Re-using a head gasket

[Cigaro]

Hi all,

might sound a silly question but can I reuse a cylinder head gasket?

Replacements seem to be hard to come by. It seems to be a sandwich of three metal layers.

Cheers

[Blue_SV650S]

[Kickstart]

Hi

No, not really. They are designed to be crushed when used, and further crushed when heat cycled (why on many engines you are meant to retorque the cylinder head bolts after a short while). Once used they have already been crushed.

All the best

Keith
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[stinkwheel]

Or you could cut one out of some copper sheet. Clean and anneal it.

You can usually use a pure copper one two or three times if you re-anneal it between uses.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[oldbiker]

stinkwheel`s right but for a few quid??

Why take the risk of having to take the head off a second time just because the head gasket`s blowing??
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It`s all powerfull white mans magic
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[27cows]

Course you can reuse it, so long as it's not obviously damaged. Smear of Golden Hermetite and it'll seal up fine.

[Ariel Badger]

Never use jointing compound on a head ( even if it is called golden it will not glisten). Bung it in the bin and buy a new one.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[el_oso]

[tatters]

[Kickstart]

[27cows]

[Pete.]

It's not ideal but you can get away with it most times.

The layered steel gaskets on modern engines have a viton coating that keeps the seal. This gets stuck to the surfaces when you pull the head off so you always lose some of that coating. You can re-use these if you replace the coating with something else like yamabond or hi-temp gasket spray.
Copper gaskets can be re-used many times, so long as you anneal them each time. The crush gaskets used on some engines are physically deformed with initial use to create a seal, they are cheap and best replaced every time, or a copper gasket used.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[el_oso]

[swiftb]

Ive reused them in the past on air cooled singles with sucess but surely it cant be that hard to source one and replace it for the sake of a fiver or so???

[arry]

Not done it on bikes but cars where an aftermarket metal head gasket is fitted - I've always used a coat of this stuff and never, once, had an issue after

https://www.ready2race.co.uk/shop/shop.php?action=full&id=164

Tube will do about 2 - 3 car head gaskets, 4 cyls anyway.

[Pete.]