Hey guys I am on a budget to get rid of my crx. Anyways it has a b18b and the head gasket failed. I know on some cars you can reuse head bolts and on some you can't. So my question is can you reuse them and not have trouble down the road? If not were can you buy stock ones. The only thing I can find are arp studs. Ill put those in the car if I have to but like I said I am just trying to get rid of the car.

 

Some say it is OK, some say it is a bad idea. I know people have re-used them and had no issues. I know of people who re-used them and had problems(may not have been the bolts, could have been warped head of block surface). I also have not seen anything official that states to replace them. The factory service manuals I have do not say they need to be replaced.

That said, if I cared about the motor, I would replace them. You can get the bolts at the dealer, but I think ARP might be cheaper.

 

yeah I called the dealer and they wanted $142. Going to use arp studs.

 

I re-used the headbolts in my old EF, the new owner (buddy of mine) has been DD'ing it for a year so-far and no problems.

 

I have re-used them on a D15B2 before and it hasn't
had a issue as of yet..

One suggestion is that if you do reuse them is to put
the same bolt back in the same hole/position it came from..

 

reusing head bolts will last for a year or so. then youll have to do it over again.

thats exactly what i went thru.

if you want to sell the car, sure, reuse it. itll last for a while then its the other guys problem.... but it would be a jerk thing to do.

you get new head bolts from the dealer.


for D series, later civics 92+ came with spiral head bolts that CAN be reused. im not sure what the deal with B series is tho.

 

theyre fine thread and metric which makes reusable but there are times when bolts will stretch after time. it just matters the condition of the motor. if it had overheating issues in the past i would just replace them for long term longevity.

 

if the head gasket failed, the head bolts stretched. therefore, in need of replacement, unless theyre the spiral ones.