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There seems to be a collection of very knowledgeable experts in here. Anyone with foundry, casting, or metallurgy experience care to look at my pics and offer an opinion?
Bike is a 2014 Gasgas EC300 running completely stock aside from minor jetting adjustments. Aprox 120 hours on brand new bike since the spring. The engine ran flawlessly right up until the incident.
The short story is:
Last week, a friend and I stopped after a stretch of gravel road high speed cruising between area's to check on the slower guys in the group. As I stopped I saw some steam coming from the engine area, and quickly spotted a visible crack on the top on the cylinder head. After rescuing the bike and taking the top end off, this is what I found:
There is the long crack on the top of the cylinder head I had originally spotted, plus another crack in the combustion chamber.


I cut the head in half vertically to get a look inside the coolant jacket. I know almost nothing about casting, but there are some iffy looking areas inside, leading me to believe this head was flawed leading to eventual failure (whether progressive, or sudden).





The piston, rings, and cylinder all look mint. No signs of det. Anyone care to guess what might have happened? Or have experience to judge the casting?
Bike is a 2014 Gasgas EC300 running completely stock aside from minor jetting adjustments. Aprox 120 hours on brand new bike since the spring. The engine ran flawlessly right up until the incident.
The short story is:
Last week, a friend and I stopped after a stretch of gravel road high speed cruising between area's to check on the slower guys in the group. As I stopped I saw some steam coming from the engine area, and quickly spotted a visible crack on the top on the cylinder head. After rescuing the bike and taking the top end off, this is what I found:
There is the long crack on the top of the cylinder head I had originally spotted, plus another crack in the combustion chamber.


I cut the head in half vertically to get a look inside the coolant jacket. I know almost nothing about casting, but there are some iffy looking areas inside, leading me to believe this head was flawed leading to eventual failure (whether progressive, or sudden).





The piston, rings, and cylinder all look mint. No signs of det. Anyone care to guess what might have happened? Or have experience to judge the casting?