honkeydonkey

Hey guys,

Replaced my head gasket at 200k after coolant resorvior was completely full and rad was low, and no heat at idle. Shop fixed the head gasket and machined the head, all that stuff.

Now I'm having the exact same issues as before. Rad cap and thermostat are all a year old and all hoses are also new.

New mechanic says I cannot replace a head gasket twice because the tolerances in the head have changed and the compression becomes to great for the piston rings to handle. Recommends new engine if HG is blown again.

Thoughts?

Wankenstein

To confirm what mechanic is saying do a dry and wet compression test. What he stated may or may not be correct but,
as far as the cylinder head there are indicators on it that cannot be milled below..so it has a finite usage in that regard.

With 200k on it probably better off with a lower mileage replacement.

REXAZZ2

were is the coolant going ?
3 places possible ...the ground ...the oil it will look milky or ....into the cylinder and that should show up as white smoke out the exhaust

Any idea if they replaced the actual head bolts ?
Some cars use stretch bolts and they are a one time use

Wankenstein

With these engines it pretty rare to have the type (there's several) of head gasket breach that would allow oil to mix with coolant. Coolant entering cylinders to a degree where it burns off as white smoke from exhaust seems to be uncommon as well. Typically, an HG breach manifest itself as I stated initially and what you described: coolant loss in radiator with coolant gain/overflow in reservoir. However, it all depends if and where the breach is located on the headgasket. Cracked cylinder head or block is also a possibility but not as common as headgasket issue.

Tpes of headgasket failures: http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/200 and http://www.aa1car.com/library/gasket_failure.htm

Can re-use..not stretch bolts.

Here's something you can do yourself that may correct the issue barring it's not a headgasket breach:
* Remove the reservoir and hose leading from the radiator neck to the reservoir. Blow out the hose with compressed air to ensure it's not clogged. Clean out the reservoir itself to ensure it's opening is not impeded.

ezone

Strike ONE
Strike TWO
STEEEEEEERIKE THREEEEEEE!

OMFG will these kids ever learn ??
Blanket assumptions above are incredibly incorrect.
And there are specs to figure out if the head can be reused or not.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

^ translation:
have them check against the head specs, if still within tolerance, go ahead with gasket change.

the hard part will be to know what caused the 2nd one... not milled correctly?
Not torqued correctly?

gasket brand?

ezone

Haha thanks. It may have been very late (or very early) and I may have been delirious

nsrhonda89

How much km do you have on your engine? I think you need to get another mechanic. I had my head machined twice when I did my head gasket. The first guy did a shitty job and you can see lines on the head surface. Second shop did an amazing job and it had a mirror finish. I have about 95K on the engine since I did the head gasket around 205k. You can pull a head off a junk car if you are worry about the current one.




Nippon head gasket Honda
arp head stud
crower camshafts stage 1
valve job
polish intake/exhaust ports
replace rad
cooling fan switch

RobertD

This mechanics logic makes no sense. Are you sure that's what he said?

​​​​​​Doesn't sound like a head gasket issue to me. Nobody here uses the coolant combustion gas test kit? IE the little vial that changes color. Is that too easy?

Colin42

Honda engines fail a little differently, most common tests don't show the failure.
this test works everytime