So I just bought this car a few days ago. I can be honest and say this is my first honda. I bought it due to my mustang motor needing to be rebuilt. I know NOTHING about hondas. I can turn wrenches and am a do-it-yourselfer.

It has the 1.6 in it, has headers and full exhaust. Dont really know anything else about it.

Couple problems,

When Im driving the cab just fills with exhaust fumes. I talked to a buddy and he said try seeing putting the vents on circulate. That doesnt work. I was thinking maybe the gasket on the hatch? But it looks intact.

Another problem, which could be part of the first problem. It blows white smoke, and the rear of the car has black soot around the pipe. And theres some soot on the pavement in my driveway as well. Only thing I can come up with by research is blown head gasket. But dont want to jump to conclusions. During my research I saw that its best to replace the water pump and timing belt as well. I also saw a thread that you can soak the head bolts in oil before installation to save money on buying new head bolts.

Any help, places to buy parts at a decent price, tips, etc would be helpful.
The guy also took out the a/c parts which he gave me when he sold me the car, most likely im going to say the compressor is shot. And he took out the jug for windshield washer fluid??? no idea why he did that. But Im guessing the pump went bad on it? Again hope to get some help, tips etc on this. Im waiting on a buddy who says hes got a friend kinda by me that will look at it.

 

Do a leak down test to verify that it is a leaking head gasket. It can tell you a lot of things if you know how to read the results. Nothing like going to the trouble of replacing the head gasket and finding out that it wasn't what was wrong.

 

Not necessarily true. I just had the dealer do a leak down test for me while my car was being inspected. the car had a known blown head gasket but the leak down test showed perfect pressure and it held until released.

 

ok new update, so the black soot which makes sense is unburnt fuel, upgraded plugs and wires and thats gone.

white smoke is only when i press on the accelerator and was told thats the valve stem seals. So i priced them out and theyre pretty cheap. just gotta figure out how to do them.

Also, it was cool enough the other morning and had to use the heat, amazed i didnt smell fumes......till i rolled down my windows. seems that ONLY when my windows are down is when the inside of the car fill full of fumes. So still thrown for a loop on that one