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Ok I'm going to try to make this as short as possible:

1) 2004 Honda EX VTEC 1.7L D17A2 w/ 205,000 well cared for miles
2) overheating after long drives, no cabin heat at idle, coolant disappearing
3) exhaust gases in the coolant... Head Gasket!
4) removed head and found tiny trail from combustion chamber to cooling jacket on head gasket
5) Taking head to be cleaned and machined "surfaced" at a minimum with a three angle valve job
6) Bought ARP set of head studs/bolts for "racing" or higher compression engines just to have more confidence with head in going forward

That's where I'm at right now. Some may have noticed I'm probably over-cautious...I am happily so but there are limits...so the question is do I throw all new valves in it and if so do I get some high end chrome plated or stainless ones. I found some on Ebay at good price but not sure of brand....see link below:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280891284452

Thoughts? Advice? Ridicule? Insults? Feedback?

 
Rep Power: 519

I would have stopped at the head gasket job (with milling the head if my measurements said it was warped), if there was no real reason to go any further. (But I work in a different environment than you do.)

No valve job if it was not needed here, they seem to last just fine if cared for.
No head studs either, that seems like serious overkill for a stock engine to me. JMO.

You say you are getting the valves done "with a three angle valve job". That should be good enough, it's now a rebuilt head.....so no need for new valves on top of that......right?
I just hope your machinist is good, not a hack.


Seems like an awful lot of coin going in to a car that has 200k+ already....Hope you are gonna keep it long enough to get your moneys worth out of it.

YMMV.





Maybe I should just STFU....... I'm waiting for the head gasket to blow in my truck so I can put rings in it. And it needs trans bearings. And I bet I haven't even put 1000 miles on that ride over the last 6 years. I would probably fix it all and then just let the truck sit some more LOL.

 
Rep Power: 202

Ya, but us guys that do everything ourselves have considerably less coin in doing it. Still blows me away my rebuild of my trans cost me about $400. Over the last 15 or 20 years I would hate to think what I've saved in labor alone. I vacuumed the a/c myself and put a heater core in our trailblazer we had, that job alone flat rated at 9 hours!

 
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I used to do valve jobs for a living in a machine shop...only replace a valve if the machinist says one needs to be replaced...if they are with in spec..then don't worry about it.. But i do agree with you having a valve job done with 200000 on the engine..other wise as luck would have it you might need one in 10000 miles..not to mention your guides and oil seals are probably pretty worn at this point ( PS ..ALL valve jobs are a minimum of 3 angles ..the 3rd angle is to raise where the seat is hitting the valve ..otherwise a worn seat will sit too low on the valve..out near the edge of the valve face )