Hi all,

This is not K specific, but I I figure that head gasket is head gasket no matter what this bike is.

My general question is... should I use sealant around water (and oil) galleries when I fit the new gasket. The Honda GW OEM has a graphite and silicone coatings to help with imperfections, but I wonder if I should be using something like Cu silicone or some other sealants around water passages to make sure.

I plan to torque the new gaskets at 30%, 60% and 100% torque settings before I re-torque after a warm up/cool down cycle.

Any thoughts?

Hey Crazy Frog!
Hey K-Bike!

Ned said the "H" word again.

Can we ban him for a week to teach him a lesson?

lol..... on cars i have never used anyy sealants on graphite and silicon gaskets the rings of silicon have sealed suffecent, on metal gaskets i have used holimar or copper coat, but not any type of silicon compund,,
hope it is of some use to u

In the days of rebores and grinding valves I have used copper coat but only for reasons of removing heads easily. Gaskets are designed to be fitted dry but I can't see anything against using copper coat today.
Ajays

Alex, (Just typed a reply but lost it, bugger). So here goes again.
The graphite is on the gasket to act as a lubricant so the gasket can cope with differential expansion rates of different engine components, and also to help as a release agent in the long term. If sealants are required around galleries etc, they will normally be part of the gasket.
Te ensure a successful installation you must spend the time getting the mating surfaces absolutely clean. Do not use a steel scraper as the alloy will be easily damaged.
Loctite Chisel is a product for removing gasket material (spray can), then use a wood or plastic scraper.
Spend the time to get the surfaces "perfect".
Clean and lube the threads so torque values are even.
Hope this helps.

In general the procedure in the manual works well so why change it I say. More important is the damage done by over generous use of silicone that some slather on, that results in blobs of silicone squeezing out and getting into oil galleries. The downstream result of that is a small gallery gets blocked and a bearing dies of oil starvation.

According to an engine re-builder friend of mine that is a common finding inside engines where enthusiastic amateurs (and doltish "professionals") have worked on the engine before. They work on the basis of if a little is good then a lot will be better! - Wrong! In the days of using Hylomar and similar gasket sealants what was present was the merest smear on the mating surfaces but only if specified by the maker.

Dennis put it into a nutshell above, use gasket cleaner as he suggests and great care with wood scrapers, never ever use metal scrapers, you will damage the surfaces.
Regards,
K-BIKE