I have a 1997 fully loaded Honda Accord. I bought it as a trade in for $1000 and was told it needs a water pump. Well after my father brought it home and listened to it run again, he thought it needed a head gasket. He called a Honda dealership and they told him that if it needs a head gasket, it would be better to put a new motor in because when just the head gaskets are replaced on Honda's, they always smoke. Has anyone else heard this before? Is it true? Its a beautiful car but it has a knock in it when it runs. I'm a college student and I have someone who takes me back and forth to school so I don't really need the car but I'd hate to see it sit by the house and not run so I want to fix it. Its an automatic. I am not trying to sell it, just trying to get information on what could be wrong with it and how to fix it. If someone can help me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

 

never herd of a honda head gaskets smoking after changing it. i've had my friend's 97 accord head gasket change before and it runs fine. what kind of knock are you talking about? try running a compression test on it and see what it gets.

 

Thank you so much! I'm going to have my uncle run a compression test on it this weekend. Thanks again

 

why did he think it needs a headgasket??? does car overheat?? misfires?? a worn head gasket will not cause a knocking noise you might have different problems if it coming from the lower end it is engine time and a compression test will not tell you if you have a leaking headgasket you need to do a cylinder leakage test ,,, the reason they told you that car could smoke is that if head gasket has leaked coolant into the cylinder . car ovwerheated could damage your piston rings thus it could smoke afterwards ,if car has a lot of miles it might be a good idea to install a low miles japanes engine you can get those for around $ 600-750 generally they got 35- 45k on it ,,,also if you have head off to do a head gasket it is a good idea to mill head and do a valve job ,,,,

 

they probably wanted money form you telling u to get a new motor

 

but this guy said his car just has a knocking noise, if its at low rpm it might be just the axles. but he never said there is smoke when driving, just knocks, honda dealership was the people that said it will smoke. but running a compression test wont hurt, at least we'll know if its even still up to compression, then after that we'll go from there.

 

My uncle looked at it today. He said that the water pump is not bad, its a leaking hose. He said the noise is coming from the lifters. He said its idling at twice the rpm. its idling at 1500