Hey!
I just replaced a head gasket on a '98 H22 motor for a friend of mine. (for being a chevy guy this was a PITA) First time working on a honda motor like this, and I managed to successfully do it. Aside from the 8,000 parts I had to R&I, I found a few things and want some feedback. There was a TON of carbon buildup on the piston heads and valves- it seems #4 was the worst- with about 4mm of buildup on the piston- and the other pistons were progressively better to #1 which only had a few mils on the flat area of piston face. I did use a solvent-B12- to soak and remove as much carbon as possible while I had the head off.

First question- Did i f'up letting that B-12 soak in the cylinder? I had no idea they were FRM walls untill about 5 minutes ago when i googled it. The walls were shiny white prior to carbon remover and dull white/grayish(like oxidized aluminum) when I was done.

2nd question- While there was a definate power increase, this thing smokes like a ****. I'd attrubute 1/3 of the smoke to crap on the block/head/exhaust burning off. The smoke from the exhaust was white but didn't smell like anything strange. There was also a lot of smoke and pressure coming from the valve cover-i.e. I remove the oil cap and a puff of smoke shoots out and there is a decent 'breeze' coming out of there. Is this most likely just the solvents and other things burning off? or did I possibly screw up installing a head gasket? I'd also add the engine did heat up quicker than normal(per friend) but it never went too hot.

 

-Did you ensure the block and head were straight and not warped?
-Did you use an OEM honda head gasket
-Did you use new honda head studs or reinstall the old stretched ones
-Did you use the proper torque sequence on the head studs

These are all very important on a honda headgasket replacement

 

-Did you ensure the block and head were straight and not warped?
To the best of my ability- I used a straightedge. I lost most of my mechanics tools so I don't normally do big jobs like this.

-Did you use an OEM honda head gasket
He picked it up, it was a Felpro

-Did you use new honda head studs or reinstall the old stretched ones
Used old ones

-Did you use the proper torque sequence on the head studs
Yes, 73'lbs on the bolts and used the sequence from the manual.(middle to outside)

If this was my vehicle, I would have bought the whole gasket kit, redone the valve seats/seals, etc. but I was just doing this for a friend-and this is his daily driver; needed as little downtime as possible. He has a ton of other stuff that needs to be replaced- bloated heater hoses, cracked coil, worn distributor cap, etc etc.

 

It's ok to reuse the stock head bolts.

Replce the pcv valve with an OEM one.

As for the rest of it, if you just did the work wait and see if things stabilize.

 

pretty sure using old stretched head bolts is a gamble...why do all of that work and skimp on something that cost $60 ? and i would never use anything besides a honda headgasket

 

I agree with you on the OEM parts thing, if this were one of my RX-7s, I would have only gotten OEM parts. Alas, I just did the labor for the guy.
I was mostly concerned with the smoke and air pressure from the oil cap on the valve cover. Is the pressure caused by return air from emissions junk?

edit- my timing was about 10deg retarded at idle-if I read the markings correct. Is this too much?(by markings I mean there was a line next to another line that said 15 under it-I was just about between the two depending upon where I stood relative to things) Not sure how to read the timing marks-on the flywheel not crank pully btw- on these things.

 

Stock head bolts are not torque to yield.

 

ask any good honda mechanic that does work by the book and he will tell you that a 100% professional head gasket change involves new head studs .

 

Honda mechanics aren't mechanical engineers. And they're bolts not studs. If you want to 'go by the book' look at page 6-23 in the 5gen helms.

 

Damn science taking place here... Well OP if its running and the headgaskets the only issue I'd just run it for a little while under normal driving conditions and see how it behaves. It might stabilize as mentioned, or it might not. But I highly highly doubt there's anything you can really do now. If the walls were ruined by the solvent and the cylinders are scored, you're already done. If the headgasket's not sealing, it's not going to get any worse from low-revving for a little while. If the headbolts were indeed stretched somehow, they're not going to get better anyways. I would just run it for a little while and see if it overheats or shows any signs of problems first.

If that white smoke was indeed coolant from the headgasket not sealing, the car will overheat soon enough to tell you. What I'm saying is that I'd wait it out just a bit to make sure you're not disassembling **** to find out it's actually perfectly fine.

 

10/4 thanks dagle

what about the timing? I was looking around some more and the 15 is actually 15 deg advanced i guess.

 

If it's the stock motor then it is OBD2 and the timing is not adjustable on the distributor if that is what you are thinking of. It's best to set the cam/crank timing using the crank pulley markings, but you can use the flywheel if you know what and how to look for it. It doesn't sound like this is your problem though, unless the car does not feel or sound like it's running right.

Continuous smoking does sound a bit suspicious, however. I would think most of the solvents would have burned off in one full heat cycle if they were going to.

 

Replace the pcv valve before anything, it sounds like there's excess crankcase pressure.