1998 Suzuki King Quad Oil leak

[GJCB1976]

 

Hello! I'm hoping you can all point me in the right direction. Last fall my wife got our 1998 King Quad stuck in some mud. Before winching it out, I tried putting it in low and working it out myself. It was definitely under a load and then started smoking. As I winched it out I noticed a trail of oil coming from the skid plate area. I parked it for the winter and got it out yesterday to drive it to the garage. It immediately began pouring oil out again and smoking pretty bad. I have attached a picture of where it's leaking from. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Admin]

Added ATV info into topic title.

[Frank Angerano]

Welcome to Quadcrazy, it appears from the picture that your head gasket is blown and hopefully not a cracked head.  If you reved it as high as you said you did then it’s possable more damage was done like a valve seal but I don’t think so. You may get lucky and just need a new gasket.  I would spray a soapy water solution where the oil was coming out and slowly crank the engine with the spark plug wire off so it does not start. You  should see bubbles if its coming from the head where you see the oil leak. 

[Frank Angerano]

Forgot to mention. 

Have you pulled the plug and checked for oil on the spark plug? 

[GJCB1976]

Thanks, Frank!  I will try that trick this week and see.  I did some research and it looks like it's "fairly" simple to pull the head off, right?  (I'm a shade tree mechanic, so I'm fairly comfortable).  

Yes, the plug has a decent amount of oil on it.  Actually, now that you mention it, it was running a bit rough last fall and I changed plugs. It had some oil on it then too.  Is that a sign of a bad gasket too? 

[Frank Angerano]

Yes most likely a head gasket but this happens some times bc you loose a valve seal and the head gets oil inside the cylinder and during the compression stroke the gasket blows out. Have you done a compression test? Hopefully not the case here and just a gasket swap. And yes generally easy. Download the manual and get fimillar with the engine as well as YouTube the work. Between that and Quadcrazy member support I think you will have it up and running in no time. 

Post some more pics when you tear into it if you can please. 

 

[GJCB1976]

Yes sir, I sure will.   It began leaking REAL bad this weekend.  I haven't done a compression test, but I'll see if my mechanic buddy has the tools to do it.  I'll post a couple pics so you can see the trail of oil it was leaving.  :-) 

[Frank Angerano]

Wow that’s a lot of oil.  Prior to breaking it down I think I would give the engine a complete wash down with a can of gunk engine cleaner and make sure you have the location of the leak nailed down. Just to be safe.