ef9thumper

So I have a 98 civic ex 4 door automatic it has a d15b block and I would guess a d16y8 or d16y5 head cause the of what the code on the head is... it has the standard d16y8 computer in the car... so anyways I found out from the mechanic that the head gasket is blowen he said that he don't want to waste his time changing it out cause of the fact that the engine is what it is and he sounded like he was confused or something idk what the case is but of course he said that he would rather order a new d16y8 engine for it and drop it in... if I was to go that route I'd just buy a integra gsr engine and drop it in my self... (witch I can't afford to do right now) I can however afford to change the head gasket so my question is... should I? Or is the mechanic actually being honest and telling me that it might not be worth it or is he just trying to make money? Like all mechanics are tought to do? The engine cranks over and sounds like it wants to start it has good compression, spark and gas theirs nothing else wrong with it as far as I know from what I did on my own... (in laws have a way of saying hey do this cause I'm going to force you to do it anyways even though I know that you know about working on cars enough your self to get by) so that's the only reason why It was sent to this mechanic in the first place anyways can anyone help anyone got an answer if I should do it or do u think I should just wait till I'm ready to drop a gsr engine in it?

fcm

If you have good compression, it is unlikely the HG is blown.

Have you checked timing, both mechanical and electrical?

How did you determine you have spark and fuel? 94

ef9thumper

The mechanic I sent it to said so but he also said that the head gasket was blown...

ef9thumper

Friend of mine tested spark the old fashioned way well I turned the key he said it was getting spark... as for fuel I took off the line going to the fuel rail turns on the key saw gas spraying everywhere and that was that...

ef9thumper

Only thing I haven't been able to do is check timing with the timing light cause the car still has to be running first to know that as far as I know and right now it won't start it gets to where it sounds like it's right there and almost started but it just won't stay on... sorry about the multiple replys I have to go back and look at the questions to remember what I needed to answer

ef9thumper

Yep blown head gasket...

fcm

Well hell, how the hell did that show good compression????? 94

ef9thumper

Idk probably just a mechanic that wanted to just charge me too much... I'm just going to buy a engine from pick a part and drop it in

mk378

I just see an engine with a bunch of brown stuff spilled on it because someone didn't drain the coolant before taking the head off.

The evidence of a blown head gasket is to examine the old gasket. The blown spot(s) should be apparent.

If you could keep all this stuff about your blown head gasket in one thread, that would help.

ef9thumper

Its okay cause I found out that the block is cracked and a mechanic friend finally got here from out of town and verified that the gasket was blown and the head was cracked thank you though