Hey yall, so I'm about to do my first headgasket job on my 2004 civic LX. Are/is there any dos and don'ts/advice i should be aware of? Also i haven't figured out yet what the best way to clean the block surface is, i was thinking of using a ****ton of brake clean and towles. Also how high is the chance for the head being warped?

 

Get the head checked for warpage and plane as necessary.
Consider the timing belt service at the same time.

 

Timing belt is 15000 Miles old so i think it's not neccessary to change that just yet, how much is it to resurface a single head on average?

 

call the local machine shops for a price , it has to be done , don't use the old bolts get new from the dealer , use one of the old bolts as a chaser if you can't get a pro one , cut a groove in an old one to make one , use a quality torque wrench , take your time and don't cut costs , find out everything you can about the subject

 

I will definitely get the head checked out and milled if neccessary, what I'm not going to replace are the head bolts because I'm working on a tight budget here (student) head bolts used in those D17 engines are non-TTY bolts anyways and like i said, i don't have the funding for new ones because they are frikin expensive.

 

Then trade that P.O.S. in for something else because you'll more than likely have problems . Little details like that are why these things go wrong .

 

Why would i? The head bolts are non-TTY bolts. I don't see a problem reusing them. The manual doesn't even say to replace them, i mean of course it'll give u some peace of mind if u do replace them but it's not neccessary. That "PoS" like u want to call it only has to last another 20-30k miles anyways. Ive already driven 13k miles on it with it having a blown headgasket.

 

Interesting observation i made, i haven't had any coolant issues for about 2 days now. Car is not running hot anymore nor is it pushing coolant out of the reservoir. Obviously i haven't changed the headgasket yet, why did it "fix" itself? Could a chunk of debris plugged the leak? Really odd...

 

thermostat ? air pocket ?

 

Thermostat and radiator cap were changed so was the radiator, the headgasket test came positive for exhaust in the coolant, so pretty much everything indicates a blown head gasket, i just drove the **** out of it, no issues at all. It kinda makes me mad... been having issues for the past 8 months.

 

I have an 04 that had over heating issues , blown hose , bad thermostat , air pocket . We took it off the road because the gauge would climb only after driving 50 miles or so , anything shorter was no problem . Now it'll idle in the back yard for what seams like as long as you want with no problems but there's always a little goop under the rad cap so it's just not dependable for my son . I always thought there was no such thing as a slightly blown head gasket once it goes you won't get 5-10 miles before it fails but I've been wrong before . A compression test showed 150 psi on all 4 but I want to rent another tester for comparison and perform a leak down test after I take care of 10 other things , no rest for the wicked .

 

Well I'm going to change my head gasket anyways.i thought about it and yes i am going to replace the head bolts, since they are only $9 each at my local parts store. Machining my head is going to be harder than expected since there are really no machine shops near me that work on heads. Guess i gotta bring that thing to the next city which is an hour drive...oh well. Oh and btw the issue you stated is the same one i have, after a 40 mile drive almost all of the coolant accumulated in my reservoir and overflowed it, at that point it is not running hot yet tho. If I'd continue another 10 miles it'll start overheat. So what i usually do is pull over after 40 miles and refill the coolant before it runs hot.

 

Are $60 to resurface a head a reasonable price? Seems really cheap to me.

 

sounds reasonable , they might charge a little more where I am but I don't know , that's to be expected

 

Okay so one of the 2 nuts from the driver side engine mount will not come off...its stripped, i guess from the previous owner. My question is now, can i proceed taking the timing cover off without removing the engine mount. Or could i just remove the rocker assembly and camshaft to simply slide off the timing belt? I'm kind of frustrated at that point

 

I think it has to come off , maybe nasa could do it I don;t know . Hopefully it's a stud that you can remove and replace , I mean the motor bracket the mount is on is under the timing covers that you have to remove for the belt tentioner , you'll have to set timing marks so you should have the motor set up before , the belt and water pump should be replaced but you don't have to , are we having fun yet ?

 

Yes a lot of fun :D... got the bolt loose but lost a 17mm socket doing that.

 

Yall, is it okay to take the head off with the intake still attached? Can't get the bolts of from underneath.

 

Been a B**** to disassemble but the head is finally off and being dropped off at the machine shop.

My dad is a mechanical engineer and he said the head isn't even warped. It's at the machine shop regardless.

 

O.K. good , let us know when you get it running , putting it back together will be a walk in the park .

 

Also, i noticed that when i put my engine to TDC prior of removing the head that it was timed wrong... the person that did the timing belt job before me messed up big time, which would explain why it always wanted to stall when i started it up. The UP mark on the Cam pulley was facing down...at least the notches lined up with the head. The crank was set correctly. I'm really surprised that it even worked like that, the cam pulley was a 180 degrees out of time...

EDIT!!: DISREGARD I'M JUST STUPID...I SHOULD HAVE TURNED THE CRANK ANOTHER FULL ROTATION AND THE CAM WOULD'VE LINED UP.

 

yeah , the cam will go round twice with one turn of the crank , the belt is installed counter clock wise ( as I remember ) and then you turn the crank ( clockwise as I remember so check all that )) 2 times and check timing marks again , a new tensioner comes with a pin that holds it back for installing the belt , If the belt was off one tooth it may have caused it to stall , what's the belt look like ? It should go on tight even with the tensioner retained .

 

It did go on tight, actually it was a pain in the a** to get it back on, the timing belt was changed 15k miles ago. I already timed everything and spon it 5 times, looking good so far.

 

Alright, car is up and running like a charm so far (only drove it 12 miles home). First startup was smooth and nice (except that my buddy thought it was a good idea to tab a socket onto the chassis so it sounds like a rod knock which scared me shitless). Gonna check everything tomorrow morning and take it for a longer spin. Coolant seems to go into the reservoir and back like its supposed to be. Like i said SO FAR so good.

 

Alright i drove 60 miles today without issues so far (usually my reservoir would drown in coolant by now). i know no one really replies to this thread but i keep on posting updates for someone else who wants to do that job himself because everyone can do it and i can tell ya it's worth it! Especially when you realize that it worked. Anyways I'm hyped and except for a leaky throttle body coolant hose i don't have any issues.