Head Gasket
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Head Gasket
Well I spoke too soon. I found out yesterday while checking under the hood yesterday that I think I blew my head gasket. I've been troubleshooting a very intermittent overheating problem and the headgasket is the conclusion that I have come to. This was obviously done using nitrous, but I'm not sure when exactly or what the root of the problem was. I have a feeling that it happened one night when I ran it on the juice with the pressure too high rather than purging it all out. Its hard to say really. It could have been due to total lack of tuning but I can tell you one thing for certain that the plugs always looked good and never showed any sign of detonation. Very little if any at all. I have friends that have been using nitrous for quite a long time in their B series and Ive seen them melt plugs before without ever blowing a head gasket which is why I'm suprised this happened to me. Perhaps the factory HGs in our cars are just sh*tty? My symptoms are very very mild by the way. The car still runs hard all motor and on the juice. It doesnt blow any smoke out the tail pipe and theres no coolant in the oil. It only overheats every once in a great while and I have coolant slowly overflowing out of the resevoir. I'm going to use ARP studs, and replace the belts while I'm at it. I have a shop down the road that will do the labor for $175 so I think I'm gonna have them do it. It'll be easier for me anyway. I hear everyone talking about the nippon leakless headgaskets, but can anyone tell me if I would be ok using the Ishino instead? I have an extra one in the bedroom that my dad bought me a year ago when I was planning on having some headwork done, which is why I'm asking. I'd like to use it if I can otherwise I have to spend another $120 for the nippon leakless. Both are genuine honda so I dont understand the difference anyway. Both are still being offered by majestic.
Last edited by thiscrackerntam; Jan 19, 2005 at 12:32 PM.
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Originally Posted by thiscrackerntam
I have a shop down the road that will do the labor for $175 so I think I'm gonna have them do it. It'll be easier for me anyway
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Rep Power: 0 ^^Well I probably would if I had a better tool selection. My parents place is an hour and a half away and I'd rather not drive that far just to work on my car and hear my mom and dad possibly lecture about me fvckin up my car. Especially when its my OWN car which is in my OWN name on my OWN credit. I'd rather do it here which means I'd have to buy the tools and a helms manual would help, but until I invest in those things it just seems easier to pay someone to do it especially when its only $175. 
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Rep Power: 323 for 175.00 I would pay someone else to do it also. As long as they are good. Run the ishino and add an extra 5 lbs of torque to the head bolts. < this is what catalyst did to hold over 12 lbs of boost exept he did +10lbs of torque. on stock head studs. I don't think you need to get the nippon one.
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Originally Posted by thiscrackerntam
oh nevermind, I think I was given the price for the entire gasket set.
i was gonna say.......... $120 for a hg is a rip off
yeah, the nippon leakless is $20 from HondaAutomotiveparts.com ... I had the exact same issue with mine ... I am also running a 75 shot ... It only overheated when the car was sitting at idle and if I saw it was running hot, I would rev up to about 1500 for a couple seconds and it would come back down in 3-10 seconds .... I also noticed that the overflowing coolant only happened when I had recently sprayed ... When I had the ported head and reground cam put in, I went with the nippon leakless and the ARP headstuds ..... I'm right back to spraying and I haven't had a problem yet .... that overheating thing sucks ... I heard everything from "you need to drill out your thermostat" to "air in the coolant system" ... I checked the old head gasket when it was changed and I couldn't see any sign of cracking .... I've put 3 bottles of n2o thru my car since the new gasket and haven't had an issue yet except getting caught with an empty bottle today against a 94-95 hatch with a b16/hondata swap - ohhh the humanity 8) ... I'd be willing to bet that if you change the head gasket, the problem will go away ...
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Rep Power: 0 Yeah, right now I'm trying to figure out if I'm really running lean enough on a regular basis to be causing problems like that. Like I said, I check my plugs everytime I spray almost and they always look pretty good. Maybe a tad bit on the lead side, but no rainbow colors at all ever. It also could have blown the first time I sprayed top end. I may have sprayed for too long. I'm not sure, but now I'm a little nervous to spray again with the 75 jets after the new headgasket gets put in until I get a vafc2. I dunno how I blew it honestly. I have a lot of faith in the NX wet kit and I know it works well.
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Originally Posted by NashVegasEX
I've put 3 bottles of n2o thru my car since the new gasket and haven't had an issue yet except getting caught with an empty bottle today against a 94-95 hatch with a b16/hondata swap - ohhh the humanity
This is why i prefer boost Thread Starter
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Rep Power: 0 The guy at majestic on the phone said that honda switched from the Ishino to the nippon leakless on the newer models coming from the factory and that they usually only do that when they arent happy with one particular manufacturer's product. I dunno if thats true or not, but it does seem like an aweful lot of people have blown their headgaskets.
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Rep Power: 284 milling the head on an ex w/ already high compression pistons would increase the comperssion even more. The higher the compression with high amounts of boost or nitrous increases your chance of detonation. IMO i'd be trying to lower the compression when even using a 75 shot.
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Rep Power: 0 ^^Nitrous is not the same as turbo is this respect. This seems to be a common misconception among a lot of people that I have talked to on this board, especially among the boosted members. You can get away with high compression using nitrous. At the most, I believe all I would have to do is turn up the fuel a little using a vafc2 and besides, having the head milled isnt going to raise compression by all that much.
Last edited by thiscrackerntam; Jan 20, 2005 at 02:04 PM.
I had mine milled .020 ... And yes, the Nippon leakless gasket was used from 02 on ... And I know thats why most people prefer boost to spray ... thats why I'm staring at this manifold and parts of a return fuel system as I type this ... I wish I could just buy my girlfriend an engagement FPR instead of a ring .... yuck... girls ... make my car so slow 8(
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Originally Posted by NashVegasEX
I had mine milled .020 ... And yes, the Nippon leakless gasket was used from 02 on ... And I know thats why most people prefer boost to spray ... thats why I'm staring at this manifold and parts of a return fuel system as I type this ... I wish I could just buy my girlfriend an engagement FPR instead of a ring .... yuck... girls ... make my car so slow 8(
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Originally Posted by thiscrackerntam
^^Nitrous is not the same as turbo is this respect. This seems to be a common misconception among a lot of people that I have talked to on this board, especially among the boosted members. You can get away with high compression using nitrous. At the most, I believe all I would have to do is turn up the fuel a little using a vafc2 and besides, having the head milled isnt going to raise compression by all that much.
Yup, i was one of them..........but i did some research.
Lots of ppl use n2o to complement high compression motors. Many drag racers use n2o on 14:1 motors........actually is pretty common. With n2o injected motors the chance of detonation is greatly increased. To avoid this, the fuel must be enrichened to avoid running lean. Also, the motor must be built to withstand extreme combustion temps and pressure. Honda motors are actually pretty good at withstanding high compression while resisting detonation.
it might sound stuped but my buddy just whent through the same thing . his cooling fans was not coming on he blow a fuse and he changed the hg and it was not the pro just the fuse so just cheack it first . he wasted all that cash trying to t/s and all he needed to spend was .50
not to mention that nitrous will cool intake temps .... And yeah thiscrackerntam, I have been planning on boosting for a long time but its been a while in the making ... I love the instant torque from spraying but I have spent almost $800 on refills since I put the system in ....
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