# Hole in Head Gasket Surface **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [November 3, 2019, 2:40am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026 "2019-11-03T02:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![loic\_159340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@loic\_159340](https://community.cartalk.com/u/loic_159340)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 2:40am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/1 "2019-11-03T02:40:40Z")
Hi Guys! Today, big drama in the garage: my valve spring compressor slipped! (my ego doesn’t want to say that I missed the valve so yes, it slipped!) I poked a small hole on what appears to still be the combustion chamber, not really the gasket surface. See the grandiose picture: ![valve%20gasket%20surface](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/1/d/1dbd93baa8cb997ff4dc5f28f75568aab057947b.jpeg) That’s my way of getting more compression I guess! More seriously, how can I repair this? The valve seating surface is not damaged, it looks like it on the picture but it isn’t. I doubt good ol’ JB Weld + sanding is gonna do the trick… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![old\_mopar\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6bbea6/32.png) [@old\_mopar\_guy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/old_mopar_guy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/2 "2019-11-03T02:44:47Z")
What about just getting a new head? ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/3 "2019-11-03T02:44:56Z")
Take the head to a machine shop that can TIG weld and machine the head. Tester ---
**Author:** ![loic\_159340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@loic\_159340](https://community.cartalk.com/u/loic_159340)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 2:48am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/4 "2019-11-03T02:48:23Z")
A new head is out of the question, my wallet (and wife) would not approve! Machine shop sounds reasonable; I wish I could do something myself… Thanks guys! ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 2:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/5 "2019-11-03T02:51:05Z")
I had a channel in a piston wall that kept blowing through head gaskets, jb weld did not work, FYI ---
**Author:** ![Scrapyard-John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Scrapyard-John](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scrapyard-John)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 2:58am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/6 "2019-11-03T02:58:38Z")
What would happen if you didn’t do anything, other than file the raised edges of the gouge down level? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/7 "2019-11-03T03:04:53Z")
It would create a hot spot and melt the aluminum head in that area, Tester ---
**Author:** ![Scrapyard-John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Scrapyard-John](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scrapyard-John)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/8 "2019-11-03T03:09:45Z")
Hot spot, I kind of guessed. But it will melt the head? Yowsers. Did not anticipate that. ---
**Author:** ![loic\_159340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@loic\_159340](https://community.cartalk.com/u/loic_159340)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 3:28am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/9 "2019-11-03T03:28:46Z")
Thank you all for your comments and help! I’m so pissed at myself, I was waiting for all parts to come for weeks and now I’m going to wait even more for a machine shop to work on it. This head is from a motorcycle (04’ Honda CB600RR) but it doesn’t really matters… ---
**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/10 "2019-11-03T13:16:56Z")
Hard to tell in pic, is that a little hole at the bottom of the dent or just carbon? If it’s a hole, no question it needs to be filled and smoothed. Before I had a welder for this kind of thing I probably would have dressed the edges to flatten and round them and called it a day. There is crevice volume by the plug, head gasket and other areas. They just round it off to reduce hot spots. Depends on your tolerance for risk… ---
**Author:** ![Cavell](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cavell/32/43396_2.png) [@Cavell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Cavell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/11 "2019-11-03T13:38:25Z")
Just looked on eBay. Bunch of heads for $75-100. 2 weeks beer budget. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/12 "2019-11-03T14:21:21Z")
Bikes like this are very high hp/cc, any irregular bump like this, even sanded down, could cause a problem. I’d see what a machine shop would charge to fix it the right way. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/13 "2019-11-03T14:34:19Z")
While you’re at it, you might get a price on a complete top end job. They will probably remove the valves and associated hardware before machining the head anyway. ---
**Author:** ![loic\_159340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@loic\_159340](https://community.cartalk.com/u/loic_159340)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/14 "2019-11-03T16:50:35Z")
Yeah I found a head for $60 on eBay indeed! Cheaper than contacting a machine shop! Love the internet lol ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/hole-in-head-gasket-surface/152026/15 "2019-11-03T17:09:00Z")
I think a replacement head is the best option. Welding that hole up will quite likely distort the exhaust valve seat which is next to it. That will in turn lead to a burned valve/seat. The only way around that is to perform a complete valve job after the welding is done.