when i had about 5k miles on the bike i noticed some oil at the top of the cylinder... mechanic told me it was a head gasket and he replaced it. he said i wasnt allowing the engine to warm up before riding it like i stole it (he was probably right). now with 9k on the bike i am told that i have a rocker gasket leaking... small leak and doesnt have to be fixed yet.
i thought the top of the cylinder was the rocker and the head gaskets were lower- are they the same?
anyone else having these problems (blowing gaskets)?

 

The head gasket is at the junction between the head and the cylinder. This is below the spark plug. You should see a line in the fins where the two parts connect.

The rocker boxes are up at the top like you said. These are above the fins and are the aluminum/chrome parts up at the top. The new bikes should have two parts, the older three parts. The gaskets go in between the bottom cover/head and in between the top covers.

It's much more common to have a rocker box leak vs. a head gasket leak.

 

is it weird to blow both before 10k on the bike? guess i am still not getting it warmed up enough before i twist my wrist?

 

The head gasket was probably just from beating on it cold; I doubt it will happen again. So yes, that one is weird.

The rocker boxes are notorious on the EFI bikes for leaking. Some people have had 3+ leaks by that mileage. That is not so weird and probably has nothing to do with your riding if you let it get warmed up now.

 

I had my rear rocker box leaking at 2,500 miles. My front rocker box started leaking a couple of weeks ago at 10K. I replaced both upper and lower gaskets last night. Harley changed the gaskets from the ones that came on my bike. Hopefully they figured it out....

 

my leak is just a drip on the ground from time to time... and not yet really obvious on the engine (like the head gasket was)- did Harley charge you for the fix?

 

My bike is out of warranty. I did it myself. I replaced upper and lower rocker box gaskets.

 

FYI, if you do replace it (it will start leaking more at some point), use Cometic gaskets. They're the best and are the same price as Harley's give or take a few cents.

 

thx- where did you get them? i will be replacing- its just a matter of time...

 

They're available a lot of places. JPCycles, DennisKirk, DragSpecialties, etc. What's your favorite place? lol

I use my dealer (via DragSpecialties) because I save the shipping costs and it still gets here in the same amount of time as if I ordered it online. Plus I get to ogle on the bikes on the showroom and chat while there.