7genmarathon

iTrader: (1)

Hello Civic forums,

long time no see!

I have a question on a D17a2 ive stumbled across.

See the picture below, its directly left of the exhaust manifold as noted on the topmost side of the picture. You can see the cylinder head to the left of the shiny object in question.

What on earth is it? The gasket sealant seems in much newer condition then any other gasket on this d17.

This civic is also throwing a p0420 code. I have a strange feeling this car was driven in water. Likely needs the $ 600.00 converter in addition to the arm&leg O2 sensors(yup-2005)

Thanks!

ezone

It's a "heat tab". The center melts away at a certain temperature. The tab typically gets attached to a reman or used head, by the rebuilder or machinist or salvage yard.

If the engine overheats, the center will melt away and whatever warranty that cylinder head had on it will be void.




Cat code means cat, not sensors.
O2 sensors have a slew of codes all to themselves.

Why do you think it was driven in water? How much water are you thinking?

7genmarathon

iTrader: (1)

Excellent, thanks for the quick turnaround response.

I'm thinking this engine was remanufactured and whatever occurred in the past(pre-rebuilt) must have impacted the cat. Upstream A/F sensor has been replaced with a denso that I can't readily determine if the previous owner replaced it with the right wideband one.

I noticed a lot of condensation in the interior insulation-imagine a wet t-shirt. In addition to what sounds like a faint alternator whine while inside, and rear speakers not working. AKA electrical issues.

Without a further look I can't tell if the secondary 02 has been replaced or if there is h20 damage around the suspension, its the new owners daily driver now. Isn't it good practice to replace cat sensors when replacing the cat all OEM?

Putting two and two together makes it seem like the car was driven through a low water crossing, not enough for hydrolock-but enough to jack up some of the things I mentioned.

Ah-and no noticeable loss of power from what I can tell in the ole' beast

ezone

The typical scenario is the head gasket blew, nobody noticed, and ran the engine overheated, probably severely overheated.
Some people have no clue anything is wrong until the car just can't pull itself.
That's just a wildass guess.

No big deal, someone put an engine in it. Or a head. Whatever, it's repaired and runs now.
Not necessarily. Many things can affect the life of a cat. Mileage, fuel quality, oil usage, misfire and poor running condition, coolant ingestion, etc.
Many just die a natural death due to mileage.

If there are no related codes, then the computer is happy with both of them.


How about a simple ordinary water leak? That's all it takes.
Sunroof drain tubes get detached,
Evaporator drain tube gets detached,
Door skin vapor barriers torn/ripped/improperly stuck/missing/unglued,
Someone shampooed the carpets? Left the windows down or sunroof open in a rain storm?


So pull the seats and carpet out, hang it up and stick fans on it for a few days.

If it were a flood car, you should be able to find mud and silt in strange places, like inside the doors.
Title check?
VIN check at a dealer, they can find the original selling dealer, see where that was.





A few weeks ago, I fixed a fairly new car (13 Accord) that had screwed up the trunk/fuel release cable.......
Someone had dumped like a couple gallons of drinking water inside the car, it had soaked through into the padding under the carpet. When it got about 3 degrees out, someone tried to get gas and bent the cable and lever because it was full of water and frozen solid.
Could be totally unrelated.

Address each issue individually.
I wouldn't assume water damage until it's proven to be the cause of a problem. Many problems.


You don't get rain in your corner of the planet? Dude, I live in the rust belt.

No. (IMO)
There are plenty of codes JUST for the sensors.
The computer will not run the cat test if there are any O2 sensor codes. The computer had to judge the sensors as ok in order to run the cat tests.

If the sensors are not bad then it's a waste of money. IMO


Or maybe it DID, and that's why it has another engine?

Is JUST the head new, or is the block new too? Is there a matching VIN tag still on the block?

HTH

7genmarathon

iTrader: (1)

Block VIN and doorjamb VINs match up.

I won't be able to dive into the car more until this weekend. I'll go down under and inspect the exhaust/downpipe for issues, and update on here.

Central south Texas means your quite right- rain is like snow in Ecuador here.

ezone

So it's probably safe to assume the head has either been repaired at a machine shop, or it's a replacement. For whatever reason.