OK, I need some advice.... I think that I may have a blown head gasket. (not me, the busa
)
I have an '04 - bought new in Apr 04; now have 9700 miles on it. I'm not a hard rider, mostly commuting to-and-from work and weekend riding. Bike is mostly stock except some cosmetic mods. I do have bolt-ons and a K&N filter. After putting on the bolt-ons, I started to have 'backfire' (afterfire?) and removed the PAIR valve after a couple of weeks; 'backfire' gone. Since I had the plastics off, I noticed the coolant overflow bottle low (almost gone) and refilled it.
A couple of months later (over the weekend) I noticed that the overflow bottle is low again. Hmmmmm. OK, so I refill and NOW I've paid close attention to the coolant level in the bottle...it's going down.
I don't have ANY leaks (that i can see). Coolant in bottle looks normal; doesn't look like oil is in there. Engine Oil looks kinda dark for less than 1000 miles since changing. When I last changed the oil, it didn't look bad. Bike still's got lots-o-power!
With the coolant disappearing and the Engine Oil appearing darker after < 1000mi, it sure sounds like it's a blown gasket...
Thoughts? Short of taking to a stealer, is there another way I can tell? How much of a pain in the a$$ is it to replace? How long can I let this go if it's a blown gasket?
Oh...how could this have happened???
Thanks, all!
--Omar
<!--EDIT|omslaw
Reason for Edit: None given...|1126065181 -->
I have an '04 - bought new in Apr 04; now have 9700 miles on it. I'm not a hard rider, mostly commuting to-and-from work and weekend riding. Bike is mostly stock except some cosmetic mods. I do have bolt-ons and a K&N filter. After putting on the bolt-ons, I started to have 'backfire' (afterfire?) and removed the PAIR valve after a couple of weeks; 'backfire' gone. Since I had the plastics off, I noticed the coolant overflow bottle low (almost gone) and refilled it.
A couple of months later (over the weekend) I noticed that the overflow bottle is low again. Hmmmmm. OK, so I refill and NOW I've paid close attention to the coolant level in the bottle...it's going down.
I don't have ANY leaks (that i can see). Coolant in bottle looks normal; doesn't look like oil is in there. Engine Oil looks kinda dark for less than 1000 miles since changing. When I last changed the oil, it didn't look bad. Bike still's got lots-o-power!
With the coolant disappearing and the Engine Oil appearing darker after < 1000mi, it sure sounds like it's a blown gasket...
Thoughts? Short of taking to a stealer, is there another way I can tell? How much of a pain in the a$$ is it to replace? How long can I let this go if it's a blown gasket?
Oh...how could this have happened???
Thanks, all!
--Omar
<!--EDIT|omslaw
Reason for Edit: None given...|1126065181 -->