Ok, I've got some problems... I have another post about my car from several months ago, but decided to start a new one because this is the 2nd time I have had this issue and idk what is going on...

Anyway, I seem to be having chronic head gasket failures with this car. The previous owner said he replaced the hg once but he had over heated it. It came to me with a bad valve, which I fixed and replaced the hg at that time, but overheated it a few weeks later due to some stupidity on my part (other owner had hardwired the cooling fans and I forgot to turn the fans on one night while testing my stereo system) and the gasket gave out not long after that. When I replaced the gasket the 2nd time, I got the head resurfaced, which I didn't do the 1st time... I did not pressure test though.

Anyway, that was like 2 months ago. It has been smooth sailing since then, until this morning. I started the car (it was chilly this morning, like 40 to 45ish) and out rolled some white smoke... Not as much as it had done back when the hg blew a few months ago, but I knew it wasnt right. I just got back from work and checked the cap. White slime.

What the hell... This literally happened out of nowhere, I have had 0 overheating issues since I fixed everything 2 months ago. Could my block be warped? It just doesn't make sense that it would be fine for 2 months and then just up and blow for no reason. And the car starts/runs fine. I'm lost.

 

Noticed today that mine is blown as well. Not really sure how it happened as mine never overheated (or showed it) either. Going to just order stuff tonight and tackle it this weekend I guess.
I'm for sure replacing my temperature sensor. I don't know how this could have randomly happened to me, either, as it was completely fine 500 miles ago when I changed my oil.
Mine starts and runs fine as well. I'll be interested to see any answers.

Doug

 

Seems like it's a known issue with those engines (EJ, EN).
I have 1300 EN1, got the car with headgasket changed from PO. In 20K km I've changed gaskets twice.
Guys at 1-st gen Civic forums speculate that replacement gaskets are of worse quality than original one, but I think it's just an engine deign. There is really not much of surface for HG to sit on and any imperfection will cause the blow out.

 

I have to agree on your idea about the engine design. I noticed the very small gasket surface the first time I changed it. But, even then, who knows. The last gasket I put on it was a NOS Felpro, seemed to be a nicer gasket than the first one, but that was just a visual observation. Another interesting thing is I have driven the car quite a bit since the smoke incident the other morning and it has not smoked since, and yesterday it looked like the white slime on the cap had all but disappeared. I love this car, but it befuddles me.

 

In my case, the first indication of blown gasket was bubbling in the expansion tank. For the second time I haven't even waited for white smoke.
Another problem is that new head bolts are not available, so I've re-used old ones applying 10% more than recommended force second time. Will see if this will help. I also plan to re-tighten them after some kms.