Urgent - Help/advice Required

[missismiggins]

Wonder if any of you knowledgable people could help me find a new head gasket and if possible a new rocker cover gasket for a Honda XLR 250.

The bike is a 199X model 250 RFVC. and I am in Chiang Mai.

I also have a question for the technical guys here - my manual shows a single piece head gasket, however when I removed the old blown one - there are three steel type gaskets, that appear to have been sealed with silicon.

All I really need to know, is the gasket supposed to be a single piece or, does it in fact comprise 3 sheets? I guess the gunk sealing it is a "Thai" getaround.

Lastly, the cam chain tensioner - this consists of two "wedges" which the manual shows you need to push one down and pull up the other with pliers - problem mine seems to be so worn down that you cannot get pliers any where near, it is basically about 5 mm down from the surrounding shroud - what are the dangers here...do I need to renew it, the manual gives no specs as to its dimensions or wear limits.

Many thanks!

[Richard-BKK]

First for so far as I know is the gasket one piece, and I never seen silicon being used in head gaskets. Alternative to buying a gasket is making a gasket by yourself, buy a sheet of aluminium or copper and start drawing the layout op paper test fix it and if you not forget anything cut it out of the aluminium or copper sheet.

Be careful with your cam chain tensioner, biggest problem is that the valve can touch the piston, other problems are loss of power as the valve not closes completely or not opens enough....etc...

[missismiggins]

First for so far as I know is the gasket one piece, and I never seen silicon being used in head gaskets. Alternative to buying a gasket is making a gasket by yourself, buy a sheet of aluminium or copper and start drawing the layout op paper test fix it and if you not forget anything cut it out of the aluminium or copper sheet.

Be careful with your cam chain tensioner, biggest problem is that the valve can touch the piston, other problems are loss of power as the valve not closes completely or not opens enough....etc...

Many thanks Richard-BKK, it appears one of the local guys here can get one from the city - should have it tonight.

Question for you - Do you know any way to check the point at which the spark plugh fires, reason being, when I go to fit the head and camshaft, I am afraid I may be on the expansion stroke rather than the compression stroke. The bike has CDI and no battery, I can get the plug to spark, but only when I am kicking it over quickly, which is not enough time to catch the position of the piston.

Do you know of any electrical checks that can be done with a multimeter as the engine is cranked relatively slowly.

I don't want to get everything together and find the thing is 180 degrees out!

Cheers

[Richard-BKK]

Do you have the technical (service) manual? If you want I can send it to you.....

[missismiggins]

Do you have the technical (service) manual? If you want I can send it to you.....

Hi Richard-BKK,

many thanks for your kind offer - I would greatly appreciate any service manual.

I have a photocopy of some tech stuff for the XLR, however, none of the photos or diagrams are visible. Please let me know how/ where you can send it to me.

I ordered a head and head cover gasket, I was quoted 700baht, when I went to pick it up it was a complete gasket set, valve stem seals, every gasket for the whole bike, all o rings too!

Amazed!

The head gasket actually is a three layer set, in this case the three sheets are rivetted together, unusual!

Once again thanks for your help!