Just wondering if its possible to reuse a head gasket becuase I have a few good ones lying around.

 

that is rediculous, why waste all that time over a gasket.

Dont be cheap get a new top notch gasket

 

reused a condom, yes, reuse a head gasket, never!

 

no!!!!
if its used then its trash
the head gasket is the last gasket on the engine i would reuse

 

given the amount of time/effort it takes to replace one...doesn't even make sense. better to just use a new one...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tnt-gsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">given the amount of time/effort it takes to replace one...doesn't even make sense. better to just use a new one...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly, just buy a new one and save yourself future troubles.

 

I put a used one on when I sold my last car... j/p

 

I reused one....

It started leaking coolant as soon as I filled it up.

 

headgaskets cant be reused, they work by when ur tq down the bolts the get crushed bewteen the head and the block to make the seal. Once it has been crushed it useless

 

HELL NO!!!! dont even attempt it. please

 

just light your car on fire...

reusing head gaskets?!?! thats the stupidest question ever...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 97dC4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

reusing head gaskets?!?! thats the stupidest question ever...</TD></TR></TABLE>

haha...ive seen worst, but back to the topic, NEVER EVER reuse a headgasket

 

The only time you can reuse a headgasket is when it is solid metal. It's a very common occurance in the MK3 supra community to have headgasket problems due to low factory head bolt torque specs. So, when we replace the gasket, we use an all metal gasket like from HKS. It is proven that you can reuse one of those, BUT do not EVER reuse a composite headgasket.

 

i have reused mine, but this is because the gasket was about a month old. the head gaskets on the b-series are metal, unlike some d-series they are a composite...once they are torqued i would never re-use.

BTW i reused a head gasket that was only a month old...not the stocker, but when compaired(old and reused) they looked the same....no "crushed" areas. this was on a stock internals engine(N/a), i wouldnt do it on a built or FI engine.

 

 

No, you can’t reuse a head gasket, unless it was designed to do so, no matter how old or new it is, no matter if the engine is N/A or FI. (There are solid copper gaskets and dense, specialized graphite/steel gaskets you can, they are made for short track runs when sealing fluids isn’t so much an issue and are designed to be reused, but nothing for a production engine, these gaskets will be completely flat without a profile)

You CANNOT reuse steel shim gaskets, or MLS (multi layered steel) gaskets as are popular on Honda products.

When you apply clamp load to the gasket (torque it down) you are crushing the gaskets grommet (you may be more familiar with the term ‘fire ring’) down into the matrix of the gasket (the body). In the case of a MLS gasket, you are crushing the raised bead down to the body. Anyway, this allows the gaskets body to make contact with both the head and block to seal fluids, the grommet will still have a slightly (measured in thousands of an inch) higher profile which is what seals the combustion pressure. After initial torque, the gasket will not be able to properly recover/rebound after removal, and you will lose the proper raised armor over body height.
All gaskets have some recoverability, they get thinner when hot, and rebound when they cool off again. They have to be able to do this to account for the thermal and combustion induced motion of an engine. This is why head gaskets fail when an engine is over-heated, they take a thermal compression set and can’t rebound to seal fluids and/or combustion pressure.

As someone who designs automotive gaskets for a living, allow me to reiterate. Do not reuse a head gasket under any circumstance unless the gasket was designed for that purpose, and there are no gaskets for your vehicle designed for that purpose. You would be putting your engine at great risk.

 

BTW, if anyone has any questions on engine sealing, especially head gaskets, such as surface finish, fastener condition, proper torque methods, construction, please feel free to ask.
A head gasket can be successfully replaced with the same longevity as the factory original. (100K+ miles) But attention to detail, sometimes things that seem trivial, need to be practiced.
It is important to be aware of the lack of proper RA (surface finish) of the heads being machined by the typical machine shops today, if your machine shop doesn't have a profilometer, or even know what one is...run away. The MLS gaskets that are commonly used on the Honda engines require a very fine finish...under 20RA is good.

 

It is known in the automotive field that you should never reuse a head gasket.

 

So I gather from reading everyone's posts that it's a bad idea?

Haha, If you have ever removed the head on your car, you'd see that reusing that gasket is not so smart.

If you're that tight on money, you can get one from Pep Boys for only $26 bucks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by engineengineer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> No, you can’t reuse a head gasket, unless it was designed to do so, no matter how old or new it is, no matter if the engine is N/A or FI. (There are solid copper gaskets and dense, specialized graphite/steel gaskets you can, they are made for short track runs when sealing fluids isn’t so much an issue and are designed to be reused, but nothing for a production engine, these gaskets will be completely flat without a profile)

You CANNOT reuse steel shim gaskets, or MLS (multi layered steel) gaskets as are popular on Honda products.

When you apply clamp load to the gasket (torque it down) you are crushing the gaskets grommet (you may be more familiar with the term ‘fire ring’) down into the matrix of the gasket (the body). In the case of a MLS gasket, you are crushing the raised bead down to the body. Anyway, this allows the gaskets body to make contact with both the head and block to seal fluids, the grommet will still have a slightly (measured in thousands of an inch) higher profile which is what seals the combustion pressure. After initial torque, the gasket will not be able to properly recover/rebound after removal, and you will lose the proper raised armor over body height.
All gaskets have some recoverability, they get thinner when hot, and rebound when they cool off again. They have to be able to do this to account for the thermal and combustion induced motion of an engine. This is why head gaskets fail when an engine is over-heated, they take a thermal compression set and can’t rebound to seal fluids and/or combustion pressure.

As someone who designs automotive gaskets for a living, allow me to reiterate. Do not reuse a head gasket under any circumstance unless the gasket was designed for that purpose, and there are no gaskets for your vehicle designed for that purpose. You would be putting your engine at great risk.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

wow good info.

i think i just got luck about reusing mine. at the time when i reused mine i was in the stage with my car where i wanted to learn everything about it and i didnt care if i had to remove the head again. i just wanted to work on it, and i wouldnt ever recomend it....mine was done as a learning experience.

 

its been done sucessfully many times ive done it twice once without copperspray worked fine. Copperspray on a reused nonfactory headgasket and it failed. Engine heated up and pistions dug into sleeves. I wouldnt do it again. It depends on how much money you have to gamble with.