Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

Hi everyone, first post here.

I have a 1998 honda civic ex with what seems to be a leaky head gasket. The bad news is I replaced the head gasket in January 2014 at 169,000 miles. Unfortunately this was after the engine had hydro-locked and broken the timing belt so the valves were replaced along with the head being resurfaced by a machine shop.

At the time I put on a fel-pro gasket which was recommended to me as being the best aftermarket gasket there was. After a few searches on this site I have seen that some other people have had issues with them.

Being that the head was resurfaced and the block shouldn't have warped at all as the car never overheated to any grave extent, I'm not sure what the issue is other than the gasket going bad after about 2 years and around 20,000 miles.

It started off with the same issues from two years ago: loss of coolant, rough starting/misfire codes after running, stopping and re-starting after an hour or so. Luckily this time I've caught it pretty quickly into the issue as opposed to last time when the timing belt broke.

I checked compression and it was normal across the 4 cylinders. However I ran it with the radiator cap off and got bubbles. I then blew air into each cylinder while it was top dead center and cylinder one blew bubbles into the radiator. The other three did not. The engine misfire codes were for cylinders 1 and 2.

Now that you have most of the backstory, please recommend me a new head gasket. Once I get everything apart I will clean the block and head with a razor blade and get everything as clean and shiny as possible. But I'm just not confident in buying another fel-pro brand gasket. On the one hand it lasted 2 years but on the other hand that doesn't seem quite long enough for a head gasket that I feel confident was installed correctly.

Should I go with a Honda OEM gasket? (part number 12251-P2J-004) Are there any disadvantages to ordering them from some of the online honda parts stores that aren't run by Honda? I've also read a little bit about bolts that are designed to stretch when you bring them to torque, but supposedly these aren't necessary on a 6th generation Civic? Any further information about bolts and a good head gasket to replace my current one with would be very useful. Thanks in advance.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

If you want factory quality, guess what.....

Yes.

There are many real Honda dealers online to choose from, selling parts at wholesale prices.
Only issues I see might be shipping fees and warranty, if that need were to arise.

Yours uses standard bolts. Reuse them unless for some strange reason you find physical damage.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

I ordered head gasket parts from Hondapartsnow: http://www.hondapartsnow.com/parts-l...ead-v-tec.html Cheapest OEM parts I found at the time (8 months ago). For a little more than $20 you could purchase new head bolts: 90008-PZ1-003. Head gasket: 12251-P2J-004 is $32.

Could be the Felpro failed. Could be a strip head bolt or head bolt hole.
In addition to the FSM, here's a video with good tips:

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

Thanks for the replies, advice, and link to the video. I ordered an OEM head gasket, exhaust and intake gaskets and some new bolts just in case that was part of the issue (though I doubt it.) I'll post back once I get the gaskets switched out and fingers crossed that's what the issue was. Thanks again.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

Tip: Bungie cord the intake so it doesn't drop and damage the knock sensor.. I learned the hard way. Also, drain the coolant jacket through the block's drain bolt near the knock sensor. Good Luck.. look forward to your results.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

got everything taken apart today. Tried to be extra careful of the knock sensor like Turd recommended but unfortunately when I was cleaning the intake manifold I noticed that the knock sensor had broken.

So I'll pick up one of those tomorrow and hopefully get everything put back together. The "good" news is that the fel-pro gasket clearly failed. I hope to get a picture or two put up when I'm done. The blue sealant/layer of the gasket was worn away around cylinders 1/2. I checked that everything was plumb with a straight edge and a .003 feeler gauge and everything felt pretty good. I went with the OEM Honda gasket this time and hope to have better luck, only got around 21k miles out of the Fel-pro on what I'm convinced was a good install.

Anyway, just an update, thanks again for everyone's help, hope to post some more results tomorrow.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

Max warp spec is only .002".

Got a metric feeler set with a .05mm?

Thoroughly measure for low spots in the areas where the head gasket failed, both on the head and on the block deck.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

Don't be tempted to buy a crappy chinese made knockoff knock sensor like this one: it won't last long and may throw a CEL regarless of what the reviews say.

Unfortunately, here's the OEM price http://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine...0-P2M-A01.html. I pulled one from a junk yard for "pocket" change (wink-wink).

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

I went with one from auto zone for $109. I saw the ones for real cheap on eBay. Decided that based on where it was I would at least go with one with a good warranty. Hopefully it holds up. Not OEM but a brand name with a lifetime warranty.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

Well I wrapped everything up last night, thanks to the help of everyone here that chimed in. Started it up and everything seemed smooth. Ran it to temperature with the radiator cap off and didn't get any bubbles after the lines had all bubbled the air out of them.

So hopefully everything is good to go now, won't know for sure for a few weeks I imagine. I took a photo of each side of the old gasket. Sorry for the bad lighting and cell-phone pic but hopefully it helps someone in the future who installed a fel-pro gasket only to have it fail.

Attachment 113943
Attachment 113944


I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has. Thanks again for the help.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

Interesting how the openings are not the same for each cylinder. At one end there are 6 "slots", the next has 2 slots and 2 holes, then 1 slot and 3 holes and finally only small holes at the opposite end.

Re: Recommend me a new head gasket?
 

That's to control the circulation of coolant through the block and the cylinder head areas.