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once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

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Old 05-05-2010, 02:16 PM
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Default once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

i got a d16z6 no idea of the mileage as it was swapped in replacing a blown z6 (previous owner did it) and i got white smoke
comin from the exhaust, according to friends its a little puff that just sits there at idle, then when i takr off, driving normal
or haulin *** it comes out like somethins on fire lol. soo by searching i see thats a hg. how long do i have to change the
hg before it'l blow on me? would it matter if i didnt beat on it too and hept the r's low? thanks!!

btw i have searched and read that it needs changed immediately but i cant afford it right now and cant do it myself so
i just wanna kno around how much time do i have?
Old 05-05-2010, 02:39 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

technically, you could continue to refill the coolant to prevent the warpage from overheating,

with a blown hg idk what else would be affected (premature wear on rings or seals?)

but i see this thread as your going to try to "ride" it out. changing a headgasket and getting the head milled yourself can cost under 200$
Old 05-05-2010, 02:39 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Not much. Chances are somethings already been f'd in the a with a big ole D.
Old 05-05-2010, 02:56 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

hope you have good friends to come pick you up. someone i knew left their car 400 miles from home because they thought the car would continue to drive fine with just adding water. they couldnt afford the tow and the HG blew completely and the plugs couldnt fire any more so they left the car. an integra GSR with tenzo rims, a nice system, dc header, KN intake and a few more goodies so some tow company scored big time. replace the HG ASAP
Old 05-05-2010, 03:01 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

funny thing is, coolant is NEVER low...so idk whats wrong then and it runs perfect except for smoke, no powerloss or nothin.,,
Old 05-05-2010, 03:12 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

if the HG is leaking then you should have coolant loss with the whits smoke. have you properly diagnossed the HG being bad? or are you just guessing? put a block tester on the radiator and run it to see if you have exhaust gasses in your coolant system. if not then you got other problems
Old 05-06-2010, 09:18 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

the engine will keep running until it blows up... after that, it won't run anymore...
Old 05-06-2010, 10:30 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by Cynical 1
the engine will keep running until it blows up... after that, it won't run anymore...
ic, never woulda guessed that myself
Old 05-06-2010, 10:31 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

i'm actually asking cuz i'm bout to trade the car for another, and i don't wanna b shady and screw this
guy over, just not my style..
Old 05-06-2010, 10:32 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

would the autozone "hg repair" stuff u put into the radiator and cycle it thru then drain ect..work? better
yet has anyone used it with good results?
Old 05-06-2010, 10:55 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by mikej94civex
would the autozone "hg repair" stuff u put into the radiator and cycle it thru then drain ect..work? better
yet has anyone used it with good results?
well i had a guy use that stuff once and it worked for a while but then it started overheating again. so he brought it in and there was more problems. coolant lines ...the smaller ones...got clogged and then we ultimately rebuilt the engine because we hot tanked the block to get that stuff out of the coolant areas of the block. so i dont know if that stuff works temporary or what. but i dont recommend it
Old 05-06-2010, 10:59 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by Wdpfreak145
Not much. Chances are somethings already been f'd in the a with a big ole D.
lawlz
Old 05-06-2010, 11:02 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by mikej94civex
would the autozone "hg repair" stuff u put into the radiator and cycle it thru then drain ect..work? better
yet has anyone used it with good results?
No. Just replace the gasket!
I wish my CRX had a D16 engine, only problem is, most junkyards around here have trashed D16s because the previous owner couldnt change the HG or forgot to put in oil.
Old 05-06-2010, 01:02 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by Juans_MX3
No. Just replace the gasket!
I wish my CRX had a D16 engine, only problem is, most junkyards around here have trashed D16s because the previous owner couldnt change the HG or forgot to put in oil.
umm..ok..

-anyways i guess i don't have a hg problem cuz i don't overheat ever...only sign i show is thick
cloud-like white smoke..
Old 05-06-2010, 01:10 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by mikej94civex
umm..ok..

-anyways i guess i don't have a hg problem cuz i don't overheat ever...only sign i show is thick
cloud-like white smoke..
Same thing here on my DD. I get lots of white smoke at high RPMs, but I never overheat and my coolant is never low. At first I thought it was my rings, but if the rings were bad it would be burning oil = black smoke.

Weirdest thing, but it doesn't seem to do anything to my motor. No power loss, no overheating, oil level stays relatively the same. I've been driving it like that for 10,000 miles. It's just kind of embarrassing.
Old 05-06-2010, 01:18 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Now that I think about it, the only thing my motor does strange is burn the transmission fluid faster than most other vehicles. So fast that I change it with every oil change. My tranny has no pops or grinds, it has nothing wrong with it as far as I can tell, just burns fluid fast. This might be why my car smokes at high RPM (I drive LOTS of freeway miles, I'm talking 40+ hours monthly). Any one know what color tranny fluid burns?
Old 05-06-2010, 01:42 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by BoldFart16
Now that I think about it, the only thing my motor does strange is burn the transmission fluid faster than most other vehicles. So fast that I change it with every oil change. My tranny has no pops or grinds, it has nothing wrong with it as far as I can tell, just burns fluid fast. This might be why my car smokes at high RPM (I drive LOTS of freeway miles, I'm talking 40+ hours monthly). Any one know what color tranny fluid burns?
u just described exactly my situation...minus the tranny fluid burn, the only burn i get is some oil burn
when i beat on the car, just dd'ing it i don't burn none it remains full or close to it...so if it's not my
rings or hg, what could it be?

*no black smoke
*no power loss
*no overheating or coolant loss, plus coolant stays green and oil stay black, nothin milky
*very little oil burn..............
Old 05-06-2010, 02:52 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

the first thing i would do it compression test and if that turn out fine then make sure it the head gasket cuz bad valve seal can make white smoke too at high rpm and when you smash on it
Old 05-06-2010, 03:06 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by mikej94civex
u just described exactly my situation...minus the tranny fluid burn, the only burn i get is some oil burn
when i beat on the car, just dd'ing it i don't burn none it remains full or close to it...so if it's not my
rings or hg, what could it be?

*no black smoke
*no power loss
*no overheating or coolant loss, plus coolant stays green and oil stay black, nothin milky
*very little oil burn..............
you and the other guy have weird issues with this tranny fluid issues. i know you say yours isnt burning...i dont think it ever would burn and smoke unless it was leaking and burning outside the trans somehere from getting on a hot surface. so if its not your oil burning then you probably have an oil leak somewhere that you dont catch while inspecting for leaks. rear main or crank or cam seals possibly leaking slightly. the oil pan is a good place to also pay attention to. i cant see the oil vanishing from no leaks or burning.
Old 05-06-2010, 03:56 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

oil DOES burn just no alot, a qt or 2 between changes...and i already kno the valve seals r bad...
Old 05-06-2010, 05:41 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Originally Posted by mikej94civex
would the autozone "hg repair" stuff u put into the radiator and cycle it thru then drain ect..work? better
yet has anyone used it with good results?
DO YOU MEEN THE sixty dollar bottle that is garrenteed to work or you get your money back ?

LOL
Old 05-06-2010, 05:44 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

do a radiator pressure test. its not only testing the radiator its also testing for leaks in the entire cooling system including the head gasket. do a compression test to. go rent them from autozone they come with simple instructions
Old 05-06-2010, 09:00 PM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

Oil doesn't burn black. It burns blue. If you have a white or blue-ish white smoke it's oil or coolant or both. Is it only at high rpm's?

And you say:
NO overheating
Not above regular oil loss
NO coolant loss
NO milky residue on the dipstick, no foam in the radiator?
Old 05-07-2010, 01:35 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

changing a hg for me cost only about 50 bux....... just do it
Old 05-07-2010, 05:14 AM
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Default Re: once a headgasket goes, roughly how long till the engine will go?

ive also read that this can happen from the brake booster line creating vacuum and forcing brake fluid into the throttle body? i really dont know tho...my 94 d15 does this, mad white smoke...


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