Help needed. Advice, Stranded Chili/Arg border. Blown head gasket.
 

I am Stranded in Chile and My Kawasaki KLR650 2007 is at the border of Argentina on the Argentinian side, with what appears to be a blown head gasket. I got a ride to Chilli to San Pedro De Atakama, where i can access the internet and try work out how to best solve my problems.

Here is the sinario.
The bike was incredibly hard to start in the cold altitudes of Argentina, at 4000 meters. I had heavier oil in it to help prevent the incredible amount of oil the bike went through. Half a litter per fill up. However this oil seemed to make it hard to turn over in the morning at 4000 meters, since it was so thick.

I drained the heaver oil one cold morning to replace it with thinner oil, So I had a shot at starting it. I put in Half a litter of the thin oil, to run it for a few minutes and then drain it again before filling with the thin bike oil. After about two minutes while keeping an eye on the temp gauge, I heard water boiling on the exhaust pipe. I turned off the bike and saw that there was radiator fluid coming out of the engine head through a small hole just under the top radiator hose where the thermostat is housed. I then discovered that the radiator hoses were frozen solid. I had radiator anti freeze in it, but it was still frozen. I was so stupid i did not check first if it was frozen. I just presumed that the anti freeze would work.

So basically as the engine heated up the pressure had no where to go. I presume that i had enough oil in the bike so that it still pumped oil around the system. So not sure if this contributed to the problem. There is also water going into the oil. When I drained it, it was milky.

My best guess diagnosis is that i blew a head gasket, since the pressure had nowhere to go. The only other think I can thin of is that it cracked the head. The bike temp gauge had hardly moved when I ran it, so I don't think that it cracked the head. But any other suggestions as to what the problem might be, would be great, before I try to work out a fix.

I have quite a bit of mechanical knowledge, but never pulled the head off a bike before. I did try to pull the head off to see if it was the gasket, but when I pulled off the rocker cover and saw all the timing chain gear etc, I realised that it was not going to be an easy job without a manual or proper tools. The place where the bike is, is desolate with no facilities. Nothing.

So my questions to the community are.
Is it most likely to be a head gasket?
Where can I find a video or online instructions on how to dismantle and replace the head gasket?
What tools would I need?
Where would the nearest best place be to transport the bike for repairs?
Anyone in the area with the knowledge that I could pay to help me fix it?
Where is the best place to import parts to. Chili or Argentina? It took two months to get parts to Brazil and 100% in tax.


Any other suggestions to what I might do would be great.

Other ideas might be to ship the bike back to Salta Argentina. Or temp import it into Chile and try and get it repaired here. But Chile is very expensive and I don't know the parts import laws in either Arg or Chili.

Thanks community.
Nick

Hi Nick!

If you have antifreeze in the oil on the KLR (milky oil, as you describe), that is most likely a failed seal between the water pump and the engine. There are two seals. A mechanical seal (water pump side) and oil seal (engine side). Probably need to replace both, but that is just a guess. Here is a web page with step-by-step instructions:

MarkNet - KLR650 : Water Pump Seals Replacement

For other questions, I suggest you ask on klr650.net. Lots of helpful and highly knowledgeable people there.

Argentina is a pain to import parts. Very high import taxes. And you might not be able to import parts at all because the government is trying to force people to use locally made products (which are invariably VERY poor quality). For details on what it would be like in Argentina, I suggest contacting Dakar Motos in Buenos Aires. The owner might be able to find non-oem parts for you, but no guarantee on the quality! He might also be able to suggest contacts in Chile and/or know if it is better to import parts there.

Chile should be better from what I have heard, but I am not certain as I did not get there.

Wherever you end up, contact the local HU community for help. I've found them an invaluable resource.

I hope this helps!

David

Thanks David
 

Ok Thanks David. I will check the seals first, before dismantling the head. But I think it is a head gasket. The small hole directly under the thermostat housing was leaking water, which allerted me to the problem, then I found it in the sump.

I will definitely check out the KLR650 site you recommended.

Nick

Curious how this turned out. Frozen coolant can crack the engine block which would allow coolant into the oil as well.