Cannondaleriders

hey guys,

i know some of you have already hit me up the last few days with general questions, but today i too the quad out again after changing fluids etc and blew the head gasket after 15mins of hard riding. i figure the gasket might have been screwed before i got the quad, which was just the other day ago, but im kinda glad since now i can clean this baby up and get her in tip top shape. i'm looking for any pointers on the procedure such as dropping the motor and replacing the gasket. also, where would be the best place to get one or a kit? i just sent an email to blackwidow.....any other sugestions? everyone has been great so far and im looking foraward to getting this bad *** american made bike up an running asap! also, looking for to meeting some of you all.......


have a great new year!

Head gaskets are not gaskets (o rings)and they dont fail. Your sleeve probalbly cracked. As long as you dont run they dry of coolant and overheat its no big deal to repair.

i'm not sure i understand you.......if the sleeve is cracked, what is my next step or better of what is my fisrt step? i'm used to building V8's....

It could also be the water pump impeller striped out also making it over heat. But more then likely its a cracked sleeve. The Dale motor use a sleeve much like a diesel motor, you just slide them in and out so its easy to do. This also makes it easy to change bore size.

where can i get some info on an engine rebuild such as a sleeve removal? i dont think it was the impeller, rather a possible air bubble. either way if its blowing coolant out the pipe then its cracked right? and now requires a full rebuild or just a sleeve?

I almost guarantee you have a cracked sleeve. It should only require a new sleeve, but for the price of the piston and sleeve kits (around $105) you can easily replace the top end.

It does require a full teardown of the motor. You can download all the manuals you need Cannondale Info

You want the full low down on how to tear down the motor you want to look at the 2001-2002 Engine Service Manual. It is not that hard if you follow the manual.

The same thing can happen when someone rebuilds the motor and forgets to put in the sleeve o-ring. I found one on a brand new ATK that way a couple months ago. The bike had about 3 hours since new!

I actually had a head o-ring fail in 2 spots, and the sleeve was not cracked. It was actually due to a warped head and a "dinged in" coolant port (winky head). I should have checked all that before I installed it, but o-rings can and will fail if the conditions are right....Make sure you check everything before putting it back together, it will save you head aches in the long run.

If you were running coolant that uses water you may have pock-marked the head (valve face area) and piston. Timbo taught me this, and told me that if I run Evans it will combust rather than pit the combustion chamber. Watch out for that when you pull the head...