Rep Power: 300

well the car does misfire and i do smell coolant.........so i will be removeing the head sunday and replaceing the gasket and timing belt. is there anything i can do while the head is off to make it a little stronger or more tolarant of boost? (ex: APR head studds?)

 
Rep Power: 812

yeah arp head studs for sure, but i would stick to the honda nippon gasket. dont forget to take the head to a machine shop to have it tested for compression, warpage, and finally clean it up and prep grease it for drop. you could also swap the cam and cam gear since its all out anyway.

 
Rep Power: 299

Thats a little extreme for a headgasket change gear Drunken- Just make sure you clean the blocks mating surface and also clean the under side of the head VERY well....... Over torque the headbolts 5-7 lbs over the recommended. Unless your gonna use some apr's they have their own torque specs Oh yea, you might wanna wait on taking the head off, around here i had to special order one and ended up paying an extra 15$ to have it overnighted because i took the head off thinking a dealer in town would have one in stock........wrong!!


Oh yea, you have a crank pulley removal tool right......

 
Rep Power: 812

i only said check for warpage because his engine is overheating.

 
Rep Power: 300

y do i need a flywheel removal tool?! also how do i get the crank back to TDC? is there any other things i should be worried about/aware of?
yeah i had to order my gasket today so it would be here by friday....only honda had it, everywhere else couldnt even get em

Gearbox- Already got a crower cam and AEM cam gear checking for warpage wouldnt be a bad idea though but i think it is fine.

where can i get the studds from and what size?

^^^^oh crank pulley tool. still y? to get to TDC? if so i will get one.

 
Rep Power: 812

hmm well there is a lil trick if you can slip the belt off and shove it back on without loosening it, you wont have to reset timing. but its not correct. ill get some diagrams of this stuff later from the book. you dont need crank pulley tool unless youre changing it. just get a socket and turn the pulley to tdc. the lines have to match up.

 
Rep Power: 286

Woaaaah. Before you go pulling the head off your car and replacing the head gasket and t-belt, i'd get your oil and coolant analyzed by a lab. Blindly replacing a head gasket because someone thinks that might be whats wrong, is not a smart thing to do. But if you've got money and time to burn, go for it.

 
Rep Power: 812

true. its a big job. but hes turboed, and everything points to a small gasket leak based on what he's told us. mainly the misfiring and coolant loss when there is no visible coolant leak could only mean its being burned internally. i had the exact same problem. and he can put in new head studs when its off. an easy way to check first is just remove the header and see if theres burnt coolant (greenish white chalk all over).

 
Rep Power: 286

Good call Gearbox. No harm done if you've tried everything else, and have other things to do while its apart. It just doesn't sit well with me since its so much work, and he's not 100% certain that it will fix the problem.

 
Rep Power: 268

I've had this problem as well. Took it to the dealership 4 times. They ran pressure tests everything was ok. Then I bitched on the 4th time they replaced the head gasket and they also machined the head due to slight warpage.

My guess is head gasket.

 
Rep Power: 300

white chalky coloration on maniflod bolts and car is becomeing hard to star (coolant makeing its way into the pistons). yes it is a big task but i have done simular task before but never on anything with a OHC. a little tricky but i have all the tools i need except the crank pully tool which i can get.

ok i just got off the phone with honda and they told me it would cost $630 if they replaced the gasket!!! i got dizzy for a second and then told them thanks anyway.

 
Rep Power: 812

yikes yea headgasket for sure. heres some help. Also try and have a backup car or a friend to take you places. something always happens that you dont expect. for us, it was trying to take the studs off and we needed vise grips and a torch with tons of pb blast before it came loose. I can get more diagrams if you're stuck on certain steps. but i would recommend a manual. there is a huge chapter on just the head swap.

 
Rep Power: 300

thanks!

the main thing i am worried about is getting the thing back to TDC. the head shouldnt be a problem but how do i get the crank back to TDC. i was told a easy way to do this is to get cylender one piston all the way up and that would show it was at TDC.

 
Rep Power: 812

ill check that out. it involves lining up a bunch of marks on the oil pump, crank pulley, etc.

 
Rep Power: 299

I sent him the diagram Gear

 
Rep Power: 300

is there a DYI on removeing the alternator?

 
Rep Power: 286

not sure, but hopefully this will help

http://home.comcast.net/~dsmphotos/alt1.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~dsmphotos/alt2.jpg

 
Rep Power: 453

I sent you a PM on removing the alternator.

As far as alignment for the head. set the crank to TDC. the keyway on the crank will face up. and the mark on the drive pulley will align with the mark on the oil pump.

 
Rep Power: 812

i would get a breaker bar too before getting started.

 
Rep Power: 453

I had to take my car to a shop for them to remove the crank bolt. I tried with a 1/2 impact, did nothing, tried a breaker bar, did nothing, used a breaker bar and cheater bar with a 250 lb. man trying it, did nothing. A shop ended up I believe using either a 3/4 impact or 1 inch impact. I paid them $20 to remove it and then re-tighten it when I was finished with the timing belt.

 
Rep Power: 300

how the heck do i get the top alternator bolt out?? it hits the side of the car and will not come completly out.

oh and is there a DYI on replaceing the timeing belt ---just to make sure i am doing it right. oh and i will have to get a breaker bar. crank bolt...where is that

just as a side question- how often should a timeing belt be replaced? every 50k miles?

 
Rep Power: 453

the top bolt if I remember doesnt fully come out. you just have to pull it all the way as far as it will go them remove the alternator. I wrote up a DIY on doing the timing belt. it is pretty easy. I also had pictures with it.

timing belt should be replaced at 110K miles. But since you are already taking the head off, might as well replace it along with the water pump. the crank bolt holds the harmonic balancer on the crank. if you remove it yourself, you will need the crank pulley tool. But it is easy just to have a shop loosen it for you. it is on there tight.

http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=204239

http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=250384

 
Rep Power: 300

aw crap... i need more tools. good thing NAPA rents tools

wow this is a pain in the ***. I'll give someone $20 to come finish this.

what ever happend with the other guys who where haveing over heating problems?

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ok i finally got the head off! is there anything i need to look out for while putting it back on? what about the small tube that fell out of the head? is there only one or am i missing some?

 
Rep Power: 812

when putting it back, clean all surfaces, be VERY careful to put the head bolts back on in the right order. you hopefully have new head bolts because you cant reuse the old ones. if as you're tightening a bolt, it starts to make noise, you need to start all over. follow directions in diagram posted above. Use a torque wrench. the biggest thing you need to do is pay attention to what you're doing, and try to remember to put everything back. there are so many lil tubes here and there that something could be forgotten. dont forget to put oil back in lol.

 
Rep Power: 300

you are not kidding, there are like a thousand sensors and tubes! but i did use the old bolts. they where in great condition and went in without any problems. this is the first time i have heard i needed to replace them.

 
Rep Power: 812

its recommended to replace them because they stretch when hot and wont seal as well or something. i thought it was common knowledge. but if they went in okay then should be fine.

 
Rep Power: 300

ok so i lost a bolt and broke a sensor so a 8hr fix is going on 15.

 
Rep Power: 300

so i am done! finally
the only problem is the oil light is now on. i dont know y b/c it seems to have good pressure and not looseing oil. the level is staying constent too so maybe i need to hook it up to a obd2 scanner.
anyway at least the damn thing is not overheating anymore!!!!! (yet)

 
Rep Power: 300

see if you can spot the bad spots!

 
Rep Power: 0

I never put a post on here when I got my car fixed. Just to get you all up to speed, I had my car into SAM SWOPE HONDA in Louisville, KY for a total of 2.5 days. They couldn't fix it or find the problem. I went home to Chicago less than 2 months ago and took my car to the dealership where I first got the car. I took it in at 7 am when they first opened up and get a call at 9:30 am saying that the car was fixed. They kinda laughed at the fact that Sam Swope couldn't fix it being how easy the fix was. I had 3 quarts of air in my cooling system. When the gauge was showing my car overheating, it was actually hitting a pocket of air. Car is fixed and the temp has been good. Thanks for all of your help and advice.

DC