Through much evidence I figured that I had a blown head gasket (white smoke, exhaust moisture, a corroding plug, etc.) so I took the head off of my engine (B16A2) and found out that either the gasket is not the issue or I just don't know how to identify a blown gasket (I picture a crack or some obvious damage). The gasket looks good but the plys are separating. Is this normal upon removal or are the plys on a healthy gasket supposed to still be sandwiched? Everything else on the engine looks excellent so I don't know where to go from here unless someone can help me.

 

im guessing u mean the HG u have seperates like this ?

 

It's not in completely separate plys, it's still one unit. But it is starting to separate like that.

 

cracked head? block?

 

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


Absolutely not.

I drained the oil and there doesn't seem to be any moisture in it. There's also no oil noticable in the coolant. After wiping out the coolant that got in the cylinders during head removal, nothing else will show up on the walls when rotating the crank. As I mentioned in another thread, my #3 cylinder has more crap buildup in the exhaust port, more carbon buildup on the plug and combustion chamber (#3's exhaust valves are the only ones that you can't see the "F" on), the plug is more corroded, and the piston has less carbon on it then the rest (perhaps washed off if that's the bore the water was being burned in). The exhaust had white, humid smoke and moisture coming out when the engine would run but when revved hard to high RPM also seemed to burn a little oil. Since #3 is right next to the head's oil supply I figured the gasket was bad. If everything else is okay should I just replace the gasket and see what happens? Any educated reasoning is appreciated.

 

Here are some pictures if it helps.



#1


#2


#3


#4

 

a good way to check it your head gasket is blown check the coolant if there oil floatin a round then its blown.. it will give u little signs as well idel all fuked up and **** like that

 

You have huge deposits on your exhaust valves in cylinder 3. The car is burning something it shouldn't. Have you been monitoring your coolant levels? Now that you've taken the head off you'll have to replace the head studs/bolts and head gasket anyway, so you might as well just do it and see what happens.

It'll probably cure what ails ya.

 

Right, that's where I'm at right now. Before taking it apart, when the car was still running its coolant resevoir was very low, so I refilled it and it continued to drop. I was already 99.99999% sure that it was burning coolant, I just don't want to install a $100 gasket and find out that there's another issue. But anyway, screw it, I'm just gonna get a racing level gasket and some ARP studs and just wait and see how it runs after that. If only money grew on trees.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hardedge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Right, that's where I'm at right now. Before taking it apart, when the car was still running its coolant resevoir was very low, so I refilled it and it continued to drop. I was already 99.99999% sure that it was burning coolant, I just don't want to install a $100 gasket and find out that there's another issue. But anyway, screw it, I'm just gonna get a racing level gasket and some ARP studs and just wait and see how it runs after that. If only money grew on trees.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, now that you've taken the head off, you HAVE to replace the gasket anyway, so the problem's pretty much solving itself. I suggest against a "racing gasket," made by some aftermarket company. Honda OEM head gaskets are good with ARP head studs up to well over 500hp, so I wouldn't shy away from using them on your EM1.

Enjoy, and don't forget to read the ARP instructions thoroughly before you start installation The Torque suggestions are VERY important.

 

Cool, thanks!