i just picked up a free 96 accord lx with a snapped timing belt. i replaced the timing belt and water pump. Car runs good and had a valve tapping befor it blew the timing belt. the fans are working correctly and thermostat is good. it just overheats once in a while. I checked compression nad its 175-175-170-165. there are no air bubbles in the radiator or milky coolent or oil. im wondering if there is a better way to figure if it is a bent valve or blown head gasket?? im trying to do the cheapest way to fix.

 

pressure test system, pull plugs and inspect, flush cooling system

 

i flushed when i swapped the water pump. i pulle dthe plugs and theey look good.
if i pull the head how would i check fo bad valve seals or bent vavles?

 

take the head to a honda dealer and have them check it after you pull it. or a shop that specializes in hondas. most of the labor is in pulling / replacing the head

 

Don't pull the head unless you know you have to do it!!

The compression numbers look quite good, certainly not like I'd expect it would be with bent valves (a bent valve won't seal and you'll have low compression). Valve seals will have nothing to do with any overheating problem, but might be implicated with a relatively slight oil consumption. You wouldn't typically expect worn valve seals to cause exessive oil consumption or visible smoking unless the valve guides and maybe stems were also quite worn.

"it just overheats once in a while" isn't really a good enough description to be going on with. Can we have more details as to in what circumstances it overheats "once in a while"? It may have nothing to do with the head or head gasket etc, but some other more 'external' part of the cooling system, (you hope!).