GSRCRXsi

hey everyone, well ive been having some headgasket issues on my recent build and hopefully someone can offer some help.

facts:

head SHOULD be flat. was surfaced by portflow
block SHOULD be flat, was decked by a machine shop.
oil IS comming from the headgasket, not the distributor or vtec solenoid.

replaced the headgasket today and its still leaking. the place its leaking from is here: right at the front left (looking at the engine) corner under the VTEC solenoid. no oil above the gasket, just at the headgasket, so its not the dist, or solenoid.

here:


now if by the offchance the deck wasnt completely flat and that was the cause, id believe it, but wouldnt it be leaking UNDER the gasket? the oil is seeping out the top, leading me to believe the problem is on the head side, but i cant see it being not flat if portflow took care of it.

head studs were loosened in sequence (reverse) in steps to avoid warping, and it was also torqued in sequence to 65 (ARP)

anyone have a similar issue? ever find the cause? any help, as always, is greatly appreciated. even more so now since it takes me about 5 hours each time i do this and about 100 for the cometic gasket. i really dont want to do this again.

Combustion Contraption

1. Is it a VTEC block?

2. What lubricant did you use on the the threads of the ARP studs?

3. Did you install the headgasket upside down?

95dcsleeper

did you check the block or head with a straight edge?

unknown0001

I have the same issue...going to fix it finally this week hopefully

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1672823

bluemax189

you checked the cam seal for the exhaust cam yet?

Phatch99

try using some copper spray on you cometic...... thats what i did n it seemed to help stop the leak.

JDMlyfestyle

Friend had the same problem with cometic. he changed the cometic again and had the head decked and it leaked again.

Went to advanced auto and bought a Felpro headgasket and the leak went away

Ruben19

my spoon started to leak last week but is not leaking anymore.
alot of people have the same problem. dont know why?

GSRCRXsi

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Combustion Contraption &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">1. Is it a VTEC block?

2. What lubricant did you use on the the threads of the ARP studs?

3. Did you install the headgasket upside down?</TD></TR></TABLE>
1. umm yea....
2. arp moly lube
3. no

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bluemax189 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you checked the cam seal for the exhaust cam yet?</TD></TR></TABLE>
its not anything above the head gasket. if it was there would be an oil trail on the head, and there is not

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Phatch99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">try using some copper spray on you cometic...... thats what i did n it seemed to help stop the leak. </TD></TR></TABLE>
since i JUST installed this gasket, would i be ok to take it off, apply copper sealant, and re-use it? reason being its a custom gasket, and takes a while to get a new one and is expensive

daidilus

clean engine bay man, i used ARP heads studs and had the same problem on one motor put together, i think i ended up torqueing to 75 and it was fine, sometimes the dowels are outta round and do not allow proper seating of the head...

GSRCRXsi

75.... and i thought overtoqueing them to 67 was iffy, lol. arp only says to torque to 65 for alluminum heads. can i safely overtorque? something in me says i shouldnt.

daidilus

i musta got some faulty intructions.....but the ones i got where like 75 if you use the ARP lube, and 85 with regular lube...the both engines i put together had some leaks till i torqued em more

TypeSiR

have you check your valve cover gasket?

b16nonoy

could be that your head is warped...get it resurfaced..

GSRCRXsi

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by daidilus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i musta got some faulty intructions.....but the ones i got where like 75 if you use the ARP lube, and 85 with regular lube...the both engines i put together had some leaks till i torqued em more</TD></TR></TABLE>

my instructions say torque to 70, but for alluminum heads to use 65 due to the expansion rate of aluminum (which our heads are made of)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TypeSiR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">have you check your valve cover gasket?</TD></TR></TABLE>
there would be oil on the head that i could see, unless it can somehow come out of the VC gasket yet look like its comming from the HG. like i said before, there would be a trail, and yet there is no trail down the head

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by b16nonoy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">could be that your head is warped...get it resurfaced..</TD></TR></TABLE>
possibly but highly unlikely IMO, it was resurfaced by portflow.

JDMlyfestyle

Did you Shave the dowel pins too. cause when you deck the block and the head.. you taken away surface area.. and those dowel pins might be a tad bit too tall for the motor now and keeping it up enough to leak

GSRCRXsi

dowel pins were not shaved, not that i know of anyway. only about .020" was taken off anyway, and im using a thicker headgasket to compensate. so i highly doubt thats it. because if it was, the entire front of the headgasket would be leaking not just one corner.

GSRCRXsi

son of a bitch, looks like it might not be the HG after all. i was looking around making sure there wasnt anything i was missing, like an oil trail. look around for about 5 mins and i spotted oil on the bottom of the distributor flange. looks to bee dripping off the flange right onto the HG making it look like its comming right out of the HG, this also explains why theres no trail since its just dripping and not flowing down the head.

i feel dumb now, lol. but in a sense relieved that i dont have to take it apart again.

96dxB16

toldyaso.

SuperTwinz

If the head was milled or resurfaced, you gotta grind down the dowel pins too. Even if you run a thinner head gasket.

GSRCRXsi

im not running a thinner HG, im running a THICKER HG, lol. even if thats what you meant to say i cant see how having a thicker HG wouldnt make up for the amount shaved off. the gasket is steel.

GSRCRXsi

replaced the dist gasket, and pulled the vtec solenoid to check it. low and behold its gasket was fubar too. i had replaced when building the motor, figured it would be nice ins, but i noticed the gasket wasnt exactly right, i guess the vtec solenoid wasnt from the gsr head. so i grabbed the old gasket (which i still had for some reason) and put a small layer of silicone sealer around the outside of the gsket for a little extra help.

should be all gravy now, im gonna give it a few hours to cure then ill start it up and see if she leaks