this will make you cry

Hi I wish I was joining under better circumstances. On wednesday I bought a 2004 SW from Margate, Kent. I am living in Oban and drove back but reached Carlisle. Filled with fuel at the services on restart I had white smoke and loss of power, checked the coolant and it had gone. I presume the cylinder head gasket has gone and it has overheated the block. I was driving through thunder and lightning before I pulled in so it could have overheated without my noticing. has anyone got any advice? seen a engine on ebay for £450 or is it repairable?

That's a helluva Introduction. Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your unfortunate crisis. "Odd" that the failure occured just after you took posission. I would sure go back to the seller and seek some redress.

On a related note; I've been active on various Silverwing forums since 2002 and don't ever recall anyone rebuilding an engine. That said, it certainly is possible to replace the head gasket and have the head remachined so that the gasket surface isn't warped. I don't know whether the entire motor must be removed to do that though.

You'll need a Factory Service Manual (FSM). Ebay is your friend. 

Tim

Welcome to the site and sorry for what happened. I would go back to the person and try to get them to give you your money back or have them foot the bill. They had to know there was a problem with coolant. I haven't heard of people rebuilding SWings either. They seem to be very bullet-proof bikes. I wish you the best and hopefully you can get some help fixing this.

Welcome and sorry for your situation.By all means you should contact the seller.How did you make back to your home? I would think even in the rain you would have noticed a misfiring engine.Hopefully you developed a coolant leak and it was spraying antifreeze on a hot engine causing the white smoke and not a internal leak. Let us know. Howard

Hi Guys thanks for the sympathy, I have contacted the seller and negotiations are proceeding, with regard to the rest of the journey RAC breakdown were amazing picking me up at the roadside and dropping me at home 6 hours later.
The white smoke came from the exhaust on restart, I wish it was as simple as coolant spraying! will keep you posted on engine transplant!

I doubt you'd need a new engine. If it didn't seize there's probably no severe damage done. The loss of coolant could have made it tighten up but as long as it didn't seize hard it's worth a tear down to take a look. I'd agree is sounds a lot like a blown head gasket but I've rebuilt a couple of Goldwings with blown head gaskets that weren't damaged much beyond the gasket. Usually the heads don't warp either and as long as it didn't seize the cylinder bore and piston should be okay as well as the lower end.

There's also a SW engine complete on eBay for $299US.