Overheated D17A2, installing JDM D17A

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
I added cliff notes at the end, it's a detailed read, sorry.

I'm pulling the exhaust mani in the morning to see where the water is coming from. I'm fairly certian I cracked either the head or the block, as I've never seen a D-series head warp enough to cause an external leak. I'm sure it's been done, but I've never personally seen it happen.

Bought the car for $1100 with multiple misfire codes, pulled the intake mani and cleaned all the carbon off and haven't had an engine issue since. I was driving home from Orlando this afternoon and the little hose that connects the overflow/resivoir to the radiator popped off and made the car overheat. It was in the red before I noticed, and at that point my only thought was "It's got almost 300k on it, and I'm not about to walk home" So I turned the heat on full blast with all the windows down and slowed down to 10 under the speed limit. It eventually told me to eff off and shut itself down. I pulled off the road and left the key in the run position and hit the a/c button to turn the fans on to try and help cool it down. It got down to about 3/4 hot before it would start again, so I started limping home. Almost made it to the house before it shut off again. Called the wife to come get me and went back after it sat for about 4 hours. Put water in the radiator, and it's leaking from somewhere behind the exhaust mani. I was able to get it home, and I'm going to start with pulling the exhaust mani off and adding more water to see where the leak is coming from.

It's also worth noting that the interior now smells like burnt oil, which honestly angers me more than the blown engine lol I'm not the least bit worried about the rebuild or replacing the engine if it comes to that, but getting that smell out of the car is going to be a nightmare.

Cliff notes:
Overheated
Continued driving til it died
Cooled to 3/4 hot
Drove until it died again
Sat and cooled 4 hours
Added water, discovered leak behind exhaust mani
Drove home (less than 10 minutes) without issue
Interior smells like burnt oil, but oil is well within "normal" levels, almost to the full mark.
 

dancam

Member
Registered VIP
Well that sucks. Overheating issues and blown head gaskets are very common with this generation of civic. Are you looking for suggestions, help or do you have questions? Or are you just planning to update this as you fix it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
I'm definitely not in the financial situation to do a K-swap, although I'd love to, so it's just a matter of getting it out and apart to assess the damage and decide if I can rebuild it, or if I need to replace it. Either way, the single slammer stays.

I did get the exhaust mani off this morning, and it looks like the leak is between the head and block, with no obvious cracks or visible damage to either. So, I'm hoping the pistons aren't cooked, and I can get away with a refresh and new rings bearings and a full gasket set. If the pistons are bad, I'm just gonna get a low mileage used engine to drop in. I'm not going to trust the guys at my local machine shop to R&R the wrist pins to change the pistons, they'd probably just use a press and ruin the new ones, and make things worse. I'm not about to expect them to know they're "triple torch fit" wrist pins nor would I trust them to do it if they did.
 

dancam

Member
Registered VIP
Single slammer? Sorry, im not familiar with that expression, what do you mean?
Consider these options:
1: sell car for $500 and buy a comparable one for $1200 again. Low time commitment on your part. And $700.
2: sell the tires, both bumpers, headlights and taillights, couple other parts people want then scrap the car for $6-900 total and buy another for $1200. Slightly more time commitment but only costs you $600-$300.
3: keep car for parts and buy another, costs you $1200 but you got a ton of spare parts which will save you a lot on a high milage car.
4: what you said- engine$600, timing belt kit, water pump, clutch kit, belts, coolant, oil. $300. Your time buying stuff and 16hrs to remove and replace. Then you have a car that cost you $2100 with no labour. Evaluate what your time is worth and add it to that. $15/hr is $300, $25/hr is $500 And your left with a car with 300k that stinks like oil and cost you $2400-2800.

I personally would choose one of the first 3 options but its up to you.
Replacing a motor would be cheaper and better than a rebuild unless your confident you can inspect the rebuild kit well enough to decide if its a good one or out of tolerance. Also if you can return a defective rebuild kit. You could buy an integra or rsx with that money if you want a k engine. I changed 3 motors in a row on 3 different civics a while back, did timing belt, water pump, clutch and stuff on all 3 in a nice shop. First one was 16 hours, then 8 hours on the second and 6 hrs i think the 3rd time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


XpL0d3r

I had a Civic once.
Staff member
Registered VIP
Registered OG
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Single slammer? Sorry, im not familiar with that expression, what do you
Single slammer = SOHC

OP, I've run into your issue before. I overheated while delivering pizza, managed to limp it back to home base, but the damage had been already done. Cam seized up and the head was toast.
 

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
It still starts and runs, so I don't think all hope is lost, yet lol

I'm considering all options, but being that I need a 4 door (kids) if I end up replacing the car, I'll probably get an Accord, sorry guys. Just being honest. I'd like to keep the lil civic, and I most likely will put the time in to get it back to its former glory. As I said before, it all comes down to if the block and head are machinable or not.

I'm definitely not parting it out, I've been down that road before, and I have no desire to deal with that many flakes ever again lol

Selling it as is, while tempting, is probably not going to happen either. I'd be shocked if I got $500 for it. Hell, I might just post it up on Craigslist for s**t and giggles, but I doubt it.

I have a very good friend that can get me parts at cost, so, as long as the head and block surfaces aren't warped beyond machinable tolerances, I'll be sitting at roughly $600 all in for machine shop labor and parts. I can do all of the other labor myself, I'm more than capable.

Then I can drive it till I get a respectable price for it, and having a super low mile freshly rebuilt engine, it should sell at a decent enough price to get me that Accord my family needs, and not one that I have to settle for because I was too lazy to get a little dirty ;)

I'm about to head out to the garage and dig in, I'll take pics along the way =)
 

dancam

Member
Registered VIP
Sweet.
Thing to remember if your keeping the same car is that you will still have to diagnose and fix the overheating issue once its running. The overflow hose coming off will not cause your car to overheat.
How long before it overheated was the last time anything was done with the cooling system as far as any fluid being drained out and added?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
I honestly don't know the history of it, I've only had it a few months. The overflow container has what appears to be "head gasket in a bottle" in it, so I'm planning on a complete rebuild, new radiator, and possibly heater core too, just to be sure all the crap is gone. I absolutely hate that s**t. I swear it's only used by shady people that want a quick fix so they can turn around and sell a ticking bomb. I may be able to flush the heater core out and be safe, but I'm planning on replacing the radiator reguardless, it'll never come clean.
 

xxBLOOD88SHOTxx

Surge Master
Registered VIP
Those D17s are so cheap, I would just find a solid low mileage replacement and replace those components exposed to the radiator sealant.
 

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
I'm looking into that also, but I've found that, around here, they're going for between 5 and 7 hundred bucks.
 

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
Found an importer in Orlando, which is about an hour away. He's got "JDM D17A 30k-50k mile engines" for $575. Seriously considering picking one up. While I wouldn't have a "brand new rebuilt engine" the savings on downtime and personal labor alone are quite compelling. While it won't save me any money, it's less hassle, and I don't have to deal with the machine shop. It's only got a 60 day warranty, so I'd replace all of the gaskets, except the head gasket since I'm avoiding the machine shop. New timing belt, tensioner and water pump also, so all in I'm still gonna be in around $700, but again, less hassle. Gonna have to sit on it for a bit.
 

dancam

Member
Registered VIP
Sounds like a decent deal to me for that low of km. then you have a spare motor for parts. That can save you a lot of money if things go wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
20151219_103020.jpg 20151219_165808.jpg

Got it! First pic is showing it in the back.of the wife's CRV, and second shows it in my garage by its fallen brother.

Planning to have them both cleaned up tomorrow, the A2 for hopeful sale, and the A is being prepped for paint.
 

dancam

Member
Registered VIP
Wow, it even came with everything! When i got mine for $750 a few years back there was no alt, p/s pump, a/c, flywheel. They stripped it all, lol. This looks like a great deal =)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
Absolutely! I should be able to make a lot of my initial investment back by selling off the duplicate parts =) I'm also doing the Y8 intake swap while it's out.
 

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
Got the trans on the stand and cleaned it up today, primer is on. I'll be back in about 20 minutes with a color pic =)
20151229_194213.jpg
 

StilAHondaFreak

New Member
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
Color is on. Turned out decent, I'm not building a show car here.
20151229_204553.jpg

Clear coat pics soon.
 


Top