hey guys, i have a JDM H22A swap in my 97 CL and for about a year ive had some cooling problems. this tends to happen more when its hot out, but when im driving for about an hour, get to my destination and idle for a few minutes the temp gauge goes about midway. Everynow and then i check my coolant resvoir and see a milky sludge like substance which means the oil is mixing with the coolant. so this leads me to believe i should replace my headgasket.

so my question is, is it a waste to use like a 87mm cometic or Bisimoto headgasket or any aftermarket headgasket for that matter? my H22 is completely bone stock internally and dont plan on ever building it. and before anyone inquires my water pump is 1.5 years old as well as my thermostat.

 

oem is best. unless its bored out then oem wont work. which is not your case. go with oem.

 

first thing is to do a leak down test and go from there...come back after that's finished for further diagnostics...but yeah milkshakes indicate mixing...

cometic gaskets are great gaskets if the mating surfaces are super flat and the correct Ra finish is achieved...oem is only good for stock rebuilds...

cheers

Lubo

 

thanks for the input guys.

i work for honda and a few months ago a tech at my job has this special tool/kit that looks like some science kit that could determine a bad head gasket. and it was fine.

but i still have a little mixture goin on and some slight cooling problems.

 

any other advice?

 

bump.

 

bump.

 

idk if your engine has one, but check if theres an oil cooler, and if you have one it may be leaking internally. it would be where the oil filter screws on and have two coolant hoses sprouting from it.

 

nah i dont have an oil cooler.

 

that test your buddy did is to see if exhaust gases are leaking into the coolant. if a bridge in the headgasket inbetween an oil and coolant passage is opened, the test will fail, b/c although the headgasket is leaking, its not leaking into the combustion chamber.

 

i see. that makes alot of sense.