Vtec95619

Hello Everyone Im New To The Honda World, My Name Is Joel From San Diego. i Drive a 1995 Civic EX d16yz

While I Was Doing A Compression Test With My Dad, In Cylinder #2 Coolant Squirted Out. We Removed The Valve Cover Gasket And To Are Surprise There Was NO Coolant In The Oil.

Prior To Checking The Compression, The Car Ran Fine, At Times It Had Trouble Starting But After That It Started and Ran Very Good. But At Times Below 3K RPM's It would run a little sluggish, Other Then That The Car Ran Very Good.

So My Main question Is Can it Just be a Head Gasket? Also if it was Just A Head Gasket, Do You Have To Rebuild The Head, Prior To Changing The Head Gasket? Also Can You Reuse The Studs Or Do You Need To Buy New Ones?

Any Thoughts Or Suggestions Would Be Gladly Appreciated.


P.S If Any One Has Any Links To Step By Step 95 CIVIC ex Head Removal That Would Also be Greatly Appreciated.

Former User

After you pull the head, you need to check for warpage and, if warped, it has to be milled flat by a shop, assuming the warpage is not severe. Besides replacing the gasket, also replace the head bolts and torque them precisely as recommended in the service manual.

Wdpfreak145

Welcome to the gonda world. Sorry to hear under such unfortunate circumstances.

See this thread for more information. I offered my advice on the thread and you can follow it or follow the advice of others. It's there to make of it what you want.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/what-replace-before-reinstalling-head-2771907/

Former User

That discussion got a bit heated.

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

yeah its funny how we can all disagree about simple stuff LOL like head bolts being replaced and doing head gaskets without machining or at least a visit to the machine shop to have it checked LOL

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

well heres my opinion. i am a bit **** about this stuff so i dont chance nothing. firs we can safely assume you have a head gasket issue with coolant in the cylinders and the hard starts. if not the HG then its a crack in the block. relax though because its probably just the HG. so either wa the block tester wont tell you any different. pull the head and take it to a good machine shop. the above posted diagram for checking for warpage in the head is good. however you probably dont have a precise straight edge that is capable of accurately checking the warpage. i used to have one and it was quite expensive. i gave it to the machine shop and decided to let them deal with it since now every head i do goes to the machine shop. i have them do a complete valve job that includes resurfacing (if needed). i also have them replace the valve guides with new ones instead of them refurbishing the old ones. i just trust new stuff like these parts. also buy new head bolts and but a honda head gasket and timing belt. i recommend replacing the water pump too at this point. along with the cam seals and crank seal and the timing belt tensioner. and the thermostat and fan switch. spark plugs and ignition wires and honda dealer dist. cap and rotor. also but a valve cover gasket set (fel-pro). and the coolant (prestone 50/50 is okay) and castrol high mileage conventional oil, castrol synthetic blend, of castrol full synthetic. for the oil filter, the honda dealer one or the bosch would be fine. i dont recommend fram or stp. dont forget to bleed the coolant system, check the radiator for leaks or clogging, and replace the radiator cap. if you just got this car or havent done so in a while, replace the coolant lines to and the upper and lower radiator hoses. all this little stuff will go along way with your cars reliability. good luck. and remember this is what i would do. you may do less than this if you wish

Vtec95619

Well me and my dad took off the head in about an hour, Fairly easy, Haynes manual helps to lol. And to are surprise the head gasket looked brand new, No cracked nor was it broken. Also as we inspected the head, to are surprise we did not see any chips or cracks. Everything looks good. even the block looked good. My dad came to the conclusion that the previous owner did a head job himself, But Most likely did not torque it to the right specifications Or Used the same head bolts and did not buy new ones. Becuase the belts, Water pump Looked brand new and So Did the head. Like when it comes out of a machine shop.

Any Suggestions or ideas other then my dads, Why the head gasket and head were in good shape?


None the less to make sure, i will be taking the head to a machine shop later today.

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

i would take the head to the machine shop and ask them to verify if its still good. they shouldnt charge much if anything. if so then maybe your last owner did the job himself and didnt torque the head properly. then use a dealer head gasket (its worth the extra money) and use new head bolts. if the last guy replaced the valve cover gasket set it should be okay to re-use it. be sure to put a dab of RTV in the corners near the cam cap bridges on the valve cover gasket seat on the head.

Vtec95619

do i put rtv were the block and head connect?

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

you could but most wont. i dont myself. just in those corners where the asket goes over the cam caps. those areas often leak if you dont

Vtec95619

Can not torquing it right or reusing old bolts, cause the car to leak antifreeze in the cylinders? Like the problem i'm having?

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

yes. but also there is another issue with SOME B16, B17, and cadillac northstar engines....what engine do you have again? i hope you dont have one of these though because you might have bigger issues. i just remembered about them and their issues

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

i hope you still have that D16

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

i always replace the head bolts. i take no chances. i also use a snap on torque wrench because i trust its calibration. i also have it inspected every 4 or 5 months by my snap on dealer. (when i worked for mercedes i had to have it inspected every 2 weeks, so i have 2 snap on torque wrenches) also if youre using a needle type torque wrench just buy a descent torque wrench.

Vtec95619

its a d16z6 motor

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

yeah i seen the post after LOL your okay. but still you should replace the head bolts, and torque them down correctly like the manual says

Vtec95619

Ok guys it was warped a little in the middle, the machine shop dude used wierd words lol. but that was my proplem, and explains coolant leaking for cylinder 2.

Anyways one last quistion, Are They head Bolts To tighten the head to the block or head studs?

Vtec95619

anyone?

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

head bolts. head studs are usually ARP studs people put on for slightly easier head removal. they dont have to remove cams to make way for the head bolt to come out. they only need to have about 5/8-inch of clearance for the nut to be removed