Paul Peterson

Working on a 97 CRV that was overheated. Had the head machined and valve job. Put it back together and it started and runs great except:

After driving for a few mins, and turning it off. When you go to restart it, it acts like it is flooded, and produces big white cloud.
I assume coolant is getting in to the cylinders, and combustion air is getting in the cooling system and pressurizing the radiator, causing it to leak profusely at that point.

Let it cool off, refill radiator and it starts and runs fine. Let it idle, to norm temp (fan going on twice), and it seems fine, no leaking.
Drive it, and above problem repeats.

This is pretty much the same problem it had before I did the head job.

Do the attached pictures look like a crack?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Later,
Paul

pogeeboy27

iTrader: (3)

I don't see any cracks in the sleeves. Did you use a new head gasket? Was the deck of the block resurfaced also? If not then it is possible the deck would need to be resurfaced.

Paul Peterson

So that doesn't look like a crack to you? Interesting, I got no idea, never seen one.
Yes, I used a new head gasket, and attempted to check the flatness of the block, and it seemed OK.
So no, it was not resurfaced.

I'm not really equipped to remove and transport the block to a machine shop.
And the need to do that might tip the balance for me to just junk the car.

Might knowledgeable examination of the initial head gasket, and the new one that was only in there for a week, be diagnostics?

I could post pictures.
Thanks for the reply.

Later,
Paul

TomCat39

Is that vertical scoring in the cylinder?

And the part you think is a crack, can you catch your fingernail on it?

I'm assuming you are talking about the horizontal line that is sitting above the vertical what looks like scoring or an acid etch sort of thing.

Paul Peterson

I thought both the horizontal and vertical look suspicious.
But no, you can't feel the horizontal line with a fingernail, or the corner tip of a razor blade.
The vertical marks have texture, like a corrosion.

Does that give any more of a glue?

Thanks for the reply.
Later,
Paul

Ronjon98

That definitely looks like a small crack I had the same issue you can see where it's leaking down

TomCat39

Unfortunately, the only way to know if it is a crack is a magneflux dye test but once again, that would be taking the block to a machine shop.

The behavior could either be crack or a problem with flatness (block or head). To test for flatness you need a precision straight edge. They are usually about 100 bucks as they are precision machined (ground) to have a very flat edge for checking decks and heads with a feeler gauge.

If you did not do this kind of testing you could have a warped block and it would give you head gasket issues even with a new gasket.