I'm getting on my last nerves with this boost ****. Last night, I pulled off my other civic's head because I had thought I blew my stock OBD1 head gasket. I looked at the head, and it seems to be o.k. We thought I blew the HG because:
1) the "upper" radiator hose, (meaning the one on the front of the block going to the head) would puff up with pressure, as the engine temp would go really high....so I replaced the thermostat, still the same ****. and

2) there was a little bit of oil leaking at the #1 and #4 pistons down the side of the block. I had the same problem on my other car, but I still don't know if that is fixed because my ARP's haven't come in yet... for either of the two.. I hope I'm not confusing you.

I suppose(d) the problem was due to head lifting, because I ran my fingers along each cylinder spot in the HG, and there were no cracks or burns . Like I said, I was running stock HG and headstuds, on 4 p.s.i.

I searched and one guy said his vacuum went down to -18mm Hg, so he had a vacuum leak through his head gasket.

About last week, I had an erratic idle problem, and it would fluctuate between -25mm Hg, and -20mm Hg, but I couldn't tell if that was because it was cold outside or what. My vacuum hoses were all new too.

Please, somebody f*cking help me because I'm going insane with this ****!!!!

 

whats your setup?

 

In both cars, d15b7, completely stock longblock, garret t3 .42/.48 internally gated, 3" exhaust. 30x3x8 FMIC (I thought that was making it overheat until I realized the radiator hose puffing up and popping off. Like I said, then I changed the thermostat, and it didn;t do anything.

 

fuel setup?

 

440cc dsm injectors, uberdata, stock fuel pump

 

The head could be warped, pulling it off and looking at it won't show that. Send it off to get check out.

 

is the hose getting puffy all the time or only after boosting? are you loosing any coolant, is the reservoir tank overflowing or anything like that? maybe the system is bluidling pressure due to as bad radiator cap.

 

I'm almost always boosting, but it does it more when I purposely boost. The radiator cap was some korean ****, so I guess I'll get a new one.

 

yeah its worth a shot. also make sure to bleed the system of any air. always good to start cheapest and work from their.

unfortunately this could also be a headlifting problem. under boost the head lifts and lets combustion gases into the cooling system causing excess pressure. if thats the case then you are gonna need a new headgasket and probably some arp headstuds. while the head is off take it to a machine shop to check for straightness and get it milled if necessary.

 

What is the water temp like?

 

im assuming he is oveheating, but it would help to know when and how quickly. did you check to make sure all your other cooling components were in good working order?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dpetro1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah its worth a shot. also make sure to bleed the system of any air. always good to start cheapest and work from their.

unfortunately this could also be a headlifting problem. under boost the head lifts and lets combustion gases into the cooling system causing excess pressure. if thats the case then you are gonna need a new headgasket and probably some arp headstuds. while the head is off take it to a machine shop to check for straightness and get it milled if necessary. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I had bled the colling system numerous times. At first I thought it was the thermostat, so i changed that. Same ****. I'm using 50/50 coolant, so thats not it. I bought a cometic headgasket 2 days ago, and brought my head to the machine shop today, and they said it was fine, but they did see gas marks outside the combustion chamber. From what the expert at the shop said, the stock headstuds should be good enough, and most people blow HG's because it's a timing and/or fuel problem. He also said ARP's are not a waste of money thogh, if you have them they are better, but on a side note; I had already ordered the z6 headstuds because some assclown who did not know for a fact said to use thosefor the d15b7. I compared them to the stock headstuds which have a threadlength of near 63mm...ARP d16z's ar only half that much, so you can easily strip the block threads using them, especially under boost. so for everyone to know,

<FONT SIZE="10">IF YOU HAVE A D15B7, USE THE ARP D16Y'S, BECAUSE THE D16Z'S DON'T WORK FOR IT</FONT>

So until I can get some d16y ARP's, I'm running with an open wastegate. I replace the distributor with a rebuilt one, and got the Bosch 4-point sparkplugs.