my wife has a 99 lx civic with a d16y7. it had a cel 2 months ago. It threw a misfire on cyl#3 code. so I put new plugs, wires, cap and rotor. problem solved. today the cel came on. read the code same as before. I pulled the plug out and it is burning properly. last week the radiator fan switch went out and the engine overheated but was shut off right away. I replaced it and its been fine. don't know if that has anything to do with the misfire but that's what all has been done to the car in the last 2 months.

any ideas or suggestions on what could be going on that will point me in the right direction

 

So it no longer does it but you're just looking for the cause ?

do a comp/leakdown test could point to a bad valve(s) or something else do a wet/dry test

 

its had a sweet smell coming from the exhaust. it runs good when the car is cold but when it gets hot it runs like crap. skipping. the cel starts to flash. I have 3 codes now. p0302, p1399, and p0505 so tonight I started tearing it down do have the head pressure checked. as I took the manifold off I noticed oil on the manifold, the gasket, and in the #2 port. that's as far as I got tonight

 

sweet smell from the exhaust is coolant(you're burning it). Could have blown the HG when it over heated especialy if it(HG) was already on it's way out. those are misfire codes can you still do a leakdown test or are you just going to pull the head and see(might as well)

 

im going to pull the head and see. I did a complete head gasket job this time last year.
im afraid that she isn't telling me the truth and let it get to hot and possibly warped the head. I should know something tomorrow. anything I should look for once I have the head off.

 

That's what i'm leaning towards as if you turned it off right away the HG would be fine. but coolant smelling exhaust is 9/10 a leaking HG if you can take a pic of the valves(still in the head) unless you can drop them and take a pic of them that way. can't really say anything in particular to look for other than to look at the valves

 

ok I will take one tomorrow when I get it off and post it

 

Subscribed.

 

Me too, which brand h/g did you use last year? Was the head resurfaced?

 

I used a felpro from autozone. I also had a shop resurface the head before I put it back together.

 

the head showing valves

 

top of pistons

 

can't see it. pistons look normal as they should over heating shouldn't do anything to the pistons more so the head and/or block.

 

the way it looks is that coolant was pouring into #2 cylinder

 

it will be Wednesday before I can take the head to a shop. there is a shop 10 miles from my house that builds import motors. I called them and they want me to bring the head in with everything still together so they can look at it. was told they would take it apart to resurface and pressure test then put it back together. they told me it would be 135 to do all the work

 

did you fully drain the coolant sys before you pulled the head ? when I first puled the head on my GS-R I forgot to drain the coolant and it along with oil poured into the cyl. that one pale one (unless light angle) has deff seen coolant odd that the other one looks normal.

 

I drained the radiator when It stopped I mashed the hoses and more came out. I did that before I did anything. when I took the head off the was no coolant that came out or dripped

 

Hmmm come to think of it the tops of 1 nad 4 do look rather white(brown) that's from coolant seeping in a burning. 135.00 seems fair at lest considering what places charge for that type of stuff around here.

 

there is one shop that will do it for 80 but I will have to take it apart. so saving time id rather pay 55 more and let them take it apart and put it back together to save me time. since they do it everyday. I think that 135 is pretty damn good for the test and work they will be doing.

as for the headgasket it looks like is was leaking in between all the cylinders . but its hard to tell by the gasket. I believe the true result and answer will be when the shop does the test on it and resurfaces it

 

keep in mind that the block may have been warped also you can check that yourself I just forget what the tool is called.

 

yea I know but I don't know what the tool is called either.

 

A straight edge, but those are pricey. I used a metal yardstick for mine, but that's really not the recommended way. I probably just lucked out with mine, even if it had been warped it might not have shown it.

I have to say from looking at the pictures that #2 was getting steam cleaned for sure, which probably led to the overheating issue, which may in turn have led to the HG failure.

 

 

got the head to the shop today. aslo had the shop guy come check the block. block is good to go. I will have the head back Wednesday and start putting it back together.

 

update..... got the head back late Wednesday. had to have 6mil shaved off to get rid of the warping. Put the car back together Thursday. I drove the car for about 2 hrs last night and is runs better than what it did before.