MLK rid/blown head gasket??

[ChrisCrash]

MLK weather is looking fantastic. Im planning a dualsport ride but am still up in the air on location and times. I will be on my plated 525. Im thinking atleast one overnight, trailer down into SE missourI or arkansas area. Im open for ideas if people wants to come. Im good for Friday through Monday.

[ChrisCrash]

OK, so the plan is to leave Thursday night. Drive to West side of Ozark national forest south of Fayetteville. Traverse east then back west on the back roads and trails. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I spent about 3 hours on the gps plotting waypoints but have little hope it will route me the way I want to go. Looks like about 300+ miles by the gps and im hoping to make it in two days. ill camp unless I can manage to make it to civilization before dark.

[ChrisCrash]

I spent a lot of time making the KTM 525 into a short range adventure bike but no where in all the blogs did anyone mention the most important feature. Thank you to my wife for giving me a pair of bright orange underwear this morning. Now, im ready!!

[ChrisCrash]

Didn't get very far east yesterday but that was my own fault that I kept sidetracking on deadend trail roads. I'm going to stomach some payment up 123 north east and then head back west at around Fort Douglas. I'll try to upload some pictures if I can figure out how.

[Savage]

Cool.

[ChrisCrash]

Was having a great ride when i just happened to be in front of an RV park when the bike stalled, was smoking from the radiator and smelled like radiator fluid. I rolled in and quickly saw a loose radiator hose leaking. Radiator was just about empty. Of course the first thing I did was poor cold water in (arrr!!!) my very hot engine. Let it stand for about 30 minutes then was able to jump start it. At first ok but then after about 10 sec large plumes of white smoke out the radiator. I shut it down and a very nice lady drove me to my trailer.

This morning the radiator was down again about 1-2 cups. I filled and started. Started right up but lots of white smoke or maybe more blue color too. Smell was like oil and at the tail pipe a very thin/watery oil substance. I drained the oil and it was chocolate milk. The wife is complaining the whole house stinks!!!

Hoping this is something like a gasket. I am no mechanic but thinking I may try to tackle this myself. Questions/comments/insults all welcome.

I will copy this post to the discussion section.

[ChrisCrash]

thank you DOT for the heads up

1999 (640x360).jpg (249.71 KiB) Viewed 3306 times

Before the Meltdown!!

[ChrisCrash]

Don't know how to make the pics show. Could someone tell me how.

[Savage]

Host them online, like to Photobucket, then link them here.

[ChrisCrash]

Ok. Thanks. Ill play with it later.

[MacWildcat]

Chris, I dealt with a similar situation for about 6 months before I got it squared away. The most important thing for you to check when you have the engine apart is whether the head is warped. The cold water in the hot engine would possibly be enough to warp the head... don't make my mistake. Replacing the head gasket might give you joy for a few miles before the head gasket fails again. The head can be milled square again if necessary.

It sounds like you didn't run the bike very long with water in the oil so you may be ok on the main bearing and valve train. In my situation the head gasket failed and it took awhile before the bike stopped running. In the meantime, the engine was running with water in the oil. I ended up with a complete engine swap and rebuild.

BTW - The same kind of consequence can happen if your bike has a vacuum operated fuel petcock. If the vacuum diaphragm fails, fuel can leak past the float valve and runs into the cylinder. I have seen this happen at least 5 times. Fuel dilutes the oil and you have destroyed bearings. $45 manual fuel petcock vs. $1000+ engine rebuild - you can do the math.

[ChrisCrash]

Thanks for the input MacWildcat. I took the head and cylinder into Letko and they have sent it off to Millennium technologies to get looked over. Im expecting at least a large bill. Hope its ok enough to fix. Man I love that bike!!

[safiri]

While you have it torn down check the piston rings, look for wear on the piston, and check con-rod for any play.
Hope they find nothing wrong and a head gasket gets you on your way.