drhawkinz

Both. I couldn't fit the feeler gauge in there and the nut was super tight. I figured as the screw turned tighter it just tightened the nut down with it.

drhawkinz

so finally got around to working on this turd and got the head off. I was pretty amazed how much gunk builds inside the engine. I figured it burn off most of that stuff from the high temps of the engine but I guess not. Here's what the valves look like, the second one from the bottom are the valves for the cylinder with significant compression loss. I was expecting to see a crack or something in the valve like I have when I google searched burnt valve but I can't see anything. I would assume there's still something wrong given the coloration of the valves compared to the other ones.



The top of the pistons are pretty gunked up as well. So I'm sure it'll take some time to get some of these layers off.



I left the air intake on it when I took it off the engine and then removed it once I had it out. When I took it off, the plastic part comes out, and then there's a metal piece that goes between the head and the plastic piece (injector base according to the majestic honda diagram). There was a considerable amount of gunk on the head at the air intakes seen here:



And the injector base was really gunked up!!



Wtf is all that and how does it get back in there? I'm assuming all that needs to be cleaned and scrubbed good before being reassembled correct? That's not some kind of grease that just happened to change colors?

ezone

That's carbon buildup.

The pics of the head look average and I can certainly tell which one had the problem.

Piston is average. Carbon will build up so far then sustain more or less, it reaches a point of self cleaning. The piston on the cylinder that had the problem may have more buildup.


The intake ports and the manifold plate: remove the plate with all the carbon in the passages, take it off the manifold and clean it thoroughly. That is the EGR distribution plate and it DOES build up a lot of carbon. The goo in the intake ports is just more of the same, the machine shop will probably have that gone when they clean the head prior to fixing the valves.

drhawkinz

Good to know. I was expecting it to be a little cleaner since it should just be air flowing through that portion of the engine.

I noticed in the Haynes manual, the recommend replacing the head bolts when removing the head. What are your thoughts on this?

Also when I took the head bolts out, the one that's closet to the water pump was covered in oil a lot more than the others. The others had oil on the threads and the head of the bolt but the one in particular had oil covering the entire bolt. You ever noticed that or is it something I should investigate?

ezone

These are not TTY style bolts, no need for replacement.

Reuse them.


Ignore. The entire area is swimming in oil.

Just be sure to remember to suck out all liquid from the bolt holes prior to installing the head. Tightening a head bolt on top of liquid can cause the block to crack: Hydraulic fracturing

ezone

Air is not the only thing in there.

Fuel is introduced at the intake ports
EGR is introduced at the distribution plate (soot, carbon)
PCV (crankcase vapors) is introduced within the manifold AND out in front of the throttle body.