Blown head gasket?

[parkersnine]

My son's 1988 Accord overheated and in the process melted the top of the radiator and his oil pressure dropped to half at running speed than it usually was. I think it dropped to about 35-40 . The temperature gauge indicated temps above average but he thought the gauge was faulty. He also lost a lot of power. There does not appear to be water in the oil but all the antifreeze disappeared somewhere. Is it common to lose oil pressure when you have a blown head gasket? He had about 10k on the rebuild .

[Dr_Snooz]

Is your son a teenager? If the car lost power, then it probably got run long enough to overheat badly and boil out all the coolant. I'm not sure how common it is to lose oil pressure, but if the gasket failed around the oil channel going up to the head and pumped out enough oil, then it could happen.

Long and short, I think you're in for some extensive repairs and possibly another rebuild. Good luck.

[parkersnine]

Yes..he is a teenager . The lapse in judgement apparently will be costly. The oil is still at the full mark on dipstick. I do think he ran it completely dry of antifreeze and gave no clue where it all went. If one spins a bearing do you lose all oil pressure? The car still will still start.

[Dr_Snooz]

LOL. Your post kinda sounded like a second-hand story from a teenager who just blew up Dad's car. He's basically going to tell you anything that stops the yelling, so take that into consideration as you try to figure it all out. Unless you were in the car at the time, there's no telling what really happened or what has been done to the engine. The real story is under the hood somewhere. When you rebuild it, you'll know.

[lostforawhile]

Yes..he is a teenager . The lapse in judgement apparently will be costly. The oil is still at the full mark on dipstick. I do think he ran it completely dry of antifreeze and gave no clue where it all went. If one spins a bearing do you lose all oil pressure? The car still will still start.

thats probably a spun bearing, was he racing it? sounds kind of like it

[mintygreen81]

thats probably a spun bearing, was he racing it? sounds kind of like it

i second this.

[Rendon LX-i]

pull the dipsit out and then run a ligher under it. if you here the oil pop an see bubbles then there is coolant present in your oil. If it runs fine just having overheating problems time to do a timing belt water pump head gasket. oil pump all in one shot.

[2oodoor]

thats probably a spun bearing, was he racing it? sounds kind of like it

given the information, how the &^%& fn hell did you come up with that?
dam

I usually try to remain optimistic on any diagnosis and not throw up the baby with the bath water there bud ... poor kid )


If it had a slow coolant leak, you would not realize it and everybody isn't autor-motive aware or shops would only have pm work.
Out and about anyone could be stuck running hot or whatever the situation of vital fluids was. Not everyone would pull over right away, hell even I would not want to be walking any further than I had to.
As for the teenager, we all were one at some time and sometimes their version of recollections is always either too little or too much fluff.
They are still learning about life and human interaction, so give them the benefit of the doubt a little extra on occasion.
They are being punished by the real circumstances of there action or lack of, in this case the car is broke and believe me they are no more pleased about it than the boss.

It still runs, that says alot wholly crap melted the radiator so the heat disipated just a little right so get a used radiator and fill it up to check for leaks. Like Rendon says, it may just be bad parts.
Evidently there is an oil pressure guage on this car? If it has oil pressure and not knocking in the bottom there may be hope for it.

[lostforawhile]

given the information, how the &^%& fn hell did you come up with that?
dam

I usually try to remain optimistic on any diagnosis and not throw up the baby with the bath water there bud ... poor kid )


If it had a slow coolant leak, you would not realize it and everybody isn't autor-motive aware or shops would only have pm work.
Out and about anyone could be stuck running hot or whatever the situation of vital fluids was. Not everyone would pull over right away, hell even I would not want to be walking any further than I had to.
As for the teenager, we all were one at some time and sometimes their version of recollections is always either too little or too much fluff.
They are still learning about life and human interaction, so give them the benefit of the doubt a little extra on occasion.
They are being punished by the real circumstances of there action or lack of, in this case the car is broke and believe me they are no more pleased about it than the boss.

It still runs, that says alot wholly crap melted the radiator so the heat disipated just a little right so get a used radiator and fill it up to check for leaks. Like Rendon says, it may just be bad parts.
Evidently there is an oil pressure guage on this car? If it has oil pressure and not knocking in the bottom there may be hope for it.

the oil pressure dropped way down after it overheated, the oil level is full, no coolant in the oil, yet all the coolant is gone, possibly overheated, oil got super hot, thinned out or broke down, bearing overheated and a bearing or journal is destroyed, the only reason oil pressure suddenly drops like it did, is either something happened to the oil pump,or something caused an oil clearance to increase, Now I didn't say that was the only thing, if the engine was run super hot, the cam clearances could be shot, since these engines don't use cam bearings, any drop in oil pressure to the head can destroy the aluminum journals very quick, these engines also use higher oil pressure to the cam then engines with cam bearings,since the oil serves as the bearings, damage to the head will therefor cause a noticeable drop in oil pressure. The reason I said it was raced, is because you have a car coming back with no coolant and a big oil pressure drop, add the teen factor in there, and it was probably raced. not putting him down, but he probably was just being a teen and doing what naturally comes to teens when egged on. We've all been there, young and indestructible and some guys starts saying we are a pussy if we don't race him, They don't have the experience of being older

[parkersnine]

First off I appreciate all of your help. I guess here ensues the search for the best rebuild.

[lostforawhile]

First off I appreciate all of your help. I guess here ensues the search for the best rebuild.

I would look at the cam bearings first, they aren't that difficult to check, well not bearings, but you know what I mean. if they now have excessive clearance, you might be able to get away with a new head,

[parkersnine]

Several replies suggested he was racing the car. Although I was not present at the time of it's demise I doubt it . He was bringing his siblings home from school . He ignored the gauge and then the pressure dropped. Just learned" it might have been knocking too..." The car was bought and paid for by him and the total rebuild was on his dime. It was my time and a bunch of help from this forum. Thanks for the posts .

[2oodoor]

hopefully this gets squared away with the least collateral damage as possible. This could have been something as simple as a stuck thermostat or cooling fan switch so if it ran ubba hot then the cam clearance theory makes sense for the lower oil pressure as does a HG blown.

sorry for the troll bit everybody but it ticked me off the kid was getting burned for something which had nothing to do with the question or resolution of the problem.

[parkersnine]

I guess the real kicker will be to rule out bottom end knock. Guess I could fill it with water and give it a crank and let it rip . If the bottom end is not knocking then I will look into the cam bearing clearance as suggested . It should be evident pretty quickly if it's knocking right?

[parkersnine]

I started the coupe today and let it run after putting water in it . The oil on the stick is full and does not appear milky. I did the lighter on it as suggested and no snap crackle pop . The car ran cold then eventually to mid point on temp gauge. After running it about 15 min the cap and top hose and top of radiator are cold to the touch. I did hear a tinny sound in the valve cover that I have never heard before. It appears to come and go. Oil pressure at idle about 50 to 60. Can an incorrectly installed thermostat be part of the issue? It was changed recently and I did not verify with the person doing the work that it was put in properly.

[POS carb]

you can't blame the kid for this guys. It's a 25 year old engine, stuff is bound to break.

loosing coolant is a dead giveaway. It could be as simple as a head gasket or as bad as a cracked head/block
if the coolant is not dripping on the ground then it is getting into the cylinders. Something is not right. pull the spark plugs out, look for the odd one out, this is your problem cylinder.

[lostforawhile]

you can't blame the kid for this guys. It's a 25 year old engine, stuff is bound to break.

loosing coolant is a dead giveaway. It could be as simple as a head gasket or as bad as a cracked head/block
if the coolant is not dripping on the ground then it is getting into the cylinders. Something is not right. pull the spark plugs out, look for the odd one out, this is your problem cylinder.

no one is blaming him, he just rebuilt the engine, nothing should be too old, I was just making a suggestion that kids were being kids. I wasn't putting him down in any way, we have ALL been there at some point.

[parkersnine]

After several months of just sitting the head was removed this past week and is presently being checked out at the machine shop . There was obviously coolant in the oil . Any helpful hints on checking cam clearance?

[AccordB20A]

the low oil pressure would have been due to the engine being so hot the oil got really thin im betting, coolant would have got into the oil when the head gasket blew/head/block warped from the heat

[parkersnine]

Machine shop confirmed the head was warped 8 thousandths if an inch . It was shaved . I am thinking that new head bolts are a good idea. Anyone direct me to a supplier? Again the engine is 1.8 apparently from a Prelude.

[MessyHonda]

if you do a search the mazda miata ARP headstuds work on the a20 block and should be the same for the a18 if they didnt change the size

[cygnus x-1]

Machine shop confirmed the head was warped 8 thousandths if an inch . It was shaved . I am thinking that new head bolts are a good idea. Anyone direct me to a supplier? Again the engine is 1.8 apparently from a Prelude.

Unless they are visibly damaged I wouldn't bother replacing them. They aren't torque-to-yield (stretch) bolts so they are fine to reuse. New ones are like $75 a set from Hondapartdeals.com, which is not much less than the ARP studs.

C|

[parkersnine]

Guess I will not change the head bolts then. Any head reinstallation tips appreciated.Scraped off old head gasket remnants: cleaned the head bolts and washers and hand threaded each in head to make sure they went in freely. Cleaned out the water jackets today spraying brake cleaner and then sucking up the goop( antifreeze and oil mixture) with a baby's snot puller with a straw attached to the end. By the time we were done the stuff was pretty clear.The oil and water mixture in crankcase was drained. The new head gasket arrived factory direct and will hopefully go in in next day. Put the new water pump on as well.