i put some h22 head bolts in an ultra sonic cleaner. the black coating on them came off and now they look grey. is that an antirust coating or heat coating of some sort. i only cleaned them in soap.

 

Pics?

 

these were new or used.

I am almost positive you arn't supposed to reuse the headbolts.

 

they are used. ive used old head bolts before no prob, i just torque them 3ft/lbs more to make up for the strech

 

you will be fine, you just cleaned the surface off of them. besides the headbolt sare internal to the motor they are not going to rust even if these were a mostly iron based bolt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by H23vtecEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">they are used. ive used old head bolts before no prob, i just torque them 3ft/lbs more to make up for the strech</TD></TR></TABLE>

uh...have you ever heard of the term "torque to yield?" thats what head bolts are. you cannot reuse them. well i mean sure you CAN reuse them if you like, but they will not stretch like they're supposed to and you will have problems. especially if your over tightening them. but hey don't listen to me, i'm just ur average ase technician, what do i know.

 

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

uh...have you ever heard of the term "torque to yield?" thats what head bolts are. you cannot reuse them. well i mean sure you CAN reuse them if you like, but they will not stretch like they're supposed to and you will have problems. especially if your over tightening them. but hey don't listen to me, i'm just ur average ase technician, what do i know.</TD></TR></TABLE>

why is it that the factory helms manual says nothing in any of the head removal and installation about replacing the head studs after one use. no manual relating to the prelude that i have seen ever says this, in comparison i see chevy manuals all the time that say you must replace factory head studs after one use. i think that is it was nessasary honda would say so in the manual, and i even spoke to my friend that has been a honda tech a long time, and they re use headbolts all the time on hondas and acuras..

so this may be true for some motors but i don't belive its the case for honda. i have persoanlly reused headbolts on many honda and acura setups with no headgasket related problems,

 

well I've reused many headbolts before I've done just about any honda engine. ase technicians are for suckas. By the way, the bolts started to get rust almost right away, I guess that black coating was for anti-rust, in my opinion.

 

i would think the black coating may just be oil grime from time....they come from the factory grayish....

either way, as long as the head isnt stripped to where you cant get a good grip on it, theyre fine to reuse

oh and ase techinicans can suck *****, you have to get like a 55 on the test to pass....lol

 

You shouldn't reuse the head bolts but you can if you don't give a expletive. But ASE techs are usually dumbasses I agree with that part. I have talked with the mechanics at my local dealership many times about problems they can't figure out and are just Honda 101 to me. You'd think that would get me a job there but it doesn't for some reason. What a life to not know what your doing and getting paid for it.

 

how exactly do they strech. they are forged steel only running at 190 degree temps.