I just purchased an ls swap. The seller said it was using coolant. He threw a head gasket at it and it still used water. He pulled the head, rebuilt it and had it decked, also added arp studs. It still uses water.

I'm new to honda's and am hoping for advise. Do you think the head is cracked, cracked sleeve, or the block needs decked?

Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Lanny

 

Ether he is lying to you,or there's a hole in the block or a leak somewhere that is to small to see. Dose he have any papers that show the work that was done to the motor? If not,get your money back.

 

^ no paper work but I can tell that it's a fresh HG and seals on it.

Even if the block is bad, I got the engine, harness, and GSR tranny for pretty cheap IMO

Have you ever heard of anyone warping the block?

BTW: I bought it off of Idahomotorsports, the site in your sig. SMALL WORLD LOL

 

Leaking radiator?

 

^ wouldn't that be nice

 

u might have verry small cracks in the head. take it to be magnafluxed.but first try this.. i heard that you are suppose to re torque apr studs after 50 hr of driving or something like that , if they loosen it will act like a blown head gasket and use water. also most head gaskets blow right below the upper rad hose on the head.check for oil/water seepinng from there.

 

I will definately have the head magged. I'm also going to check torque on the bolts before pulling them. Thank you everyone for the advise. My first experience on the site shows that this is a helping community.

 

Haha right. I couldnt tell by your post if it was using coolant in his car and you hadn't yet installed it in your car; that's why I mentioned leaking radiator. Couldnt tell if you had it in your car and it was using coolant. Nice dream though. Hope you get it fixed.

 

went to pull the head tonight but crank pulley bolt OWNS me

 

crank bolt is CAKE with the tool that holds the pulley.

UPDATE

I pulled the head and can't see anything wrong. All of the pistons look the same. The exhaust valves on cylinders 2 & 3 are a little lighter colored. All the plugs look the same. I can't see any coolant tracks on the head gasket. I've straight edged both the block and head and it looks perfect. Pulled the pan and oil looked as clean as new with no signs of coolant.

What might I be missing? What are known weak spots in these engines?

BTW: it had stock head bolts accept for the 2 center ones were studs and seemed "TIGHTER" during removal. The head gasket was a thin 2 layer steel head gasket.

Please point me in a direction so I can start getting this swap together.

 

bump, anyone?

 

If he had it in his car running maybe he had the bad radiator or a pin hole on in one of the hoses.
Arp head studs use 80ft/lb which is a lot more then oem head bolts. Possibly he tq the center ones down to much. Have the head fluxed and decked if it checks out clean. Use a new oem gasket and arp studs.

 

Anything small could evaporate before leaving a puddle that's noticeable, right? Could be radiator, hose, heater core in cab, IAC, TB, oil cooler, water pump. Any could be allowing small amounts to escape right after you turn it off - when the engine heat gives a little spike in temp/pressure.

Use a good light, and your nose. You can often detect a sweet smell when coolant is leaking. See if you can spot anything in those places.

?

Mark

 

took head to machine shop today to have it checked for cracks. He found what I had been overlooking. A dowel pin was bent causing the gasket to line up poorly.

Had head resurfaced a very small amount and bought $3.70 pair of dowel pins.

NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF

 

oops sorry. just saw you solved it. nice!