Hey Honda-Tech! Firstly I wanted to thank you guys for helping me with the last problem in a very fast manner..now onto my problem, I own a 1994 Acura Integra B18B non-vtec with about 164k miles. I recently changed the head gasket due to mixing of the oil and coolant. After I changed the head gasket, the car ran excellent for about 4 days and then suddenly on the highway i noticed a loss of power, decrease in gas mileage and puffs of white smoke coming out of the tail pipe. When I replaced the head gasket, I took a straight edge and held it against the head to make sure it was straight. I don't know if that was correct to do but my guess is that the head was warped and I messed up the new head gasket. Does anyone think the cylinder sleeves could have moved due to the high mileage of the engine or do you think the head was warped? The car ran fine for a few days, why do you guys think so? Shouldn't it have act up the day of or the day after? The engine does have high mileage, so do you think I should just send the head out to get planed and have the valves reseated or do you guys think it's time for a new engine? What do you guys recommend? Thanks in advance!

 

thats a very good ? when you did the head gasket did you make sure everything was tighten to spec? did you also check to see if anything in the head was loose or damage? i have a little bit of that white/black smoke and a friend told me it seems like the piston rings are fried but idk the car still runs hard and tough... im not trying to scare you but losing power isn't good at all so take off the valve cover and check the springs and vavles if everything is fine i would take the head to a machine shop and have them take a look at it

 

your straight edge wasnt accurate most likely. use a machinists straight edge. these are high dollar tools usually and not what the average mechanic has in his tool box. they are even packed in foam padded blow molded boxes for the better ones.
next, what kinda torque wrench did you use? and more inportantly, was it calibrated correctly? if it has been dropped or banged around it could be inaccurate.
were the head bolts stretched? i replace them all the time when doing head gaskets.
have a machine shop do a complete valve job any time you do a head gasket. also, replace the valve guides. honda valve guides wear faster than others and so i replace them every time on hondas when doing the head gasket

 

It could be a few things. White smoke in the exhaust indicates a leak in coolant, headgasket, cylinder, etc. The head may be warped, you may have a bad valve. I'd start with doing a compression check. You can check your rings by first doing a prelim comp check then squirting a little bit of oil into the cylinders then rechecking. If it goes up quite a bit, then it's rings. But, it doesn't sound like it is. Bad rings would typically cause a black smoke because of the buring oil.

What brand head gasket did you use when you replaced your old one? Also, when check to see if the head was square, how did you measure?

The possibilty of the sleeves shifting with 164k is possible, but not too likely if the motor is taken care of. My guess, and it's just a guess at this poing without more info, would be a warped or cracked head. Or just another bad head gasket.

 

also use a honda head gasket. i get mine from the dealers when i do head gaskets. i do like 1 a week here but i only use dealer head gaskets and timing belts as well as a few other parts. avidyn brought up a good point about the brand of head gaskets

 

Forgot to answer one of your questions. If the head was warped, it may not have shown up with a household straight edge as Rick stated. Also, the reason it may not have happened right away, could be due to heat cycling. Your head and block shrink and stretch everytime the car is driven and then let cool. It could have just been time before it shrank or stretched enough to warp, crack, or blow another gasket.

 

as the posts above, torque the head bolts to spec and make sure to follow the tightening sequence. i highly doubt that your sleeves have moved.

if your pulling the head off soon, try to get a real straight edge and go across the block and head in the middle, diagonally, and on the intake and exhaust ports. use feeler gauges to make sure that there is no gap, the service limit for the head warping is .002" and your most likely not going to see that with just your eye. service limit for the block is .004".

while the head is off, turn the motor over and inspect the cylinder walls very carefully. if the problem took 4 days to show up again, most likely you dont have a cracked cylinder, but you never know.

 

ricksautomotive is right about getting certain parts from honda.... becareful buying head gaskets from ebay just always remember.... going the cheap route most of the time is more expensive and time consuming then going the expensive route in the first place!!!

 

THATS WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT!!! LOL