Head Gasket Blown

[HondaBoy]

yeah, so i have a lovely blown head gasket on my 3gee. it wont be a whole lot to fix if its just the gasket and not a warped head and or block deck. so that'll be the first thing i'm going to check with a strait edge. if it does turn out to be a warped head, i was thinking this would be the perfect time to get a new cam. i've thought about it for a while and have decided that i will go with a delta, probably a 272 duration. anyone else think this is the right time for a new cam? this really pisses me off though, i just installed my new weber carb and was really looking foward to it. but of course this shit just had to happen. i estimate with the gasket set and if need be, get the head resurfaced, i'll spend about $200. i'll want to replace the timing belt and tensioner at this time also. its been about 50000 miles since i replaced the belt. guess i'll have to work on this in my spare time. i just hate to think i have to take the head off, but the time has come that it is very necessary.

the reason i believe the head gasket went is because when installing the carb, i didnt cap the coolant passages going into the intake manifold. as that is, it allowed coolant to enter the intake manifold and into the cylinders. after cranking it over a number of times i think the head pressure was increase to such a high amount that it blew the gasket between a couple of cylinders. i'll have to take the head off to determine that, but this is my theory. also, i first noticed steam comming out of the valve cover breather. then looked into the oil fill hole noticing a nice coffee color. after running for a few minutes it will warm up and blow the coolant out of the radiator like a guiser. so its definately a blow head gasket.

[cygnus x-1]

Aww, bummer. But you have the right attitude. Every repair is also an upgrade opportunity!

I'm thinking it might be good to flush some of the water out. Drain the oil and refill it with the cheapest stuff you can find. Crank the engine over for awhile to circulate the new oil and flush the water out. The drain again. If the oil is still foamy repeat the process. Water in the engine is bad because it coule cause corrosion.
I've never blown a head gasket though so maybe others will also have some advice.

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[prototype]

When you do get that headgasket off, make sure you take a clean cloth and wipe some oil around the cylinder walls. This'll ensure that your walls don't get too rusted while you have the head off, especially since your coolant made it's way in.

[w261w261]

This past winter I let my 25 year old son use an '85 Volvo V6 that I had, a nice car if you didn't mind the ultra-square styling. It had 120k on it. I didn't keep good track of it, it got a small leak in a coolant hose and he let it overheat. The head gasket went, but not really bad, as there was no cross-contamination of the coolant/oil. However, as soon as the engine heated up, it would pump the coolant out of the bottle. The car had really nice red leather and an incredible white paint job, but had no real value on the market, as the V6 is an unpopular engine. Having nothing to lose, I parked it until the weather got nicer, then bought a quart of this head gasket repair liquid for maybe 10 bucks.

To use it, you have to completely flush the coolant system - I guess antifreeze keeps it from working. Long story short, the stuff worked like a charm. The car works fine again...so good I sold it. I really didn't think it would, but it did. You might want to try it, the most you'd waste would be 10 bucks.

[MessyHonda]

good luck with it. im here trying to figure out my obd1 swap. and pin outputs from the conversion harness

[HondaBoy]

well my manager said we got some new head gasket repair stuff, but i think i'm going to go ahead and just get the gasket set and replace it. i really need this car to be reliable for daily driving so i'm just going to take the head off and see whats up with it. but yeah, definately cross contamination with water leaking into the oil. filled the radiator up, it drank it up pretty quickly and then blew out the remaining amount. before i parked it i did change the oil again and put a new filter so there'd be less chance of much water being in the oil. when i go back to work i'll see if the gasket set came or not since i had to get it from my other store across town.

another thing, does the A20 have studs or head bolts? torque to yeild or not? i'm hoping not. but i may just order a new set just for the hell of it.

[2oodoor]

Cygnus you never blowed a gasket.. wholly crap, that is amazing, well come to think of it I havent either once I redone one. well yes I did , on a jetta, I hate water bugs

Honda boy... I hope you blocked off the water hole on the intake with metal epoxy before you installed the weber..the one under the carb base??
.

[cygnus x-1]

another thing, does the A20 have studs or head bolts? torque to yeild or not? i'm hoping not. but i may just order a new set just for the hell of it.

They're bolts. And I'm pretty sure they aren't torque to yield.

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[2oodoor]

They're bolts. And I'm pretty sure they aren't torque to yield.

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I think he means non reusable head bolts, those that the threds are designed to bend at the torque spec kind of like compression washers/nuts

[cygnus x-1]

Torque to yield means the bolts are actually torqued until they stretch. Which means they aren't reusable.

And if you want new ones you can get studs from ARP. Part number is 218-4703. $89 from importperformanceparts.net

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[88Accord-DX]

They aren't TTY head bolts. You can actually re-use them if you want. Clean out all the carbon in the valves & top of the pistons too. After I personally rebuilt my motor , after about 5k miles, I re-gapped the valve lash & torqued the head bolts again to 55 Ft. lbs. I like a couple extra pounds of clamping force myself.
Anyhow, got a good days work ahead of you. Shit happens.
edit- Can also check that cooling system with a coolant pressure tester. Compression test will also confirm your blown head gasket issue if not sure.

[AccordEpicenter]

you can reuse the head bolts. Most tty bolts are only good for like 2 torque downs before they should be replaced (these arent tty anyway). Most use a torque angle wrench too... And yes you def need to change that head gasket. Id check over the head really well too, they tend to warp a bit if you heat the snot out of it

[lostforawhile]

do you have an lxi ot a dx/lx if it's carb motor make sure it's not that o ring on the intake between the intake and the carb base,this will allow coolant to get into the intake and make you think you have a bad head gasket,when it's just the o ring thing. https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62316

[Cheeseburger]

dam that blows! good luck with the repairs!

[HondaBoy]

well my teacher said i could come up to school on friday and use the coolant system pressure tester. he said fill it up with water, pull the plugs out and see if there is any water comming from any cylinders. would help when looking for what messed up. dunno if i will have time to do that friday but hope so. it really doesnt look like im going to have time to do this anytime soon though, so i may have a shop do the work for me. i know a few good shops that i deal with on a daily basis at work so i may use one of them.

[lostforawhile]

well my teacher said i could come up to school on friday and use the coolant system pressure tester. he said fill it up with water, pull the plugs out and see if there is any water comming from any cylinders. would help when looking for what messed up. dunno if i will have time to do that friday but hope so. it really doesnt look like im going to have time to do this anytime soon though, so i may have a shop do the work for me. i know a few good shops that i deal with on a daily basis at work so i may use one of them.

hey if it shows water coming out bypass your heated manifold, i'm not sure if you have carb or fuel injection, i 'm pretty sure the FI has a heated manifold too,a crack in a passage can make water go into your cylinders through the intake valves. if you bypass it and it shows good you know where the problem is. only diiference is on a carbed motor,you have an extra hose coming off the water pipe, it goes to the carb base,you would have to plug it. in addition to connecting the inlet and outlet hoses to the manifold together.

[2oodoor]

I hope you understood about blocking off the water passage UNDER the carb base when you put on a weber

[HondaBoy]

nope, and thats why the head is fucked up. duh. mainly because i went by the instructions that were sent with the carb. it specificly said to go right by the instructions given, and look what happened. might go ahead and get a new cam and some other stuff.

[lostforawhile]

yea i was going to do a webber originally,so i made an aluminum plug and it was tig welded into that passage in the manifold, then the gasket surface was machined. i cut up that manifold though to make the SU manifold,. the hose that goes to the carb base itself, the one from the water pipe,just cap that one off,the hole in the manifold that water flows into from the carb, that needs to be closed off if you go webber. that connects to your coolant going through the manifold. you can't permantly bypass the manifold,because your temp sensor is in there, i can make you a piece that conects the two ends together,with the proper 1/8 bsp threads for the temp sensor, if you are going to keep your vasccume sensors though, i would need to include threaded fittings for those as well. I might already have one i made when i was going to do the webber,i have to look around.EDIT I just read your other post,i will see about making you one then you can completly bypass the manifold if you want to.

[cygnus x-1]

Probably the easiest thing to do is to plug that little hole with JB-weld. That's what I did. You could also just not run coolant through the manifold as well, but then you would need to relocate the temp sensor to the thermostat housing. Which requires that you get rid of the thermo-valve that's there now.

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[lostforawhile]

Probably the easiest thing to do is to plug that little hole with JB-weld. That's what I did. You could also just not run coolant through the manifold as well, but then you would need to relocate the temp sensor to the thermostat housing. Which requires that you get rid of the thermo-valve that's there now.

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na i have a piece around here somewhere i made that bolts to the firewall, it has the 1/8 bsp threads for the sender and i think the threads for the other two vaccume sensors. you screw in a 1/4 npt barbed fitting into each end. those go to the hoses that would have been in and out on the manifold. this moves everything off of your manifold,I was going to use it when i did the webber conversion,before i started the SU project.

webbers don't like heated manifolds anyway.

[MessyHonda]

fuel injection is so much easier....i give you guys props for sticking with carbs.

[2oodoor]

nope, and thats why the head is fucked up. duh. mainly because i went by the instructions that were sent with the carb. it specificly said to go right by the instructions given, and look what happened. might go ahead and get a new cam and some other stuff.

when in doubt follow the yellow brick road to the wizard, 3Geez how to

[cygnus x-1]

fuel injection is so much easier....i give you guys props for sticking with carbs.

I presonally cannot accept those props since I did succumb to the siren song of fuel injection.

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[MessyHonda]

I presonally cannot accept those props since I did succumb to the siren song of fuel injection.

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you do awesome builds tho. thanks for helping out. i always see you over at PP. one day i want to be as knowledgeable as you.