Another blown head gasket?
 

So back in August I replaced my head gasket due to overheating. The big giveaway was the overflow was filling up and spilling everywhere. So I replaced the head gasket and yesterday on my way home from work the ac turned hot and I looked at the temperature gauge and it was 3/4 the way up. I stopped and sure enough the overflow was spilling coolant out. I just replaced this head gasket 6k miles ago so why would it fail again? I torqued everything down in the correct sequences and to the correct amount. However I did NOT get the head machined but I checked my surface with my feeler gauges and everything was under .001 which lead to me believing the head was not warped. If it is the head gasket I will get the head machined no matter what this time. So my ultimate question is what do ya'll thing caused this again? I'm kind of leaning towards a warped head that I possibly didnt catch?

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

Well that's problem one. Did you clean the head and block mating surfaces? How did you clean them? Were they the correct smoothness?

Did you use an OEM Honda gasket?

Did you fix what ever caused the engine to overheat in the first place? Bad fans, temp sensor, thermostat, etc

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

Yes I cleaned the head and mating surfaces. I didnt feel any burs or scratches along the surfaces, in fact the surfaces were surprisingly clean.

The fans are kicking on, thermostat has been replaced, water pump was replaced 15k miles ago with new belt. I bought the car in June so I'm not totally sure what happened if it overheated on the previous owner or not.

car only has 121k miles on it now.

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

Did you use a Honda gasket?
and now you've discovered why the got rid of the car

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

I was on the highway when it happened, generally if the fans weren't kicking on wouldn't I notice overheating during slow speeds instead of the highway? Radiator fins looks fine as well. I drive 100 miles round trip everyday I go to work and I would say 95 miles are highway miles. Whenever I changed my head gasket I did not use OEM either.

I went ahead a pulled the head today and will be dropping it off at the machine shop Monday morning. I will call Honda Monday morning and pick up a OEM gasket set. I wanted to pull the head and get in machined just to rule out the possibility of a warped head.

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

They only drove the car maybe 2 miles whenever they drove it. It was an elderly lady who owned the car and then she passed on so her son who already owned vehicles would rarely drive it. Seemed like a decent guy I purchased it from him at his business location so I doubt he knew it had any issues.

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

There have been some posters here reporting alarmingly premature failures of aftermarket head gaskets.


Did you actually prove a head gasket breach before pulling the head a second time?
If the head actually measured flat I would not want it to be machined.

Is the radiator cap good?
Is the radiator neck burned from a severe overheat event (steam erosion), now it can't hold pressure because the cap doesn't seal correctly, so liquid ends up overfilling the reservoir?

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

I replaced radiator cap before replacing head gasket the first time. I will have to check the radiator neck tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm going to check to see if it's truly flat and obviously if it's not I'm going to drop it off at the machine shop. But I will definitely be swinging into honda Monday and pick up an OEM gasket.

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

What are the odds of the block being warped?

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

Did you measure it?
Warped? Close to zero IMO. I've seen many severe overheats over the years and not once witnessed a block casting problem resulting from it. Collapsed piston rings yes, warped head yes, but not warped block.
However, I've seen a lot of damage caused by improper gasket removal procedures.

Re: Another blown head gasket?
 

No I didnt measure it just yet, but was curious if that was a common thing to happen. Good to hear it's not too likely.