Ok guys, I felt I needed to post up my problem before going about tearing my motor. Here's the story...

I was driving home from work, ordinary operation of the vehicle and everything was working excellent. I also always peep my cluster to monitor RPM's and temperature ALWAYS. So I was heading home and freeway was usual, open and flowing, but whenever I get to the 710, I get stuck in a bottle neck. So, halfway through the gridlock, I happen to look down my cluster and it's 3/4 to HOT! So I'm like, "What the ...". All through the gridlock, it managed to stay between the middle marker and H, going a little more toward H and at times coming down to the middle marker, always staying near the middle position between both markers. So suddenly, the traffic started flowing and I started giving it gas, then the freeway opened to about 25mph - 35mph when I noticed my temp needle fly down to normal temp again. At this point, it stayed there the rest of the way, even in streets with stop and go traffic.

So, I did some light diagnostics, first thing I though, "Water pump." I checked it, not dripping or leaking, dry as a bone. I would check the ground and the water outlet thing on the cover, nothing. Fine. Next up, radiator... negative. It's an OEM, non-cracked, non-plugged, always kept the flushes in check and never, EVER gave me issues. Next up, fan... I turned the car on when it was cold and allowed the fan to come on ... it did and stayed on longer than usual.. hummm... so fan works. Could it be thermostat? ... nope, not running one although I should cuz it's bloody slow to warm up. Leaks? Newp, not leaks anywhere.

I consulted a mechanic that just recently moved in our backyard, he did some tests, found out the exhaust is dripping too much water, emission gasses hotter than usual??? Idle is also shaky, but not bad at all... what could this be?

I also thought I might throw this in there... it's been happening for a while, when sometimes when I turned it on when cold, it would misfire like something turning off the spark or not getting spark, but as it warmed up, went away..

Could this all signal premature blown head gasket?

 

well, your mechanic should have did a block/head gasket test on your car. It connects to the opening on the radiator and when you start the car it tests to see if any compression is leaking into the coolant. Which could mean two things, one is your head gasket it blown, and two that your block is cracked.

Also, you can do a pressure test on the radiator.

And if I were you I would put a thermostat in. I bet thats what it is. It may take a long time to warm up, but it keeps cycling through your hot *** engine, and it gets hella hot when sitting in traffic. With no air to flow through to cool it down, the engine just keeps getting hotter. The fan will help, but the coolant keeps cycling through. It doesnt have any real good time to cool down in the radiator before its pushed back into the engine.

So, go get a thermostat and put it in. I bet you wont have any troubles after that.

 

Well, warmed it up, let it sit for like 10 minutes, took the rad cap off, air gushed out. So I am getting air in the cooling system.

If my block was cracked though, my engine wouldn't perform to spec, it runs excellent and never ever over revved, redlined or even raced it.

I'm already tearing down, posting pics up tonight.

 

Blown head gasket(most likely)

or you have a crack in your block

id do the blown head gasket test

make sure car is cool, take off your radiator cap off turn car on, if coolant shoots out, you have a blown head gasket


also is your car emmiting any white smoke?

 

Put a thermostat in! Drive it again in stop n go traffic. If it still overheats its a blown head gasket.

 

why the hell are you tearing it down? You are most likely doing a lot of work that you dont need to do. Fill your radiator all the way up to the top, take the cap off, let it run for a while and burp out the system. Although that trick is mainly for thermostat problems. So go buy a thermostat. I dont get why you would tear down your engine when you dont even know what the problem is yet.

 

Welp, it's too late now, I found a couple of other problems that needed fixing along the way, it's a good learning experience anyway.

Got the motor stripped in -3 hours, gonna change the w/p as it has leaked in the past and dont want any more issues. Intake gasket was shot, head is gummed out.

**** needs attention. Will post pics of the head gasket.

**** is, the car barely started doing this, I've had no thermostat for years and nothing of this magnitude has ever come up, I know my car like the back of my hand, I've had it for 7 years always on top of ****, if I knew it was the thermostat missing, trust me, I'd go that route. It's not it, all my cooling has always been ok, not one issue, the head gasket is 5 years old tops, has already gone through one timing belt, don't you think it might be time for the gasket to say goodbye?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spikey640 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also is your car emmiting any white smoke?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope, not spitting black smoke either, another good indication my block isn't cracked.

I also read it might be a bad rad cap, although the seals still look good.

 

Damn that sucks. Did you have bubbles flowing out of your radiator when you take off the cap? flush coolant to check oily residue? ..


nvm i just read you already started the tear down, have fun.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jdm4drSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Nope, not spitting black smoke either, another good indication my block isn't cracked.

I also read it might be a bad rad cap, although the seals still look good. </TD></TR></TABLE>

hmm
what color is your coolant?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spikey640 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

hmm
what color is your coolant?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's blue. It's genuine Honda Radiator Fluid.

 

I'm at the timing belt stage...

What's the best way to remove the pulley without using a screw driver through the flywheel? Does autozone have a tool to remove it? Next up is the timing area and head gasket.

 

Use a special honda flywheel holder and remove pulley with ease.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4163175587 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Use a special honda flywheel holder and remove pulley with ease.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, heard about it, **** is 100 bucks! I'm calling autozone tomorrow to see if they have the special tool for rent.

 

Bump, anyone that can shine on this, please post...

 

because usually when your coolant turns a chocolate milk brown color is anothe sign of a blown head gasket

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spikey640 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">because usually when your coolant turns a chocolate milk brown color is anothe sign of a blown head gasket</TD></TR></TABLE>

I dunno, it came out good. I think it might be premature, or not at all... but since I tore down already, might as well do it all.

 

When taking off the belt initially, does it matter if it's set in timing? Right now, I have it at TDC and cam gear on the head marks, but... does it matter when taking off the timing belt?

Also, what are the steps at this point. After the belt is off and new one is slipped on, I re-position the crank pulley to the TDC mark and align the cam gear to the 3'o clock and 9'o clock position on the head, then slip on the new belt, put tention on the radiator side of the belt, then tighten tensioner... ?

I'm at the intial stage of the removal of the belt, any proper order of intallation from this point on is appreciated. Reading different threads and having different input from peeps makes the whole deal confusing.


Modified by jdm4drSi at 10:08 PM 1/2/2008

 

go to schucks and buy a chiltons manual. It explains it all.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jakscivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">go to schucks and buy a chiltons manual. It explains it all.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have one, will reference it when I get home. I'm a little confused about how to take it off without messing up the timing settings...

 

If you know how to set camshaft and ignition timing, it doesn't matter. On the pulley thing, i stuck a flat screwdriver through the flywheel hole,and grabbed a torque wrench with cheater bar and loosened the pulley off.

 

yeah, thats what i did as well. I just took the shield around the opening in the tranny off, stuck a pry bar in there, had my friend hold it, then get a big cheater bar on my ratchet and broke it loose.

And mechanics do the timing trick like that jdm. They set the timing so its all lined up and take the timing belt off. But thats only if they are doing the timing belt. If you are taking off the head then I dont think you need to do this because you will need to take the cam shafts off anyway. So it wont matter if you set the timing up at all.

 

Ok, so I am at the stage where I have to take the timing belt off, or loosen it rather, take the head off and install the new headgasket. After I get the head back from the machine shop, I'm now worrying about the timing.

The expletiveing chilton explains it too simply, not detailed. I'm stressing on losing the position of the timing. When I take the crankshaft pulley off... you know? How do I place the block and head at TDC with those expletiveers removed?

 

The crank pulley is keyed onto the crank, so it's kind of hard to lose place. It's really not that hard.

If you want a low tech way of doing it, put the head back on and leave the plugs out of it. Put a long small screw-driver into the plug hole for the piston closest to the crank pulley end. Once you hit TDC set the cams and put the belt on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gibsanez &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The crank pulley is keyed onto the crank, so it's kind of hard to lose place. It's really not that hard.

If you want a low tech way of doing it, put the head back on and leave the plugs out of it. Put a long small screw-driver into the plug hole for the piston closest to the crank pulley end. Once you hit TDC set the cams and put the belt on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

So the crank pulley only goes on one way to the crankshaft? If it does, makes sense, I can find the TDC position of piston 1 with the TDC mark on the pulley.

Right now, I can't take that f*ing pulley bolt off, I'm afraid of breaking a tooth on my flywheel, then I'll really be pwned.

Who carries a tool to lock the pulley into place? It's getting tiring fiddling with that dang bolt, and it's keeping me from proceeding.