As post states. I know it's not recommended to reuse head gasket BUT!!! check the situation befor replying!! I replaced my head gasket because I was losing coolant and car almost overheated. Took engine apart and sure enough 150k oem HG was toast. Took head to machine shop for resurface. I purchased new fel-pro (blue) HG along with water pump, timing belt, tensioner, thermostats, valve covet and intake gaskets and what not. Anyway as I was assembling the head I broke a cam cap bolt and screwd the head up trying to remove the bolt. Purchased a 2000 p75 head off a b20 and am planning on putting it on this weekend. Currently it's at the machine shop being resurfaced. I'm picking it up tomorrow. My question is can this HG still be used as it was only torqued down and never started?

 

Not really, they crush and seal when there finally torqued, just spend the extra money on a new oem one, dont even chance using copper spray either. Not worth your time and effort doing all that just to find the HG diddnt seal.

 

Your right thanks dude. I'm so damn inpatient thought I could take a short cut to save money. I'll just have to catch the bus to work for a few more weeks to be able to afford one. Spent all my money on parts. I will try to exchange it for a new one if the parts for less has warranty on it. Oem would be nice but if they exchange this one I will use the new one.

 

Tell them it was defective and throw a fit and ask to speak someone else etc. they will replace it. Hehe.

 

Moral standards don't get lower than that.

 

Hahah damn son. You guys are funny. I wouldn't be able to lie with a straight face. Honestly I contacted parts for less and told them what happen. To my surprise they are trying to work with me. They said if it's still in good condition they will replace for a %15 refund fee. So I'll pay %15 of $65. Not bad in my opinion. Also I got my phone reimbursement check from work so I have some money to buy parts and wrap this thing up.

 

Good idea not making some sort of scene. And that's great of them they're working with you.
I just have worked in places where no matter what. People throw a fit and managers do it their way lol.

 

Forsure

 

Huh? you can't lie with a straight face, but you can tell them the part is in good condition in order to return it? What will they say when you need to buy another right then and there? The next person who gets that already-torqued HG will have a hell of a time wondering what is going on with their car, knowing they installed a "new" HG.

Am I missing something here?

 

You can use the gasket just fine

 

I wouldnt chance it. Like i said once torqued they crimp and seal, Some will say they have or seen used ones work fine or spray copper spray on them but its just one of those rule of thumbs we go bye, I personally never use a used head gasket, oil pump, water pump or timing belt unless its brand new and theres others that will use them depending on what milage is told it has, me i dont chance those things better to buy new ones and OEM parts at that but the HG that are sold at the parts stores are just fine. Dont short cut things like that it could cause a whole lot of work if it fails, Keep an eye out in the For sale section and craigslist sometimes people sell head gaskets for cheap but if your getting a discount on a new one why not.

 

Back in the day when we were broke, my friends and I reused old head gaskets, new ones etc all the time on b series. MLS gaskets are really tough, and you have to know how to inspect and handle them.

You condone blindly replacing everything because it feels good with no real technical justification.

 

Its not to feel good but piece of mind. Why chance using a old headgasket, its not fun pulling off the head twice lol I also never reused headstuds, again people argue they will stretch and not give the proper torque and others have claimed to have no issue reusing them. I would hate to reuse the head bolts only to find the head hasket is leaking cause of the strectched bolts. Then pull the head off and have to buy a new head gasket and fluids. A lil investment with ARP studs gives you piece of mind you can resuse them and a new gasket gives you piece of mind its not gonna fail cause its used.

My point is cutting corners sometimes results in more work and money down the road..

But using a old part cause your broke is fine and understandable its just one of those things were you have to chance it cause $60 for a new OEM HG isnt cheap nor easy for a broke person to spend.

 

There's a saying that summarizes many things in life..."Being lazy is twice as hard."

If you're willing to crack open your engine twice, then go right ahead and reuse your head gasket.

 

There's no special way to handle a used MLS gasket to preserve it for use a second time. If there was a method of inspecting a HG to determine if it could be reused, it would've been published somewhere for people to see. Where did you discover this method?

You may have reused old gaskets on previous engines with positive results, but that's not called technical justification... it was just luck. No one knows how well that engine ran afterwards, its reliability, or how much longer you had the engine before letting it go. If you really felt the idea of reusing a head gasket was acceptable, it shouldn't matter if you were broke or not. Why promote maintaining a car on a broke man's standards?

 

I remember putting on a cometic head gasket on my supercharged d16 after I replaced the valves (burned out one in cylinder #3 and leaked a bit). When reinstalling the head, my buddy and I didn't notice a dowel pin fell out. The pin was on the ground after I backed the car out. Ugh.... a bunch of money later I ended up pulling ahead off again just to reinstall the dowel pin. Yes, I bought a new head gasket and never had a problem. Loved that motor...

 

Actually, my post was just comments and experience. I didn't claim that what I said was any technical justification to sway anyone. The fact that he still has a gasket that has only been tightened down on, in my opinion is not grounds to throw it away. If you think that has now rendered the gasket "used" and compromised, then so be it.

 

But in theory, it is grounds to not use it for like I mentioned once the head is finally torqued the gasket is crimped and sealed and it crushes to a smaller thickness I believe around 0.002" for a lock tight area so once the heads removed the gasket is deemed "used" and will not seal properly if used again. They are also sprayed with a special type of rubber coating to fill in any imperfections on the block and heads surface.

 

Ok, if you were in the same situation as the OP what would you do? Reuse the gasket or purchase a new one?

 

I like the gaskets Honda uses, so I would toss it and get oem. If it was oem, I would inspect and reuse it.

The MLS gasket does not crush, it has a static and compressed thickness. That really only changes because of the ribs and steps created by the stamping dies. The black coating is fluorocarbon rubber, I have yet to see its integrity diminished from being tightened between two surfaces one time. I'm sure on some microscopic level there could be an argument but in the real world I don't think this will reduce the life or compromise the reliability of the engine. Especially a stock engine where the head gasket design is robust and well made.

 

But a Fel-Pro gasket is a mirror copy of a Honda OEM head gasket. Do you really think there's a big enough difference in manufacturing between the two?

In all honesty, if the car has not been started the head gasket should be safe to reuse. But personally I wouldn't take the chance since I have the means to buy another one and wouldn't want to do the work over again in the event the gasket prematurely fails. When torqued properly, an MLS gasket will not compress to the point where it makes an impression on the gasket surface. What does crush are the copper rings that hold the gasket layers together.

 

Well, the Fel Pro gasket may be sufficient for the OP. They are quite capable of making decent gaskets, just not my preference.

In the case of the Honda gasket application the copper rings are always outside the head and block mating surfaces. They don't get crushed at all. I have actually taken new gaskets and removed the copper rings and middle gasket layer to reduce gasket thickness for more compression and tighter quench space. I actually used this on a B16a nitrous motor. If you search around this used to somewhat common practice. Probably not ideal on a motor you hope for 2-300k life out of but who knows, it just might go the distance.

I tend to see very little emphasis placed on engine and head cleanliness, surface finish, assembly technique etc. I notice people tend to get caught up on one or two things and overlook the 97 other critical areas necessary to accomplish a top notch rebuild.

 

Whats there to emplasize? The OP is just swapping heads on his LS. It was mentioned the head had been resurfaced. It doesn't sound like a top notch rebuild but more like someone who just wants to replace a head gasket. How well it turns out isn't the topic of discussion.

And 97 critical areas? Like knowing how to inspect and handle a used head gasket?

 

Stop being a dick. The store employee knew it had been torqued down because I told him when I called. When I took it to them they packaged it up and told me they would send it back to fel-pro as defective. Dude was so cool he didn't even charge me.