Brewdok have you ever got water on your auger while it was hot from drilling holes? It may be a warped head. Not to mention it could have come that way to begin with. Hot engines and cold water don't mix real well. When you have the head off lay a piece of sandpaper on a nice flat surface and just move it around if it is all scuffed up the same on the gasket mounting surface then you should be good with that.Possible warped on the cylinder side if it isn't the head.Not sure if your able to remove the cylinder never had one apart.Mine has always run without any problems.I would say there is one or the other with a good size gap in there.Any good machine shop should be able to hook ya up with to nice flat surfaces to put that gasket on. Good luck