Really?!?! Now, the head gasket?

[jfusaro]

Report it stolen and buy a Vespa

[vitesse]

Originally Posted by KitNYC

Vitesse, your post came about the same time the truck driver pulled over because he had failed to properly attach the bike to to the flatbed...

I have just begun to drain the sump. The oil drain bolt is just cracked, and, well, they say a picture is worth 1,000 words:



What sort of warning would you have expected?

The bike has just over 67k, which means this engine is at about 50k.

Cheers,
-Kit

When a head gasket is relatively "thick" (old copper based, mostly auto application) you have a gradual sputtering and misses to the point of dropping a cylinder, that is with a larger "gap" when the gasket is breached.
With these new (ish) ultra thin gaskets the gap forced through the gasket would be very small thus a more gradual indication that the seal had been compromised.
The coolant doesn't even look mixed as if it simply flooded the sump immediately.
If there was a catastrophic crack in the head this could happen but for a head gasket to fail that quickly, entirely and cleanly is a real mystery.
I used to see plugs with a crystallization on the electrode that showed seepage of coolant into the chamber.
I really do hope you get some relief and somehow get back on the road.

[KitNYC]

Yeah, may not have been the head gasket...

Interior of timing cover:


Bottom of drain pan:

[Billbikes]

No look good!

[Cburt]

Is this your second motor on this bike?
If so, that's not a glowing recommendation of reliability for Triumph.

[DaveM]

Geez Kit sorry to hear this. are they bits of bearing shell?

All the best with what ever it is Kit.

Dave

[vitesse]

Is that a gear tooth, upper right in the round drain pan?

[maxorbit]

The coolant doesn't even look contaminated. It's green whereas the coolant for my 1999 is blue.

Maybe you can consider a cheap and dirty head gasket job?If it's the head gasket.

[KitNYC]

Originally Posted by Cburt

Is this your second motor on this bike?
If so, that's not a glowing recommendation of reliability for Triumph.

The first motor was still good when replaced, aside from being an oil burner and having a large chunk missing from the sump where a piece of cinder block hit it. Can't fault Triumph for that. (This one going at 50k, though...)

Originally Posted by DaveM

Geez Kit sorry to hear this. are they bits of bearing shell?

All the best with what ever it is Kit.

Dave

Thanks, Dave. No idea what it is, besides part of something that's supposed to still be in one piece.

Originally Posted by vitesse

Is that a gear tooth, upper right in the round drain pan?

That's the timing cover from the right-hand side of the motor, not a drain pan. The inner area on that is maybe an inch around?

Originally Posted by maxorbit

The coolant doesn't even look contaminated. It's green whereas the coolant for my 1999 is blue.

Maybe you can consider a cheap and dirty head gasket job?If it's the head gasket.

I drained the factory blue out of this a long time back. The oil looks slightly contaminated, but only slightly. The coolant is clean 'cause it dumped in about the same time the motor stopped spinning, else it would've gotten mixed in with the oil. Maybe the head gasket was leaking a little, but the vast majority of the coolant went into the sump all at once when a relatively large hole got added somewhere.

Anyway, not just a head gasket. I don't think this motor's gonna spin again.

Cheers,
-Kit

[TheEnglishGuy]

Ouch. Sorry to hear that Kit.

Is this before or after your 25% glycol/75% Water Wetter change?
http://www.triumphrat.net/sprint-for...d-coolant.html

If after, I guess we have a terrifying answer to BRG-BIRD's question, "Does the water wetter alone give adequate corrosion protection?" "Nope. Corrodes straight through."