bdicustoms

if i were to take the head off of my b18c would i need to replace the studs and the head gasket?

bdicustoms

ttt

shamoo

Yes, it's highly advised that you replace the headgasket. Note that on a stock motor, you don't have head studs, you have head BOLTS. OEM Honda head bolts aren't really made to be used again due to them stretching slightly.

You will want to get a new set or go with aftermarket head STUDS. With head studs, you are able to reuse them a couple of times. I've had good experience with ARP head studs.

Definitely get a new head gasket though. Why are you taking the head off anyway?

bdicustoms

its acually my buddys car and he took it to honda and they said the he has lost 90% of his compression in cylinder 2 and a randon misfire in cylinder 2 and 4. but the wierd thing is its not smoking at all. so we were goin to take the head off and see if we see anything wrong.

shamoo

How did they determine this? Did they do a compression test? Do it yourself too, just to make sure.

It's probably your rings. How many miles are on the car? Is it heavily modded? Do a compression test and get some numbers. Put a teaspoon of oil in the cylinder and do the compression test again. If the numbers get higher and return somewhat to normal, it's almost 100% your rings.

Do you have the tools required for a leakdown test? Try to narrow down all the simple stuff first before you take off the head. This way you'll know exactly what to look for.

Think about it, once you take off the head, what are you going to do? You can't really "see" a warped head, or damaged rings (most of the time) or damaged anything else. The problem could be in the block or the head or both, or not be related to any of those.

bdicustoms

there is like 70,000 miles on the car and the only mod is a k&n filter on the stock pipe, we did a compression test and they were all the same and when honda said that there was 90% leakage in the second cylinder they found that by doing a leak down test and i dont have the tools to do one. i dont know if im doing the compression test right, just take the plugs out, thread the compression tester in and crand the car over? is this right? if it was the rings wouldnt it smoke like crazy and go through oil?

shamoo

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bdicustoms &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i dont know if im doing the compression test right, just take the plugs out, thread the compression tester in and crand the car over? is this right? if it was the rings wouldnt it smoke like crazy and go through oil? </TD></TR></TABLE>

You have to take just one of the plugs out (the one cylinder you're testing). Remove the ECU fuse or injector fuse so that the motor won't actually start.

You want to crank it with the throttle all the way open for a few turns. Maybe 5 seconds or so. Then read what number comes up.

It might smoke like crazy, but usually when the rings are TOTALLY shot. If they're a little bad, you will lose a little oil, and smoke just a little on WOT.

EDIT: You said you did a compression test, and the numbers were all the same. What exactly is that number? If Honda got such a drastic reading from a leakdown test, you should have gotten something similar with a compression test.

bdicustoms

what exactly is a leak down test? and ill do the compression test again and see what it reads. thanks