shinobiu

Hi all,
I have this problem that is driving me nuts for good 2 moths now. First, some car info: 1995 Accord Coupe, VIN says it's EX trim, 2.0l engine (timing belt cover sticker says F20B3, but I don't know for sure that it's original), 5 speed manual, almost 200 000km on the clock, LPG. Friend bought it 5 moths ago, we didn't found any problems with it until day after we noticed that it starts little harder when cold. Then over time he noticed that it is starting to overheat and coolant level in the radiator is low, while plastic reservoir is always overfilling and dumping coolant when hot. We didn't found any visible leaks, and presence of the bubbles in the radiator filler neck led us to the blown head gasket. We took the thing apart, pistons had evidence of water leaking inside(perfectly clean parts of piston head), got the head machined, changed everything(valve seals, spark plug wells seals, o rings, gaskets, if it's on the head, we replaced it, also valves were lapped. Put everything back, car started without a hitch, engine was purring like a dream. Did coolant change, got air put, fans to kick in, everything. At that time, because of my stupidity, we didn't have temp gauge(I broke the sender), but my friend wanted to take the car, so I said ok, everything is fine anyways just baby it until new sender is here. 30km later, car overheated, spat the coolant into reservoir and out. When I checked the engine I found that one hose clip on rad hose wasn't seated ok and coolant was leaking out. So, off with it's head for the second time, head to the machinist, who confirmed warpage. New gasket, new t-stat (I wasn't sure if the old one was the culprit before so we played it safe), new HG, put everything back, car once again started fine, ran fine. Fast forward 2 weeks and 600km later, the car was with me(friend borrowed my E30 while I was working on accord and crashed it, so he let me use his car until fix mine) and I was little paranoid, so I was checking coolant and oil almost daily, and one day I noticed that coolant level in the reservoir rose. I've checked the rad, and indeed it was missing almost the same amount of the coolant that was now in the reservoir. I have also noticed that the water hoses(2 big ones from the rad to the engine) are very hard when the engine is worm( not usual pressure, but too hard). Also, the heating seems to be weaker. Car still starts ok and I haven't noticed lacking power, but there are again bubbles in radiator when the car is warm. Interesting thing, I don't see the bubbles until t-stat opens, or there just isn't as many of them until it's open. Oh, yes, new timing belts and water pump we're also installed. So now I'm really confused, what could cause the head to warp/HG to fail twice? And if the first time overheating because of the stuck t-stat was the cause, then what could be wrong now? Especially if everything was perfect for 600km. I apologize for long post, I am trying to give as much info as possible in hope that you can help with this problem.

Edit: Ok, as from this morning the car is starting little harder and when it starts it stutters a little, like it has cylinder misfire. If I rev it a little it will come to it senses. Also, there is some white smoke from the tailpipe, not sure if it's because of the colder weather or burning coolant, tho. I'm going to monitor and try to estimate how much coolant loss I have.

tamboo

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...783&cc=1167319

shinobiu

So you think it's HG again? TBH I was hoping that it's that simple,and in the end I will need to replace it anyways, but I'm still worried that there is something wrong that is causing all this. My friend is on a tight budget and I really need to be sure that I wont be pulling the head again in the month so I just want to eliminate every other possibility. Oh, and is there difference between f20 and f22 HG?