2005 with 3,200 miles - blown head gasket!

[BurgmanBeerMan]

A while back I posted a question on the board about how hard I could push my Burgman. Something told me riding a single cylinder machine at 6,500 RPM for 40+ miles would eventually take a toll on it. Nearly all the responses indicated that this incredible scooter could handle it. Unfortunately, the news I have is that my particular 2005 could not.

After returning from my Yellowstone journey this Saturday, I got a closer look at what initially appeared to be road grime dripping from the upper part of the cylinder head area, just above the oil plug. I had encountered several spring storms and heavy rain, making a mess of my bike. Early in the day I wasnt too concerned about how dirty my bike was. Further inspection after the days' journey indicated something more. The oil was fresh and burned on the outside of the case. During the last day, I did notice that the bike seemed sluggish off the line, but felt fine above 40 MPH. I was beat after riding 7 hours that day and parked her in the garage and went to bed.

After a day of recuperation, I entered the garage with a curious feeling. Flashlight in hand, I discovered that the oil in the burg was not registering on the dip stick. I had my wife hold her upright as I used a long gun cleaner type qtip to extract a sample from the case. What came out on the qtip made my heart sink. I'm guessing I lost about half a quart of oil. I'd had the oil changed 1month prior to my trip, so I knew I had fresh oil in the bike. The sample I obtained was oil with a very dirty, brown-greenish, bubbly oily/watery texture. I'm not a mechanic, but I am pretty sure this means a head gasket breach. Which in turn means big trouble.

I dont blame anyone here for the information I got. My bike is unique, just like all of yours. However, I hope that I can only warn others that there is indeed a limit to which you can push a Burgman. I bought my bike used last year. A 2005 with all paperwork, documents and maintenance from a local man who bought it in town from a repultable dealer. The same dealer gave me a thumbs up when he did the presale inspection. I felt confident that I was buying a quality machine. Nothing indicated a potential issue. So I rode my bike like many people do. I clocked 50% commute time - speeds never exceeding 30 MPH. While touring last week I clocked several hours of 5,000 - 6,500 RPM stretches. I dont think I ever exceeded an actual 70 MPH, which in and of itself is hard to tell because the speedo on this bike is a joke. I'm going to take a wild guess - maybe the age of the bike and the gasket - perhaps it deteriorated or just got old and failed.

So now, I'll cart the Burg down to the same dealer and have them take a look, I'm pretty confident what Im going to hear back. Super Bummed. Whats this going to cost to repair?

[Scootereno]

Some of our older models drink the oil when riding at a constant 60-70 or more MPH. It is advised to check your oil after each long run at highway speed on the pre-2007 models. Oil aspiration I believe it is called. It has collected a few but not all. I have been lucky not to have experience it yet.

[bigfoot]

3,200 miles in 7 years is neglect as far as I'm concerned.

Are you really surprised that the gaskets are all dried out and leaking?

[BurgmanBeerMan]

Bigfoot: YES.

[bigfoot]

Really?

Well let me give you a heads up on your garage queen.
You most likely need new water hoses, radiator flush, tires, suspension fluid, brake fluid and maybe even new brake lines.

Buying any 7 year old vehicle with super low mileage is a crap shoot.
I would rather buy a vehicle that had been driven 2,000 miles a year, each and every year, than buy a vehicle that most likely sat in the garage without moving year after year.

Your bike's best case scenario would have it being ridden less than 500 miles per year.

Simply put, I wouldn't have purchased your vehicle regardless of price.

[Daboo]

Some of our older models drink the oil when riding at a constant 60-70 or more MPH. It is advised to check your oil after each long run at highway speed on the pre-2007 models. Oil aspiration I believe it is called. It has collected a few but not all. I have been lucky not to have experience it yet.

I don't know if this is the cause, but it is the first thing that came to my mind. Our former admin, Bill Meek was the first I believe to find this out the hard way. You can go forever it seems at the commuting speeds you were doing without using oil. But on some of the earlier 400s when run at freeway speeds for extended periods would use oil. The owners just checked their oil at ever fillup and didn't normally have a problem.

What's your air filter look like? If it was caused originally by oil aspiration, wouldn't the air filter look black and oily? If so, it won't help the pain you're feeling both emotionally and in your pocketbook, but it would at least let you know the cause...because I doubt head gasket get old and leak from disuse as a poster indicated earlier.

Chris

[Garnet]

Really?
Simply put, I wouldn't have purchased your vehicle regardless of price.

Well, I'm sure that makes BBMan feel sooooo much better at this point....

You're just too helpful...and sooo out of sync with what this board is all about!!

That means you wouldn't have bought my '06 in '09, with only 1,300 miles on him, either...along with loads of others which appear here for sale with limited per year mileage. It doesn't seem we hear horror stories from many of those who have gotten those slightly used machines.

[berg]

...along with loads of others which appear here for sale with limited per year mileage. It doesn't seem we hear horror stories from many of those who have gotten those slightly used machines.

Something told me riding a single cylinder machine at 6,500 RPM for 40+ miles would eventually take a toll on it. Nearly all the responses indicated that this incredible scooter could handle it.

I'm one of many that have purchased a low mileage AN400, mine is an 04. No issues so far. Although I don't ride all day everyday at 6000 rpm I am confident based on my experience on this machine that the 400 can perform without issues at 6000 rpm 5 hours a day. There are many examples of Burgman riders taking their 400's on longer rides. There is also a Majesty owner out there on one of the forums that put 17000 kms (on a cross country trip) on his 400 without issue. I think your event was purely random..

David please keep us informed on what the heck happened to your bike. On the upside what ever went wrong, it still brought you home safely.

[Daboo]

There are options too. If the mechanic gives you a price on a head gasket replacement and it seems too much, there's a website called Copart where you can find wrecked vehicles. The price can sometimes be dirt cheap. Just because a Burgman went down and needs new body work, doesn't mean the engine and the rest of the drivetrain are not good.

Here's the website for Copart. http://www.copart.com/c2/onSaleResults. ... erZipCode=

There's two early model Burgman 400s there for $225 and $300. If you decide to go this route, get in touch with Dave_J. There's probably others who have gone this route, but he's the first I thought of who knows the in's and out's of using Copart to put a bike together.

Chris

[Quantum Mechanic]

BurgmanBeerMan, sorry to hear of your woes. I would take a guess and say that the oil shortage may have been the cause of the engine overheating and the cylinder head has warped causing the coolant to enter the engine internals. Either that or you sprung a coolant leak first which has cause the engine to overheat and that has caused the problem with the cylinder head gasket and some coolant entering the engine. You should get the cylinder head checked for 'truth' before refitting with a new gasket. And of course the coolant side of things need to be looked at. The 385cc engine is a good one and totally reliable under heavy and fast use over big mileages, so I guess there was just a problem with your one in the first place or the oil needed to be checked much earlier. Please try to keep us all informed of how you get on, and good luck!

[footprint]

Mechanical things sometimes fail, that's how they are. It doesn't by necessity mean there's something deeper amiss nor does it mean that the use to which you put it was the primary cause of failure. There may have been a weakness in the gasket, it may have been fitted incorrectly, the cylinder studs may not have been correctly torqued, the machined faces of the cylinder head and the cylinder barrel may have been incorrectly prepared. Under more conservative use none of these may ever have become apparent, but that doesn't mean your journey is beyond the capability of the Burgy.
The Burgy has a modern engine that will have no problem with being used at a significant proportion of it's full capacity, of course should there be any weakness in a given engine it is clearly more likely to be discovered when used thus.

The gasket itself will not be the dear part, obviously if fitting it is beyond your ability then it can get expensive. If the motor has been run low on fluids of any kind for any lengthy period it may have suffered damage or excessive wear elsewhere other than the gasket, (assuming this proves to be the fault - it certainly seems to be), that said the Burgy is unusual among modern four-stroke engines in having a roller and ball bearing crankshaft assembly which is more two stroke territory, rather than plain bearing as is more common in modern four stroke engines, as you may well know two stroke crankshafts are obliged to live in a much less advantageous lubrication environment and the rolling elements they employ are much less reliant on oiling, which similarly means your Burgy's lubrication necessities are somewhat less critical than would otherwise be the case. Clearly no oil and revved to oblivion is still going to kill it, but significantly less immediately than say an SV650, (keep it in the family!), which has a plain bearing big end and will die frighteningly quickly if run without oil. The camshaft runs directly as a plain bearing in the head, as such the bearing surfaces will need careful checking if an oiling failure is suspected.

Bigfoot: Disuse is a bad way to treat a vehicle - but it doesn't make head gaskets fail.

If the motor is goosed and needs more than a gasket take Daboo's advice and find another motor, it will be a much quicker fix and very likely less expensive than rebuilding your existing unit.

[Ralph M]

I would drain the oil if it's not showing on the dip stick and see how much is in there, as others have said
the early 400 seems to chuck oil out of the breather system at high speed, if it's lost enough it could have
got hot enough to blow the head gasket but it's not a common thing to fail, as it lost any water? if not I would
change the oil and filter looking at the filter for any metal bits and see what it sounds and runs like, pity
Suzy did not put some kind of oil warning on the dash, it's a roller bearing engine so they cant have a lot
of pressure but they manage to put oil alerts on 4 stroke industrial engines that don't even have oil pumps.