Blown Head Gasket? 6th gen

Summary:
Bought used 2004 VFR with 2376 miles on the odometer.
Thought it lacked power and felt occasional surging.
Found an oil fouled spark plug in piston #4.
Replaced plug with new.
Got white smoke immediately on the next start, thought it might just be carbon build up burning off.
Cloudy oil. Replaced and new oil was immediately cloudy.
Disconnected the spark plug in piston #4 from the ignition and smoke ceased.
Pretty sure this all points to a blown head gasket or god forbid a cracked head.

EDIT: Bike has never overheated and I have put 1k miles on it without knowledge of the issue. Spark plug was changed and then I started to tear into it.

Questions:
How long should I expect to take on a head gasket swap for the front cylinder head? I am good at servicing bikes though I have no formal training, I also have a service manual.
Any tips or things I should do to save time?
Is a blown head gasket with such low miles really possible? I would think something like this would point to a mistake when it was being built but the bike is so old there is no warranty.

 

Little over 2k miles that bike not even broken in :hss:
I hope it is not what you think. Hope some expert can chimp in
Where is Toe, Big Jim and many other when we need them

 

Has there been any coolant lost? Have you done a compression check? I would think head gasket unlikely but anything is possible.

 

I cannot be sure if there is coolant loss, however, I am pretty sure oil is getting into the coolant as the liquid at the radiator cap is a murky brown color and the stuff in the overfill is a light clear orange.
I just discovered this issue friday afternoon so I have no been able to compression test it. I will get that done tomorrow hopefully.

Wouldn't the fact that disconnecting the suspect cylinder's spark plug stopped the smokey exhaust be a clear sign of a leak in that cylinder somewhere?

 

I would pressurize the cylinder and the cooling system in an effort to locate the source of the leak as you will no longer be able to trouble shoot after the head is removed. I would really think the bike would over heat in short order and with some authority if the head gasket was blown. Looking at the construction of the gasket I would think it would have to have failed where it is closest to the cam chain valley to cause what is described and not have an external leak. Possibly remove the valve cover when both the cylinder and cooling system is pressurized and visually inspect that area for a problem before ripping into it.

 

Well for most of my time with the bike it was running on 3 cylinders, put 1k miles on like that, and it remained cool except in stop and go traffic but never hot enough to even engage the fan. I replaced the plugs and rode twice, both times in a combination of stop-and-go and interstate, and the bike never even approached the fan cut on temp(225f I believe) and these were 30 minute rides.

I was riding in 90f+ temps nearly all the time.

 

Head gasket diagnoses can be tricky. I would take Toe's advice and pressurize the system and see if you can determine where the oil/water is coming from. Also I would want to know if the cooling system is a) holding pressure or B) holding excessive pressure. As he said, pull the valve cover for visual inspection. You may be surprised at what you can learn from observation.

Do not rush into this job without getting all the information you can before you start. When you do decide to go in, be methodical and patent.

 

Getting the cooling system pressure tested, will know by the end of the day.

I might have misspoke when I said coolant in the oil, there was water in the sight glass not coolant. The stuff in the radiator fill cap might have just been dirty and needing replaced but it didn't feel like oil. Here's hoping it is just some condensation from the blow by and a stuck piston ring that has been freed up.

 

If you have a milky brown substance on your radiator cap or if your coolant is milky brown you have the presence of oil. Dirty coolant will be brown or nasty looking but not cloudy. If your oil is milky in color it has coolant in it. Since you are experiencing combustion problems on #4 I think it is a safe assumption that all the problems lead to this cylinder. Pressure test should reveal something. Please keep us informed.

 

According to the mechanics it held pressure indefinitely, checked compression in piston 4 and it was dead on the factory manual, rechecked the cooling system for leaks and found none. No idea where the water came from then but I am glad there is no compression lost in the piston or cooling system because that basically rules out a head gasket right?

 

Not necessarily. You have checked for leakage in the relatively low pressure cooling system. The fact that you found no leak down in the cooling system is good but does not dispose of a possible head gasket leak from high pressure cylinder gasses.

Could you post a picture of your oil and water contamination?

 

That's the thing, I checked it when I got home today after riding about an hour and the oil is fine and the coolant definitely isn't oil contaminated. I already buttoned it up cause I was happy with it so I can't get you a picture of the water right now but I can do oil later.

 

Coolant could just have gone bad, ELC is rated for 7 years of use max and you got 10 on it.

 

That's why I wanted to see the coolant. Oil contaminated coolant looks like English tea with milk.

 

White smoke is normally coolant burning. Blue smoke is oil burning. If plug was NOT firing or the coil for that plug is breaking down then the cylinder will not fire & will have unburnt fuel in it when you next ignite it it will smoke for a few cycles until all the residue is burned out.

If you can find oil/water interface & can't detect any loss/leakage, but still get smoke, then check the airbox & injectors ! It's easy to check if the bike is firing on all cylinders, remove fairing, start bike, check headers for heat, be careful not to burn yourself ! Alternately, pull a low voltage wire off each coil in turn, you will hear the difference as that cylinder dies.

 

All good advises here :thumbsup: Glad the problem is not serious. Now go ride :vtr2:

 

Blown head gasket diagnosis.

Yes it can be tricky.
So you need 3 pieces of critical evidence.
Actual facts.

Oil in the water. #1
Remove the drain plug (engine cold), and carefully watch to see
if coolant comes out of the drain right before any oil comes out.
IF you have to use a glass container so after it sits for a while,
you can see the coolant in the bottom of the oil container.

Also keep a record of oil level in the crank case.
Cloudy oil can be gas getting into the oil and a lot of gas these days has ethanol with moisture in it.
Some greyish oil is just condensation from short trips and outside weather conditions.

#2
Compression low on some cylinders. Very low.
Do a compression check . Throttle wide open. Battery fully charged.
All plugs out. Write down the results.

#3
Engine running hot ,check coolant temp.
Oil in the radiator coolant.

 

Here's a video of my bike puffing when I crack the throttle. Something is definitely getting into that piston but I don't think it is coolant actually, really think I have a stuck piston ring but looking for more opinions.

[video=youtube;Qy-5VGoy1Jc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy-5VGoy1Jc[/video]

 

After further testing it is definitely related to vtec engagement as I can rev all day below 6.8k but as soon as I break that I get a puff of smoke.

 

That smoke is a far cry from a head gasket.