So my Suzy has been having a little problem losing coolant for the past few months. At first I thought it was just getting hot from idling too long. Lately I have been keeping the idling to a minimum and still am loosing 1/2 a radiator in an hour. No coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant, new radiator cap. I figure it has to be the head gasket. I tore the motor down and sure enough the head gasket was broken at the compression ridge( the raised portion near the cylinder bore). I have never seen this before. This was an aftermarket top end kit. I still don't understand why my head gaskets are 3 piece though. The motor has 60 hours on the top end and after a thorough measuring, everything is within new specs. The ring gap hasn't change but only .001. So now it's going back together. Moral of the story is I'm only buying OEM gaskets from now on and the motors really like to be ridden slow

As of yet I've heard nothing but good things about Cometic gaskets.

I sucked a gasket on my honda when everything was stock...I think it may have overheated? I was loosing coolant like you described, I swabbed the exhaust with my finger and I could get a scent of coolant in with the carbon.

My big clue was the fact that the radiators would still be pressurised 3 days after riding.

Did you retourque after break in or at first valve check?

This was after a top end job. Yes I did a retourque. The problem wasn't torque but the gasket breaking.

Paul, thanks for the post... you got me thinking now cause I've been having a similar issue lately... just not quite as much h20 but I have no idea why/where it's going. I was planning to do a tear down as soon as I get back on both feet anyway, now I know what to look for...

Thanks!

If you let the 4 srtokes idle, they will overheat. My ah ha moment was when the radiator would be fully pressurised after a day or two. I have still yet to learn why the gaskets are 3 sandwiched pieces though.