If my engine overheats can it cause a blown head gasket?

I was working on my bike 84 Sabre the other day and let it idle when all asudden the radiator fluid starting boiling over and the engine started creaking and whistling and then I noticed anti-freeze was drizzling out of a head gasket!!! Whats the cause of the overheating and can the overheating have caused my leak?

 

More than likely it is the other way around, the blown head gasket caused the over heating. Compression in the cooling system will bring it down quickly.

 

Ok so ordering new head gaskets wouldnt be a bad move about right now? Is there something I can check before I invest a chunk of change to get these suckers?

 

You need to be sure the two sealing surfaces are clean, true and undamaged. When cleaning the head and block to inspect be careful if using power tools as you can easily damage the surfaces.

 

Yes but you have to trust the person doing it, must take off a bare minimum and it must be even.

 

Wouldn't a shorter head cause gear-mesh issues between lower drive gear and cam gears ??

 

just out of curiosity, what is the actual stock mesh gap between the two gear sets? anybody have any hard numbers?




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We are talking gen1 with this bike.

 

Ya know, I did sit down and figure oot the gap and what could be spared back in 1992 and milled 0.018 of my gen 2 heads. I do not remember the numbers but do remember what I decided was safe to cut off. My butt was a bit puckered when I did it. It has a very noticeable whine to it, much more than stock, and it has been running since then so it must have been a safe number.

 

You have to confirm THREE things to diagnose a bad head gasket.

Temperature gauge is correct.
Infared thermometer measurement of cylinder head and thermostat while running.
Drain oil and see if coolant comes out at first.
Radiator may have oil in it.

 

I didn't straight up blow the gasket per se, but I definitely have a leak on the rear head gasket. I've been searching to see if this was common for 2nd Gen bikes, and this is the closest information that I've found. I'm starting a new thread shortly, feel free to offer advice if there's anything to look out for.