Hi all,

I've got a 99 Civic SI (all stock), that has been sitting (outside) for three years with a blown head gasket. Here's a short backstory:

Three years ago, July 2013, my bro was driving down the highway when the motor started to smoke. He pulled off, had it towed to the local shop, and they diagnosed it as having a blown head gasket, quoted $1k to fix it. Money was tight at the time so the car was towed to the driveway and life happens... there it has sat for three years.

I'd rather not go throw a bunch of money at this thing initially, but I would like to give it a good effort to get it up and running again. I'm looking for a sanity check here on my checklist before I attempt to crank it over:

- Head Gasket: Replace
- Battery: Buy new
- Gas: I'm assuming drain the tank & fill with new, unless there's an alternative?
- Fuel filter: Assuming this needs replaced
- Spark plugs: Assuming these need replacing?
- Engine Oil & Tranny fluid: Do these need draining & refilling, or is 3yrs still doable on these?

What else am I missing?

Thanks

 

Chech head for flatness. Figure out why it overheated, was it thermostat or waterpump?

 

Like the other post, remove the head check for warpage the max you can have(if im correct) on the head is .004 anything higher than that, replace the head.

For the block check the deck flor flatness aswell. Many say that blocks usuallu dont warp, thats not true for honda blocks, the cylinders can "shrink" usually in between cylinder 2 and 3

 

to add to your list.

Water pump/timing belt, thermostat. Coolant flush.
Oil change

crank it a couple times to build oil pressure before starting it.

 

Gas you can mix it with new stuff, depends on the amount in the tank. Loosen the fuel filter and turn the key to pump out old stuff in the line.

Filter itself might be OK, depends on when it was changed last.