Well i was boosted for about 5 months with a little t3 tuned with uberdata with great results. My motor consists of a a6 block and z6 head with eagle rods, srp pistons, total seal rings, and some arp headstuds. Last week Adam AKA bailhatch fabbed up my new downpipe and wastegate to put on my t3/to4e to run 12psi.

Everything was running great until friday night when we were out doing some pulls just touching up the tuning. We were sitting in a parking lot and noticed we werent getting any heat. The car never overheated nor did it puff white smoke AT ALL. Thought maybe the thermostat was sticking open. So i decided to check it out. Well i got home and popped my hood and noticed there was barely any antifreeze in the radiator and the overflow tank was full and i could see where it had been flowing out of the tank. I decided it was time to pull the head.

When i got the head off yesterday and there were two spots on the headgasket that appeared to show where the headgasket had blown. When i got it all back together and started filling the radiator with antifreeze i noticed some copper spray coming up through my radiator, obviously a sign of a blown headgasket i would think. Everything is running fine now, i torqued the head studs to 70fts this time instead of 65 to see if that would help. Im going to run it like a grandma for a close to a week and then retorque the studs and then see if it goes again.

I have read all of the posts about this d16 headgasket problem but has anyone came up with a conclusion on why this happens? I know there are a couple opinions on why this happens but someone has to know for sure. There are a couple people with sleeved blocks that has this still happen. I really dont want to go on the assumption that it is the sleeves and then have it still happen after i have it sleeved. What is everyone running for timing? I was running 18 at full boost, Adam is going to lower it down to 15 to see if that solves it. I would like to hear your opinions

 

TTT

 

i've already blown 3 headgaskets on my d16y8...the last 2 i was even using arp headstuds and on the last one i had gotten my head resurfaced. I would check to make sure your head and block surfaces are straight the next time it happens.

 

I had the block and head decked before i put the engine in. Everything was fine. Out of all the people that build honda engines someone has to know what causes this. Everyone has a theory but something has to be causing it.

 

hmm...i dunno man. It seems like most of the guys with aftermarket sleeves don't have this problem though..

 

Key word being MOST. Granted the number of people with sleeved blocks that have this problem are lower but the number of people with sleeved blocks is also lower. I dont want to sleeve the block in hopes it will solve my problem to find out that wasnt the cause. There has to be a single cause as to why this happens to so many people. I find it hard to believe that every person with a d16 that has a blown headgasket has a different problem. They seem to all be related from what ive read.

 

Like i said i ran a t3 for a while with no problems with pretty much the same timing with no problems at all. Whats the chances that the timing combined with the added flow from the t3/t4 made too much cylinder pressure for the motor to handle? That seems to be the only logical explanation i can come up with.

 

what is your total timing at 12psi?

 

18 degrees @12 psi

 

I had a problem some what like this with my B series..I was running 18 degrees of timing at 12 psi and it would pop head gaskets left and right..I upped the timing a few degrees and have not popped a gasket sense..Iam not sure if the D series is the same but it would make sense..

 

what are you running now?

 

well first things first..smaller bores dont need as much timing..so dont base my number on what you should or shouldnt run..but Iam at 22.00 degrees at 12.1 psi right now and from 18 degrees to 22 degrees at that boost setting the car feels so much better and pulls something mean!!!

but like I said..smaller bores dont need as much timing..but if your distributer is not sync'ed with your timing map that could also have a roll in your head gasket issues..if your map is at 18 deg at 12 psi but the dissy is off by 2 degrees retard then you could be making the exhaust valves glow and pre ignite the fuel which can and will lift the head and possibly cause a gasket to blow..

 

UP

 

Anyone else?

 

i have been boosting 9 psi daily for 1 year now
on a OEM headgasket with re-used head bolts..
and no problems at all so far *knocks on wood*

 

TTT

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 99Hybrid_Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Iam at 22.00 degrees at 12.1 psi right now and from 18 degrees to 22 degrees at that boost setting the car feels so much better and pulls something mean!!!

but like I said..smaller bores dont need as much timing..but if your distributer is not sync'ed with your timing map that could also have a roll in your head gasket issues..if your map is at 18 deg at 12 psi but the dissy is off by 2 degrees retard then you could be making the exhaust valves glow and pre ignite the fuel which can and will lift the head and possibly cause a gasket to blow..</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ha ha, man I am sure you picked 40hp from just 4 deg more timing. And like you say,<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 99Hybrid_Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I had a problem some what like this with my B series..I was running 18 degrees of timing at 12 psi and it would pop head gaskets left and right..I upped the timing a few degrees and have not popped a gasket sense..Iam not sure if the D series is the same but it would make sense..</TD></TR></TABLE>

When you blow head gaskets just increase the timing.

 

do you know anything about timing? you were arguing the same bs in this thread too https://honda-tech.com/zero...age=2

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOHC_MShue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do you know anything about timing? you were arguing the same bs in this thread too https://honda-tech.com/zero...age=2</TD></TR></TABLE>

who me? yes I know some about timing..think about it..if your not running enough timing your just blowing unburnt fuel right out the chamber (and raising EGT's)..then when it burns on the back side of the valve it gets the valves glowing hot and can cause detonation which can and will lift a cyl head and possibly blow gaskets..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 99Hybrid_Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

who me? yes I know some about timing..think about it..if your not running enough timing your just blowing unburnt fuel right out the chamber (and raising EGT's)..then when it burns on the back side of the valve it gets the valves glowing hot and can cause detonation which can and will lift a cyl head and possibly blow gaskets..</TD></TR></TABLE>
no i wasn't talking about you. I was talking about FLR. Sorry for the confusion

 

Before you put the head back on - did you have the head checked to make sure it was flat? Most likely if you blew a headgasket either your head or block is warpped. I run 20psi daily on my d-series and have never had any headgasket issues.

liam

 

I put a straight edge to it and it wasnt warped but i didnt send it out to have it checked for cracks. I dont think it cracked the block or head, it never overheated just pushed coolant.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1TurboHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I put a straight edge to it and it wasnt warped but i didnt send it out to have it checked for cracks. I dont think it cracked the block or head, it never overheated just pushed coolant.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You checked both the head and the block?

 

yes

 

I never had a headgasket problem after 2 years. Hell, I even reused my 125000 mile one and it's held 10psi no problem