My 98 Civic CX overheated a month or two ago. Replaced the radiator and upper hose and it's been fine until last week when it started over heating again. I turned the heater on and made it home OK. I noticed the top hose was swollen. I hoped it was a thermostat and not the head gasket, but didn't have time to mess with it so I took to a local mechanic (limped it over and didn't overheat that much according to the temp gage). He ran the chemical test and said it was the head gasket.

So I have a week or two, should I just replaced the gasket myself and check the head? I don't know how to tell if the block or bearings are bad. I'm not sure how over heated, but it would be cheaper for me to do it myself than have the mechanic do it, and I have the time. Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Brian

 

If yer up for it, I'd go for it. Save a lot of cash and know it's done right.

If you can get a hold of a set of ARP head studs or bolts for your motor it will provide added security.

Here in Canada the HG itself runs about 90 bucks but in the states you can get them from dealer for like 35 bucks.

The labor is what kills you.

Also it is very handy to get your Factory Service Manual for torque specs and sequences. Best to let the car sit a day and pull the head when it's stone cold, if it's still warm you have higher chances of warping the head when removing it.

The bad side of this whole thing is you over heated before you blew the gasket and shortly after replacing cooling parts you start over heating again. That would sound like the head warped a little on your first series of overheats.

Depending on how bad the warp is will be the determining factor if they can mill it straight or not. If they can mill it straight your compression ratio will go up a bit and not sure if it can go up enough to force a higher octane gas but it might be a possibility. The other possibility is that the head is too warped and you need a new head. That's the one risk that might throw a serious monkey wrench into doing it yourself. My Honda Tech guy gave me a tip he does and that is to have all the possible parts that could be bad on hand when doing any job. Any he doesn't use he returns and gets his money back. This saves him from ever having to wait on parts if he discovers something isn't as it should be.

Good luck.

 

Thanks. I brought it back from the mechanic today. The tech told me that the test showed no coolant/oil mixing and that it was bypassing exhaust gas (I think I got this wrong, but the best I can remember). Either way, he said it was a straight forward job and suggested a few local machine shops to do the head work. I guess I know what I'll spend Christmas through New Years doing, and I'm sure I'll have to buy a few new tools as well.

Thanks for the advice.