Head Gasket?

[XeroReboot]

Ok, so my car's check engine light came on and my temp gauge went to the "H" and I immediately pulled over at the next exit and barely made it into a gas station (i had to push it to the parking spot) before the car shut itself off. I checked the radiator and it was damn near empty. I filled it up and everything worked perfectly. I drove the car for another 2 days, keeping an eye on the coolant, which was slowly leaking. There's none in the oil, on the ground and it doesn't look like I'm burning any. so I didn't think anything of it just figured I had a leaky radiator. So after those 2 days the car starts to act like it's running on only 3 cylinders and idles VERY rough around 200rpms. I, one by one, unplug the plugwires from the distributor and find that Cylinder 3 doesn't have an affect on the engine's performance. I pull the plug out and it seems ok, so I replaced the plugwire. It runs like new for about 20 minutes and then it starts to act like it's back on 3 cylinders. It's running really rich, lots of black in the tailpipe and it's backfiring alot and i had to add another liter of coolant. My friend says that it sounds like a head gasket, is this all consistant with a blown head gasket? Cause I need to be able to get to work, so I'm trying to narrow this down without having to drop it off at a shop while they take their sweet time getting around to it.

Second part, if it IS the head gasket, why does everyone want so much to replace it? Is it not as simple as pulling off the head and putting the new gasket in? Are there other things that I have to do in order to fix the engine if that's the problem? Cause i'm hearing costs like $1,000+ and the head gasket is only like $50. Any help would be GREAT!!! Thanks guys!

 

[Deezy]

If the car shut itself off, you have severely overheated it..... Sounds like you have low compression in cylinder #3, which is a sign of a blown head gasket.......

 

[Brad81685]

Do you have any white smoke out the tail pipe? If yes- head gasket.
Cyl problems, low comp- most likely head gasket.
Why so expensive? the labor and parts. Parts alone on that is porlly quoting you for timing belt, water pump, Head gasket, new head bolts, valve gasket, spark plug seals, etc etc and its a ton of labor too (prolly in the 8-10 hours by the book)

Is there coolant on the ground? If so you could have 2 diff problems where you have bad rings on cyl 3 and leaking somewhere else. If coolant is on the ground you need to clean everything and find where its ocming from. If not, your losing it somewhere, which as long as your oil isnt looking like a milkshake consistancty. you prolly are burning it.

Edit: oh and seeing as you did really overheat it to the point it shut off, there is a fairly good chance you warped the head, and that $1000 estimate will be going up, because the head will need to be sent out to be checked and possibly machined.

 

[madmike91]

dont drive it if you do your askin to ruin the motor to

 

[XeroReboot]

Well from what I'm hearing I can pretty much just get a new longblock and have it put in for a few hundred more than trying to repair it... so I'm just going to run it till it dies and then replace it when I have the money!

 

[95coupeEX]

You can get by with just a head gasket and timing belt, I replaced the gasket on my D16z6 and reused everything but the timing belt and it ran fine until I pulled it for a b20 swap. I spent less than $100 and did all the work myself in about 3hrs, but you also have to take into consideration the week or so in down time while the head is getting milled at the machine shop. If you can do the labor your self then you can find write ups on replacing the gasket and setting your timing. Its not to hard.

 

[95EXEJ1Cp]

Sounds like you had a water pump problem. Don't forget to change that if your gonna do that head gasket. I pulled in to the gas station a few days ago and noticed coolant on the ground. I got under the car and found out it was coming from the water pump. Might of been your problem.

 

[XeroReboot]

I think I have all the parts to do it, it's just a matter of getting the rest of the money to pay my friend to take it all apart and back together. i have the following parts, please feel free to add something if I overlooked it.

1) New head
2) Head gasket
3) Valve cover gasket
3) Manifold gasket
4) Timing belt
5) Water pump
6) New plugs and plug wires

 

[XeroReboot]

UPDATE: Yeah it was the head gasket. Appearently the person I bought the car from had the block rebuilt less than 30,000 miles ago, but didn't resurface the head or something cause there was some reminents of an old head gasket in there. I rebuilt and remachined the head and the car is running strong again!

 

[CivicxTree754]

Great update. Did you do the work or have a buddy do it?

 

[emerican]

^ this

 

[XeroReboot]

Great update. Did you do the work or have a buddy do it?

My buddy is a Certified Honda Tech, so I just had him do it, he only charges like $50 an hour, which is nearly half the rate of the shops around here. I've put 1,000 miles in the last week and it pulls hard for a SOHC lol... I have a Comp Cams 59100 camshaft coming in about a week along with a Blox intake manifold, both should pair nicelyl with my DC headers, cold air intake and exhaust.

 

[txcivic79]

How much did it cost to have the head milled?