I know that question may seem stupid and generic, but im curious. I have a 99 Civic Si, with a B16A2. I have had some minor problems with it lately and im thinking it may have a blown head gasket. When i run it with the radiator cap off it blows bubbles to the top. Im not so sure thats normal, but anyways, in the casde that my head gasket is blown, what will the differences be with a new one? (better gas mileage, temp., power, etc.) I just want to know what changes i can expect to see. Also, if anybody could give me a rough estimate of a price then that would help too. thanks

 

bump

 

if yer coolant bubbles, does the car overheat when you run it? the bubbles dont stop? you bled yer coolant?

cause if the headgasket is blown and the coolant bubbles, then the headgasket has a leak to the coolant and it should overheat the coolant.

 

did you drive your car when it over heated? does the oil look milky brown?..putting new head gasket will make your car run like normal like normal temp, driving normal etc.. but if you did run your car while it over heated id get the head checked for warpage

just to be safe

 

get a leakdown test done.

case closed.

cost should be about 300-500 in labor, depending where you go of course.

make sure the deck and head are straight before they install the gasket. i'm sure any competant shop or installer will follow up on this.

you will gain nothing from a new headgasket except the elimination of the issue you might have, which might be sucking some power in many ways. loss of compression will obviously make one cylinder less powerful. bringing coolant into the combustion chamber can effect power as well, either hurting the ignition or just damping the power potential of the explosion.

 

it runs hot a lot. i thought maybe it was the thermostat, or the fan, but i fixed the fan and that helped. It still runs hotter than normal everytime i drive it. the temp gauge gets about 3/4 of the way up and then it will just go back down.

 

If you had a bad head gasket I don't the the temp. would drop back down it would keep getting hotter..try replacing the thermostat maybe?

 

he's right just get a new thrmostat there very cheap and easy to change but also check to make sure your cooling fan is kickin on when the car gets to normal temp bout half way on the guage. Just test it in your driveway if it works like it should go for a quick drive till you notice the temp go up again pull over and check the fan again if it is not on then replace your temperature regulator/thermometer.

 

a bad HG can cause an up and down behavior. due to compression being blown into the cooling system, air gaps will form and you will have situations where your temp sensors will see hot spots in the circulation (air pockets) and you will see the temp go up...as soon as it hits a coolant section again, the temp might go down. this can occur over and over.