truesleeper

I was driving home not under any boost at abput 2500 rpm and my car started sputtering and then the steering wheel got stiff and i realized the car stalled. I pulled over and popped the hood and there was a strange smell and some steem or smoke and i looked around and couldnt see anything wrong so i asked my cuzin to start it up and it took a couple turnes and started but wouldnt idle and my wideband read richer than 10. I looked and there was exhaust smoke coming from behind the block under the intake manifold so i told him to shut it off. Then i started it and it idled fine so i drove it the rest of the way up the road to my house which was a minute away and right befor i got to my driveway it shut off again so i whent to start it up and it started blowing thick white smoke from the exhaust but a little from under the hood (was very cold could have been steem). I popped the hood and noticed some thin fluid under the turbo manifold on the block and all along the edges of where the head meets the block on the timing belt side. Ive only been boosted at 8 psi for 2 weeks, the engine wasnt overheating. Im pretty sure its the head gasket because of the xhaust from the engine bay and the oil residue. Am i right?


Modified by truesleeper at 3:20 PM 11/14/2004

SOHC_MShue

what is your coolant overflow tank doing? Has the level raised up all the way to the top? Or it could have already shot out the top of the tank and emptied it.

truesleeper

last time i checked it was almost empty or empty, i am not home right now cuz i dont have a comp there but i looked at it and there was not much in ther eif anything....but since i put the turbo in it has never even come close to overheating not even to the halfway mark.

turboEGhatch

Pull the rad cap off and start the car. Bubbles = blown HG.

SOHC_MShue

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by truesleeper &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">last time i checked it was almost empty or empty, i am not home right now cuz i dont have a comp there but i looked at it and there was not much in ther eif anything....but since i put the turbo in it has never even come close to overheating not even to the halfway mark.</TD></TR></TABLE>

it could have already sprayed out the top. Do you see white markes all around your engine bay from coolant?

truesleeper

pulled the cap of and started the car and didnt see any bubbles. I let it idle and then reved and still no bubbles,but it takes a little of driving before it starts to run bad. It seems like when it sits it seals and then once i drive its bad again.Should it bubble all the time or just after it starts smoking.

SOHC_MShue

it should start bubbling once the car gets all warmed up.

truesleeper

So what your saying is if it starts to bubble after the car has warmed up then that would mean a blown head gasket? Im just trying to narrow it down so i know what im dealing with. I checked the dipstick and im low on oil just below the first hole, but the oil looks very clean, coolant is not discolored, but i smell exhaust and unburnt gas strong from the engine bay. Plugs are dry and black, except for the plug in the cilynder closest to the timing belt which is a little wet, this is also the side where there is oil seeping around the gasket.

truesleeper

Does any one have anything else...i really need to figure this out so cuz i have a break from classes soon and i want to get this done.

truesleeper

If More info is needed let me know i cant figure this out.

truesleeper

Bump because i have no car and no one has a clue, and my head hurts.

asubennett

Have you done a compresion test or leak down test. That will tell you what's going on. Is the motor sleeved?

truesleeper

Thank you! For posting some input. I have not done a leak down or compression. With a blown gasket my compression numbers could come out ok but a leak down would tell me exactly what was going on right? I think ill do both anyway. The block is not sleeved its running stock internals. Its an f22b1.
P.S. How hard or how long does it take to remove the head off the f22, is it a pain in the ***? Ive rebuilt motorcycles but not cars.


Modified by truesleeper at 12:25 PM 11/15/2004

asubennett

Just slide the timing belt off. Remove the cam caps, cams, and bam your right there at the head bolts. You can take the head off with the intake mani and that will make things a little easier.

Yeah the leakdown will tell you. You can also run your car with the radiator cap off and if it starts bubbling over then you know it is the headgasket. If it is fine it will just pour over the top rather than pop over the top.

truesleeper

Thanx alot man. The thing is that when the motor cools down it will start and idle fine and then ill drive it around and it will stall out then if i try and start it right away it will be hard to start and ill have to give it gass and it will start smokin, if i let it cool enough to take the radiator cap off it will run fine and not bubble? And another thing is my wideband will read normal when i just start up the car and as i drive it will start to read richer and richer till it just says "10&gt;" and thats when it boggs and stalls and sounds like a lawnmower.... confusing.

asubennett

Hmmm.. THat is confusing. I am still leading towards a headgasket. They can be deceptive. I bet once the car heats up it is lifting just enough to stall the car out. Perhaps your wide band is getting confused by the moisture caused by water in the exhaust from the head gasket leak.

truesleeper

Aright that would make sence so, best thing to do would be get comp and leakdown, see what story that tells, then prolly pop the head off n see whats up. So i can have a blown gasket even if the oil is clean and the collant is clean too? Thanxs alot appreciate it.

asubennett

Yeah a head gasket can leak and compression numbers might be perfect. It could literally have a pin hole leak but that is still enough under load for things to get pushed into your cylinder and burn off.

truesleeper

Cool i hope its the head gasket and not something serious which i dont think it is for the reason of it driving fine untill hot. Just got a OEM gasket and ARP studs so i think that will solve my head gasket problems if thats what is going on. I will also take the head to a machine shop and have them check for warpage and machine it flat if warped. Anything else that might have caused the gasket to go besides 13 psi once in a while?

asubennett

The ARP bolt might not have seeted tight against the nut. So when you torqued it you actually read the torque against the nut rather than the head.

truesleeper

lol no no i mean i got those to replace the stock one's when i remove everything. So im pretty sure if its a gasket problem that will fix it. Thanx again

truesleeper

Aright so i figured id update jsut so this thread isnt hanging. I did a leak down which turned out fine and did a compression but there was something wrong with the tester so instead of holding pressure it would go up to a number and then go right back to zero quickly on every crank and it did this on every cilynder to about the same number but was hard to tell. So i decided what the hell ill just take the head off, took it off and couldnt see anything visually wrong with the headgasket or anything else, but also not sure what to look for besides the obvious. I tookt he head to a machine shop, checked for warpage, it was fine no warpage but it is there now getting remachined flat and cleaned just incase. The only things i could see where some spots on the head and block where the gasket was that had some deposits on them compared to the other surfaces that where clean, these spots where very close to where i saw the seeping. Also took the oil pan out and saw some milky residue verylittle at the bottom of pan and a few coolant puddles very small...however this was after i took the head off so some might have spilt down. Pistons looked all similar. So i get the head back by the weekend anything else i should look at or check while the head is off? Tried to get the injectors flow tested by my honda dealership but they "never heard of that" Oh well.

truesleeper

I swapped the head gasket this weekend w/ ARP studs and an OEM gasket w/copper spray also machined the head flat. So far the car runs great and doesn't have the problem anymore. It does have a high idle about 1,000-1500 but its set at 700 in uberdata, does anyone know what this could be or how to correct it?

SOHC_MShue

check all your vacuum lines. Maybe you have a leak in there. What does your boost/vac gauge read at idle?

truesleeper

Yeah thats what i was thinking i only had a quick second to look them over befor i had to get back up to school, i will get a better look at erything tomorro and post again.