I'm changing my head gasket but...

I have been told that If it comes to changing a head gasket in most cases, you have a burn up motor and things will keep going wrong after words. Is this true? If it got to the point to end up with a leak in the gasket and oil draining onto the motor when the engin is warm/running should I be concerned that there is a bigger problem here? Has anyone here ever had a blown head gasket, and replaced it and had nothing go wrong after?

 

These are air-cooled motors. If you blow a head gasket, you won't do any real harm other than having one really crappy-running motor. You can confirm or disprove this by running a differential compression check. If you can confirm a blown head gasket, change it. End of story. Everybody's happy.

 

Oil leaking out of the gasket means it's a blown gasket right? And I'm not sure how do I run a compression check...

 

Are you 100% sure its a Head Gasket and not the Cam Cover or an insert leaking??

 

next post will have a pic in it.

 

That's the valve cover gasket, not the head gasket.

 

Is that even worse in my situation?
Well i guess the cover gasket is better then the H.G right?

 

from what i've been told the vavle cover gasket has a bad tendency to leak. but other than getting oil on the pant leg oil it wont cause that much harm. just need to keep an eye on the oil level.i have talked to a H D dealer and sd that the early xj's whith the yics design leak



last night i dropped off my bike to the place where i bought it to have the vavle cover gasket replace and to have an oil change.

 

That gasket leaking a little bit is no big deal.

If you put a new Valve Cover Gasket on right. It won't leak.

The key factors are a clean mating surfaces and gluing the gasket to the cover so it wont fall-off and shift during placement.

I use a touch of Elmers Glue and smear Oil on the mating saurface to insure that the gasket spreads-out as it should.

 

I believe the little rubber parts on the valve cover bolts (#24 in your picture) should also be replaced. Those bolts have a flange that tightens agains the head. Springy rubber in #24 applies the correct pressure to hold the cover down snugly. If yours are old and rotted they won't hold the cover down tight enough and it will be more prone to leak.

I get just a bit of leakage from my new valve cover gasket on the right side where the half moons are that cover the relief for boring the camshaft bearings. Next time I have to reassemble it I'll be putting something in there to seal it up tight.

 

And while your in there, wouldn't hurt to check valve clearances.