Leaky head gasket

[110997]

I've got a leaky head gasket on my 97 R1100GS (19K miles), Is this a common problem? I posted this question to the Adventure board and I got a reply mentioning that I might have some stripped out bolts causing the leak.. Is there any truth to this? If there stripped out threads then I'd need some help. Does any one know where I could get some "thread savers" as mentioned on the other board?

What would cause the stripped out threads?

Any advice or comments will be helpful.

Thank you

Derek

[kbasa]

Have you ever had the heads retorqued?

For what it's worth, I had to replace the head gaskets on our 94RS a couple years ago when the bike had 55K on it.

dave

[dano]

Maybe it's just a bad head gasket. :dunno

I wouldn't give the "stripped out bolt" stuff too much credence.....unless you know that it might be a possibility.

Do you do all of your own work, or does a shop do it once in a while?

[110997]

I do all of my own work and I believe in the motto, if it ain't broke don't touch it!

So I haven't touched the heads. Wanted to do some homework first.

[kbasa]

They're not that difficult to do, actually. The trickiest part is getting the cam chain tensioner out of it's little spot on the left cylinder. It's right up against the case and is hard to get a wrench on.