I know that it is impossible to tell what is wrong with my car without it being opened so I will give the symptoms and cause.

On the freeway while accelerating I did the dreaded miss-shift with a bad outcome. The car still drove but after slowing down I noticed that it kinda sounded like a piston was miss firing at lower rpms. There was also a loud clicking noise. I had to drive the car approx 30 miles back home in this condition. The car now stalls if the gas isn't pressed and is hard to start. The starting problem is really hard to explain. A good car will start like ta..ta..ta..ta..vroom but this one starts like ta..ta..taaaaaaaaaaa..ta..vroom only if gas is pressed. I didn't smell anything burning or see any oil dripping.

I hope that it is only the valves or even the complete head but not the block. I've changed a transmission with my helms manual but I am afraid that I don't have the confidence and tools to do head work. If the head is the problem I'll probably just change that as a whole.

Is changing the head as a whole easier than a transmission in an h22a swapped civic?

 

more than likely the valves

 

Do a compression test- and if more than one of the cylinders is low - it can help confirm his assumption.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EsQueue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is changing the head as a whole easier than a transmission in an h22a swapped civic?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No

And i will venture that it is definitely your valves. Been in your spot b4 cuz i let someone drive my car. But good excuse to upgrade the valvetrain. For a little more than what OEM, I went to stainless Ferreas. New springs cost extra, but i did'nt need them it was just a matter of "well the heads off, might as well"...

 

out of curiosity, how fast were you going when you hit 2nd?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by limpmode &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">out of curiosity, how fast were you going when you hit 2nd?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It was 3rd gear that I shifted to. It was raining and I swear that this 18 wheeler that was approaching from behind couldn't stop, so I tried to speed and change lanes to get out of his way. I'm sure that the car hit atleast 9k.

 

ta..ta..taaaaaaaaaaa..ta..vroom

Sounds like bents vavles to me

 

it stalls if you arent gassing it. Sounds like a ruined rod to me / or bearing with the outcome being a rod is gone.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EsQueue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It was 3rd gear that I shifted to. It was raining and I swear that this 18 wheeler that was approaching from behind couldn't stop, so I tried to speed and change lanes to get out of his way. I'm sure that the car hit atleast 9k.</TD></TR></TABLE>

First off the dreaded misshift is when you are in 3rd and shift to 4th but nail 2nd instead for a good 11-12,000rpm. To hit 9k in 3rd you would have to downshift to 3rd at around 100mph. I hope you were not going that fast in the rain and i doubt a semi was coming up on you at 110+... Whatever happened, the clicking you hear would be the bent valve(s) tapping the piston head itself. The stalling and crappy idle would be from the bent valves not sealing properly causing loss of compression. That's why Kingpin... my bad... Weather Man said to do a compression test, then we can pretty much tell you it's bent valves for sure.


Modified by limpmode at 6:15 PM 3/20/2006