SO SAD AND MAD !!!!!!

SOOOOOOO MAD :gaah: As i said before took delivery of my new quad last Thursday and have been driving around all weekend enjoying it , today went to do oil change and put coolant in the radiator to find the radiator bone dry :eekers: so i had been riding a water cooled engine bike around with no water for 300km I just assumed that when you buy a new bike that all the fluids would be full . I am so lucky that the bike did not seize up while i was driving around with my son on the back . I tried to put coolant in the radiator and start her up and guess what ???????? YES THE HEAD GASKET IS GONE ,coolant peeing out all over the place from the pump from the gasket every where !!!!!! . I called the dealer and told him the situation He has agreed to fix the problem and has ordered a head gasket kit. Is there anything else that could be damaged on the bike ? i am not that mechanical and maybe some one could point a few things out for me .Any way whatever is gone wrong on the bike the dealer is going to fix . Will this effect the life span of the engine .PLEASE HELP !!!

Just got off phone to the dealer and he is picking it up tomorrow to do the work on it >the bike was still running and ticking over very well over so hopefully not that much damage.

so i may just sound silly but When you took delivery of the quad and before setting off, Why didn't you do a safety check? Fluids and equipment?

As this was brand new from the dealer i asked him if i needed to do anything to it and he said no just get on and drive , there was water in the expansion tank so i assumed there would be in the radiator so not really my fault. I guess its a lesson learned to check for myself !!!!! and also its the first quad i've ever had so i guess just lack of experience .

Well as long as the dealer is covering it Good for you and lesson learned :icon10:

Do you think this could cause problems for anything else ? i.e life span of the engine ? Thanks

it could but you may have caught it soon enough. Lucky you didnt seize the engine

jinlingking,
You can have some serious problems in the future with your quad. Impossible to tell what could have been damaged in the engine running for that long without any coolant.
I would be trying to get a whole new quad.
It is the dealer's responsibility to have the vehicle properly serviced.

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Originally Posted by barnone

jinlingking,
You can have some serious problems in the future with your quad. Impossible to tell what could have been damaged in the engine running for that long without any coolant.
I would be trying to get a whole new quad.
It is the dealer's responsibility to have the vehicle properly serviced.

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Hi there thanks for reply ,like what type of problems ? so i can confront him with this >>>> the bike was running fine and ticking over well but just coolant coming out of water pump and head gasket ....

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Originally Posted by Jinlingking

Hi there thanks for reply ,like what type of problems ? so i can confront him with this >>>>

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Like I said, no telling but you were running a new engine without coolant so it must have gotten extremely hot.
Some problems could be
water pump impeller burned up due to lack of coolant
damage to cylinder walls and piston due to extreme heat
warped engine block
warped head

Thanks for your advice . Just spoke to dealer and he said once he opens the engine he will tell if it needs a complete new engine or just a head , as he wants to maintain a good reputation and not have any come backs after the bike is fixed . So i guess ill have to wait and see.....

No way that dealer can determine the damage to your engine. I would insist on a new quad. I would not trust that dealer to put a new engine in my vehicle. Tell him to pull one out of his stock and service it properly.

This whole deal is why I want my bike delivered in a crate to me and I will service it myself and save the dealer markup.

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Originally Posted by barnone

No way that dealer can determine the damage to your engine. I would insist on a new quad. I would not trust that dealer to put a new engine in my vehicle. Tell him to pull one out of his stock and service it properly.

This whole deal is why I want my bike delivered in a crate to me and I will service it myself and save the dealer markup.

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Thats all fine and dandy if you know how,But as for us noobies we all have to start somewhere . The dealer is being very reasonable about it all and has no issue with replacing me with a new quad but as this one is registered to me it make things a little more detailed. i will insist on a complete new engine.Thanks for all your advice its much appreciated and now i know what to say Thanks again

I am sure it is a stressful experience.

But here's the deal - some vehicles can travel a great distance without coolant and without incurring any damage. Some will die within a few kms. Two identical vehicles - two completely different scenarios. I watched a TV show once about a controlled track test of this. There are far too many variables to be able to predict what will happen.

It sounds like, in your case, the head may not have been properly torqued during factory assembly. The engine compression and/or water pressure and/or oil pressure could have caused the gasket to fail. Hopefully, it just failed at a water channel, and there was no cross failure (water -> oil; water -> cylinder). When the head is removed, the mechanic will be able to see what happened.

If it was a minor failure (and only water), it won't be a problem. It may have failed in the last 10 kms, who knows? When the quad cools down, the "leak" seems larger because the engine head & block have contracted in size. A gasket is always under greatest stress on a just-started, not-warmed-up engine.

At this point, I'd work with the dealer - give him a chance.

By the way, gasket failure is surprisingly common on new bikes. National Geographic did a great show on the Harley V-Rod manufacturing process. The V-Rod and CSO factories have created special testing stations for this very purpose, and a surprising number of newly assembled engines fail & are rebuilt.

Hey Lao Jia Hou Thanks for your words of support , yes it was very stressful especially when i have been soooo looking forward to my new bike and the wait was over i had it i was driving it and then it seems like its just over !!!
But as i said earlier the dealer is doing all he can to fix this issue and i have to work with him . it could have been worse there are stories over here that once the bike has been sold to you you cant even contact the dealer and they switch off their phones and your on your own < no parts, no service, no help , so i am happy i have a dealer that is there with after sales help so i know this will be fixed .
I thank you for your words they are very helpful and needed when you are new to biking there are lessons to be learned and i guess this one was the hard way but i can guarantee it never happening again !!!!!!!!!

Take it easy dude hope to chat soon