Rolltyde

I need some advice and was hoping some of you have came across this issue. I just purchased a 1995 accord lx with the 2.2 non vtec (f22B2) to drive for work and errands to fight the explosive diesel cost per gallon. 150 bucks a full up in the duramax isn’t cutting it anymore.

the car is immaculate inside and out. Had an oil leak but hey the car is 27 years old, I’ll just fix it one day when I have time no big deal. Did the usual checks, no water in the oil, no smoke. Shifts great runs good, so I snatched it up.

now I get home and pressure wash all the grit so I can see exactly where the oil is coming from. Looks brand new under the hood. And nothing, no drips on the concrete, literally clean as a whistle. After a while of idling see white smoke coming from behind the header shield, ok let me take that off, there must be some oil still behind there. It was and I got it all clean. Now I have no smoke, no oil..I see nothing. I came back to it after running 5 or 10 minutes and boom a little green coolant comes out on top of the header and instantly evaporates, so that’s why I didn’t see any leaking behind that shield.

it has to be the outer jacket that is blown. And I’m assuming that’s best scenario for a blown gasket. So maybe that’s the only positive. But my concern is the oil, where’s it coming from. Is it possible I’m getting some from the head gasket blown or am I looking at a possible cracked head or worse cracked block. I know it’s overheated before because one of the fans is new and there is a brand new thermostat in the glove box. Also there is mild blow by when I take off the oil cap. I noticed that when I bought it, but being an old car I figured some was expected, it won’t blow the cap off if I sit it there, just make it jiggle a bit. I know I’ll have to pull the head to find out, which I’ll start tomorrow. I’m just trying to hear some of your experiences. Thanks for listening 👂

erizzle111

do you have oil in your coolant?

Rolltyde

no the oil is clean as it can be. I drove it over 100 miles home and it’s still clean. That was the first thing I looked at before I purchased it…

nicolaselias

I once had my Honda F20B2 (same head and headgasket as F22B2) headgasket fail, but with no mixing of oil and coolant. It only allowed a little compression gas into the coolant itself, so I chased this issue for months before i just decided to do the headgasket. Used fel-pro and it's been great for 11 years since

I once had a toyota (diesel) engine where the headgasket was failing, but only as far as a little coolant was weeping out of the side and running onto the block. No other indication that the headgasket was failing, no coolant and oil mixing etc etc.

These things fail in strange ways. The good news is that a new headgasket never hurt if you are mechanically inclined to potentially change it yourself

Rolltyde

Yes I am going to change it myself, just was curious if this was common on these or if it sounds more like a crack. The mystery oil is interesting. But I do know a small amount of oil can get literally everywhere driving down the road so I’ll eventually find it once I get it tore down. Under the exhaust header on the whole front of the block was covered, valve cover gasket is not leaking so seems strange to me.

Rolltyde

Well I finally got around to pulling the head. Now I need suggestions. Much to my surprise when I pulled the head the gasket was not blown. Carefully inspected the head and block and do not see any cracks. Everything looks really good. I put a straight edge in all directions on the head and block surface and with a feeler gauge I cannot get the smallest one I have anywhere under the straight edge.

the tolerance is .004 and it definitely won’t go, nor will the complete flimsy smallest one on the bundle. I forget the size but the .004 was a good bit larger than this, so I’m left with the head is not warped.

do you guys think someone replaced the gasket and didn’t t torque it properly? Keep in mind only the outer jacket was leaking. No water in the oil with the slightest amount of oil in the coolant. Maybe they reused the factory studs?

now that I don’t see the issue makes me wonder if I should just get new studs and pop it back together. What do you guys recommend?

nicolaselias

If you got that far, for $30 it makes sense to change the headgasket anyway.

If you really want, you can get a machine shop to check the head but you seem mechanically capable, so i would give it a new headgasket, torque it to spec (try to get the honda specs and torquing order)

Fel-pro gasket was good for me when I used it.

Rolltyde

well I actually did get all new gaskets for everything and studs in preparation to find a blown head gasket.
Changing the gasket is not the question. When I see what’s wrong I’m confident in fixing it. When I can’t see the issue raises concern of it still leaking once I put it back together. I guess it would be best to take it to a machine shop incase it’s something I can’t see. Any idea what a re-surface and test cost these days? Do I need to remove the cam and valves before taking it?

nicolaselias

Unfortunately I can't give an answer of the machine shop costs in the US since I haven't done any sort of work like that. I usually do that sort of thing in the Caribbean where labour is cheaper but parts cost more. Pick your poison right?

Usually a good machine shop will pressure test the head for leaks, but also use a laser level to determine if the head face is perfectly smooth, and if not, will shave/level the head.

Re sending with cam and valves in place, you can, but if they machine it in place, i wouldnt want any of that metallic stuff going up through open valves and potentially creating some mayhem.

If it is just to check the flatness of the head surely that can be done with the cam etc in place.

Rolltyde

Thanks all that have responded. I got around to dropping off the head and it did need resurfaced and one valve was bent, so they refurbished the head for me. Got it on and all seems well. The valves at idle seem a bit loud but maybe that’s just me being self conscious lol (I already checked them again)

the car seems a bit under powered but I drive a duramax diesel daily before buying this as a work ride. I guess if I missed the timing by a tooth it would run a lot worse. It runs pretty good and the timing light is showing it is correct so I assume if I missed a tooth I wouldn’t be able to correct it at the dizzy…

just wanted to post a follow up for anyone looking in the future…

erizzle111

i recommend searching these threads for porous leak. You’ll be surprised. I have it. If your gut is telling you not a gasket trust it. I’m glad I did.

erizzle111

erizzle111

This thread. Go into the 98-02 accord forums and search ‘porous leak’ it’s on the first or second page