what are ways to tell if the headgasket is blown, or on its way out...heres my situation...

car 94 dx hatch, stock, the temperature gauge is acting weird, sometimes it goes up when u drive, sometimes it goes down when u drive, sometimes it goes up at stoplights, sometimes it goes down at stoplights, if u put it in park the car starts to tremble like it wants to cut off sometimes, the other day when put in park it was idling up and down up and down, i gave the car a lil rev and it stopped...

141 miles on the car and its auto..
only thing dont to the car was i flushed out the old rustyy/brown looking antifreeze , and put fresh antifreeze in, ever since then is when the car started acting up, ive done this many time son my integra and never had a problem..

drain out the antifreeze from the radiator drain plug. stuck a hose in the rad to flush it out, fill it up with fresh antifreeze, started it so the thermo can open and then i drained it all again, filled it up, let it run with the heat to the hottest setting, rad cap off, thermo opened, topped off the antifreeze aagin, let the thermo open up a few more times, made sure it was topped of, no more air , that i know off and that was it, and now the car is going downhill fast, just hasnt been right since then...
much appreciated for any help, its my girls car, and dont wanna see her break down while picking up the kid from school one day..

 

have you felt the upper & lower radiator hoses to make sure that they are both hot? that's a good place to start.

 

yes the upper is hot and once the thermo opens up the lower hose gets hot...
why?

 

Have you changed the thermostat? if the headgasket is blown you might have oil in your coolant or leaking coolant/oil between the head and block

 

nah i havent changed the t-stat, yet, but i dont see any coolant in th oil, or vice versa, and i dont see any leaks of either or, but i have a lil white smoke coming out the exhaust, and the engine bay always smells like antifreeze.., and its dissapearing , but i dont know where, no leaks on the ground or any in the engine bay that i can see or find...

 

If you are losing coolant & there are no visible leaks, and you are blowing white smoke, I'd assume that you hae a slight HG leak like me. I also tend to burn more oil than I should.

 

only way to fix it is to change the HG correct...this ******* car man, always gotta be something....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dip-set &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">only way to fix it is to change the HG correct...this ******* car man, always gotta be something....</TD></TR></TABLE>

The best bet is probably to change it at this point.

 

great, any oher possible suggestions that arent so stressing.lol this car is a money pit..

 

get the head checked for straightness before you throw new hg on. i think the limit is .002 per 6" with but no more than .004 across

 

once the head is off, i"ll need a new HG anyway so might as well ...i just dont know all the parts im gonna need..

 

Just the HG & make sure you verify that the head is still true like stated above. You could also mill the head for some extra compression, and replace any gaskets, etc while you have the head off.

 

all you should need is the head gasket, copper spray (optional but i reccomend) some people will say new head bolts but if its just your daily driver and you arent planning to boost it later on then your old ones should be fine. Make sure you torque them correctly. and of course oil and coolant

 

thanks everyone..

 

here what i ordered, might as well knock it all out...

headgasket
timing belt
waterpump
thermostat
valvecover gasket
spark plug seals

anyone care to share if i need any thing else,

btw if anyone locally can do the job for me, name ya price...

 

151.00 in parts, 200 for labor for all of the above to get installed..

 

It's certainly wise to do all of that while you are in there. Does your ride need a valve adjustment as well?

 

Is there a correct or incorrect way to install a head gasket? I mean, is there a side that should face up, or a side that should face down or something?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DJ_SaNdOz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's certainly wise to do all of that while you are in there. Does your ride need a valve adjustment as well? </TD></TR></TABLE>

yes and that is going to be done as well, thanks..