Cylinder Head Bolts BT Engine

[Fixedit]

Hi all,

Been searching threads for anything on replacement cylinder head bolts and haven't found anything. Would someone lead me to a source for replacement cylinder head bolts? I've got an '86 LXi, EFI engine code BT. Head gasket has been blown for the last few months and it's now starting to affect it more, have exhaust gasses bubbling out of the radiator, and if I run it hard (3000 to 3500 for a few minutes flying down the road) it'll puff white smoke and run a little rough when I stop and put it in park. Weird how it runs great until it gets hot at idle. I can start up cold and let it idle for an hour with no problems. I can even drive through town with 10 stoplights at normal temp, no issue. It only acts up after cruising around 70 MPH and sitting at idle. Anyways I'm replacing the head gasket and would appreciate some advice on head bolts, sorry I got carried away thinking aloud. Thanks!

[Fixedit]

Actually after some further thought and diagnosis, I believe I have a cracked head. The intermittent coolant puffing out of the exhaust after driving 30 min+ (cooling system pressurizing and letting off pressure by pushing coolant into cylinders while at idle) makes sense if the head expands with heat and opens up a hairline crack. That'd explain why it runs perfect and doesn't smoke at any other time. I may need to replace the entire head.

[Fixedit]

Okay I'll ask this; do I even need to replace the head bolts when replacing the head gasket?

[cygnus x-1]

Okay I'll ask this; do I even need to replace the head bolts when replacing the head gasket?


Not unless they're damaged. They aren't stretch bolts so they can be reused.

C|

[Fixedit]

Sweet thanks, that's good news. Do my symptoms sound like a cracked head to anyone else? It's basically an intermittent blown head gasket, runs great but maybe one or two days every couple weeks it "blows the head gasket" (white smoke, runs rough). I'm asking to make sure there's no way it's the EACV leaking coolant into the intake. I guess though if I have what seems to be exhaust gasses coming out of my coolant non-stop, the EACV couldn't be my issue. So confusing, I'm sure a new head and head gasket will solve it all. Anyways thanks very much!

[Fixedit]

Little update (I'll get some pictures of the car and everything for this bland thread soon), ordered a reman cylinder head from Cylinder Heads International (headsonly.com). Should have done more research before ordering, lots of a bad reviews about them, but I've noticed the bad reviews are eBay-shoppers, and I went directly from headsonly. But one review said they received a warning sticker telling them NOT to use a torque wrench, which is super fishy. Others claimed some valves leaked and loud valve train noise (did they set their valve lash?). In any case, we'll all see when I receive the head 'cause I'll share the experience here. I chose this company for their competitive price, $275 as opposed to $315-$450. The cheap price may be the difference in quality unfortunately, good thing there's a 12 month warranty. Stay tuned!

[niles]

Best of luck! I did a head swap last summer with a rebuilt head from the parts yard. There are some Mazda head bolts you can use from ARP if you don't want to reuse your old ones (part # 218-4703)

[Fixedit]

Thanks for the part number! I definitely prefer studs like that over bolts. At $144 though I can't afford them :/ Sucks too because I know those studs would be so good for it, much stronger. The head should be here Tuesday, I'm excited! Gonna be sad though to send the old one back as a core, I like keeping original parts & things. Oh well.

I see you're in Portland niles, is that Oregon or Maine?

[niles]

I'm in Portland, Oregon :)

I ordered mine from Summit Racing, but the studs really are kind of overkill unless you plan to go turbo one day, they are made to handle 90# of torque and I think our heads are spec'd for somewhere around 45 lol.

[Fixedit]

I'm disappointed with headsonly.com, pretty bad product if you ask me. Obvious weld repairs in two exhaust ports fixing who knows what, and the weld completely blocked off two coolant passages. Smart. Also had maybe 1/2 the spark plug threads left in cylinder #1, a problem I already have on my #3 cylinder (I actually have a thread sleeve). There was also damage to the cam gear seal surface from some genius popping the old seal out with a hammer & drift. The rocker arms were also untouched, but the cam was resurfaced.

Here're the welds

http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab169/cheesenugget_bucket/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150317_123218681_HDR_zpsifqdbgi4.jpg (http://s860.photobucket.com/user/cheesenugget_bucket/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150317_123218681_HDR_zpsifqdbgi4.jpg.html)

http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab169/cheesenugget_bucket/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150317_123225454_HDR_zps3pr2aikz.jpg (http://s860.photobucket.com/user/cheesenugget_bucket/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150317_123225454_HDR_zps3pr2aikz.jpg.html)

Then right underneath you can see the passages blocked by the "repair" (The two shiny ovals below the exhaust ports)

http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab169/cheesenugget_bucket/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150317_123446828_HDR_zpsijd4ic1d.jpg (http://s860.photobucket.com/user/cheesenugget_bucket/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150317_123446828_HDR_zpsijd4ic1d.jpg.html)


Needless to say I called them about it and I sent it back. Hopefully they actually refund me, because for $275 I don't want a piece of crap.


I don't know what to do at this point though with the car, hasn't acted up in a while at all, aside from exhaust gases in the coolant that momentarily heat up the engine quickly on initial cold start warm-up (if I start up cold and take off after maybe a minute of warming up, the temp gauge nearly reaches the top until the thermostat opens and circulates coolant, moving air pockets away from the sensor). I have a head gasket set for it but it'd feel stupid if I do the job and I still get the same issue. I don't really have the ability to park the car and tear the head off to send it to the machine shop and pay them to tell me whether or not it's cracked, but that's really what needs to be done. I'll talk to the boss about using shop space but I don't think I'm going to be able to fix this for a while. We'll see

[cygnus x-1]

Wow. Around the exhaust ports is the last place you want to obstruct coolant flow. That's where all the heat is. My guess is that head overheated and cracked in that area.

Stripped spark plug threads are pretty common with aluminum heads. No big deal there, just use an insert.

But yeah, I would say that head was a loser.

C|

[Oldblueaccord]

Maybe try some of that Blue Devil sealant stuff. its down and dirty but I have heard it will seal anything.

[niles]

Fixedit, check into Pick-n-pull. That's where I got my used head, the north Portland one. I just looked for cleanliness and less mileage. Then see how easy the spark plugs come out and check for rust. I think I paid something like $80 for the head. Then around $175 for a machine shop to clean it, test it, and mill the gasket surface.

Edit: had to check my head thread for prices, looks like the total cost of repair for me with a rebuilt and machined JY head was about $400 for materials and all

[Fixedit]

Thank you niles, great info to have. I tried the local yards here in Albany but none of them had 3rd gen Accords with my engine, sucks. However I found a craigslist ad for a wrecked 89 5 speed Accord that I might pick up to do ye old transmission swap and I might pull the head off it, although it's sitting at 240K miles so actually I'll probably pass on it. Got my money back for that other head though, thankfully. I'll keep this updated, hoping to get that wrecked car sunday.


Just found the manual tranny swap thread, says I need the ECU for 86/87 Accord since I have a 86, and that it wont work with the 88/89's? And then at the bottom of the list it says I don't actually need the ECU...I'm confused; if I put an '89 5 Speed in my '86 EFI do I need the ECU from the '89? Thanks

[Fixedit]

Got the 89 Coupe, parting it out. I posted in the for sale forum. Gonna do the trans swap once I get the trans rebuild kit.