2018 ec300
 

I picked up my bike 2 days ago, i noticed a drop of coolant near the head gasket upon pick up but thought must have been from pre delivery or something. Got home, noticed moisture the whole way around the gasket, not leaking profusely, just a little moisture.

Has anybody had this before? There are no other symptoms of a blown head gasket or anything, just the tiny bit of moisture forming around the seal between head and barrel.

It has been suggested to me that perhaps the coolant is high in glycol and bypassing the O ring and to perhaps try a low glycol blend.

Has anybody experienced this?

I don't know how the 18 compares to the 2011 regarding the coolant plumbing fittings, but on my '11 the coolant "tee" at the head started leaking and I thought that it was the head oring. Might be something to check.

Also look to see if the expansion tank drain/vent is pointed at the head as that can look like a leaking oring a well.

And lastly, I remember that Jakobi (IIRC) had a tree frog or whatnot on his bike that caused him to think that his bike had a leak.

So, it could be serious, or completely not serious. Good luck!

Here's the frog-
http://www.gasgasrider.org/forum/sho...78&postcount=4

Thanks for ideas, i will be sure to go over everything properly before my next ride. No tree frogs as far as i can see haha

So combustion gas isn't able to get past the inner o-ring from the engine at significant pressure. What chance has glycol past the outer one? If(if) the ring is undamaged; clearly none.

Tell your mate to stick to xxxx consumption.(it's a beer for rest of world - and a pretty sad one at that).

Yeah that little fella threw a curve ball into a fresh rebuild!

I replaced the thermostat on my car the other day. She's got a very small weep that builds up into a bead after a couple minutes. So small that it evaporates off before it has a chance to get anywhere. Can certainly smell it though when pulling up from a spirited run.

Point being.. sometimes new seals still don't seal 100%. I'll be getting an OEM o-ring for the car and double checking that both mating surfaces are true and replacing it again at some point in the near future.

On a new build bike.. First things first, I'd give the head bolts a quick check to make sure they are torqued down.. sometimes bolts get missed on the production line. Don't crank the crap out of them, just make sure they aren't loose.

As above, check the leak isn't from where the water line enters the head.

Short of that, chase up warranty.. shouldn't have an issue. These things happen in rare cases.

I did all of obligatory checks and went for another ride. The leak persisted so I took it back to the dealer yesterday. Warmed the bike up with the mechanic and demonstrated the problem.

I will talk to them tomorrow and see what the way forward is. I am sure its a rare occurance, looking forward to getting it sorted. It will be covered under warranty, I had it home for 2 days and it has about 3 hours on it.

Probably its only an o-ring. I am curious what they'll find.

I got a call the this afternoon and you are on the money. A new O ring kit has been ordered.

It should be sorted by the end of the week. I cant complain with the service, I dropped it off Saturday and had a response by the end of Monday. It sounds like GasGas are express posting the O ring kit so it should be all done by Friday.

It looks like the dealer will be fitting a higher cca battery while its there as well. Looking forward to putting some hours on the bike this weekend hopefully.

Great that they got it sorted.

Have fun with your Gasser!

Cheers
Doc