Head gasket retorque tips?

[free99]

Hey everybody,
I have a very small oil leak around the intake head nut by cyl 1, I'm talking just a change in appearance around the nut from a tiny bit of oil creeping along the surface. Rest of the engine is dry.

I'm apparently supposed to re-torque the nuts now that I've put a bit of mileage in on the new OEM Suzuki gasket. However, as usual the Internet's got a bit of conflicting advice.

Should I do the re-torque while the engine is hot? Do I back the nuts off then torque back to spec, or should I just press on without loosening until reaching spec? How important is anti-seize in all this?

Thanks all.

 

[Nessism]

Cold.
Crack the nut loose then immediately reverse direction and tighten.
Hopefully you used some grease or anti-seize on the threads before, otherwise the nuts may stick and make a nasty cracking noise.

 

[chuck hahn]

Post a pic. wipe the area super dry and blow air all around the nut.. then redry all the oil thats gonna come out, Spray the area with athletes foot spray or similar and let it dry. Start the bike and watch very closely with a flashlight, as it starts to leak the foot powder will show a dark spot pinpointing exactly the spot. If it from around the crush washer under an outside head bolt just replace the crush washer and torque to spec

 

[free99]

Just to close this topic, I did an 1/8th of a turn loosen, followed by torque to slightly less than upper limit of spec for the head bolts. I'll also note remembering to use high-temp anti-seize next time I have to take the jugs off.