Hi everyone. I've got a 93 ex vtec coupe. its got 151,000 mi on it. A while ago i was driving close to home and the car over heated. i was on my street so i coasted it home. I discovered that i had blown a radator hose. i replaced the hose, and added coolant but it still would over heat. eventually after it overheating (not to bad or seriously) a few times i took it to a shop. there they told me that everything was fine... but the car was still low on coolant. feeling like an idiot i realized that i hadn't added coolant to the radiator... i had only added it to the overflow tank. we added coolant and everything was fine for a while. then one day, i was about an hour of freeway driving from my house and i noticed the car was running hot. i stopped and checked it out and found i was low on coolant. i managed to get the car home since it kept cool enough to drive as long as i kept around 55 mph. the air flowing through the car kept the engine fairly cool as long as i didn't put a lot of load on it. since then, the car has been burning coolant. i keep adding more, and theres no leaks. So now i'm assuming i've blown the head gasket.

I've been wanting to replace the engine and tranny soon anyway. i love the car and i'd like to keep it as long as possible so i figure droping in a JDM replacement with about the same specs is the best way to do that. i also want to switch it to a manual tranny. The problem is... i don't have a lot of money at the moment. I was planning on working and saving up for the swap but since this head gasket thing developed... i'm not sure what to do. I'm guessing fixing the gasket problem will cost me a lot, but i'm not sure if its worth doing if i'm planing on swaping anyway.

#1) Should i replace the gasket, or just continue adding coolant until i'm able to afford the swap? (it would probably be a few months)

#2) If i replace the gasket, ballpark, how much would that cost me to have done?

#3) Is the gasket something i could replace myself? I have some experiance working with cars and i am very mechanically inclined... but i've never tackled anything this big.

#4) What's my best option here... deal with the screwed up engine until i can swap, or replace the gasket?

#5) Any advice, info, recomendations, or input on swapping with my car? I need all the help and info i can get!

thanks!

 

i dont know where clayton cali is... but i could help you out... its a pretty simple task.. i have done a few honda headgaskets its pretty easy.. hit me up.. i can tell u how to do it.. or u can get a helms its easy

 

yea, its not that hard, and while your at it, go get a oem del sol radiator, or even an integra, or if you wanted to you could get koyo or fluidyne, these are bigger than stock and will help your cooling

 

Thats good to know... i guess i'll probably go out and get like the chiltons repair manual or something and figure it out myself.