a left side gasket in February 2016 on this bike. At the time, I decided that if it ain't broke (right side), don't fix it. So, it lasted two years and roughly 7500 miles. Was it worth waiting? I'm going with "yes". Lots of folks are of the opinion that both should always be done together. I'm not one of them.
I'll post a coupla shots when I do it, but it'll look remarkably like the left side did - only 2.5 years later...