Hey everyone longtime Honda Bike owner but first time Honda Car owner. I picked up a CHEAP and suprisingly really good shape 95 del sol this weekend. I have what appears to be a weeping/leaking head gasket. I will attach pictures below with the area in question as well as some other misc pictures that may help yall help me troubleshoot. I am well versed in involved maintenance and engine building so I am more than prepared to replace the head gasket if needed. My questions before doing so are as follows:

1. When I do change the head gasket is this something that can be accomplished over a weekend or should I set aside more time? I previously have only replaced head gaskets on motorcycles and V8 engines so I am used to motorcycles taking mere hours and V8s taking up to weeks. I have watched some videos on doing the head gasket on the D15B7 and it seems relatively straight forward.

2. Other than a new head gasket, new intake gasket, and new exhaust gasket. Are there any other items I should replace when doing this job? I plan to get new head bolts too obviously.

3. As it sits the car does not actively gush coolant. It will make a small half dollar sized puddle overnight and I drove it home 1 hour of driving without overheating at all. It seems to hold it coolant rather well just needs replenished after 1-2 hours total driving time. How serious is my leak if this is the case? Is this something I can let go for a week or two? I will only be driving it 10-15 mins to work during the week.

Thanks in advance for any advice or encouragement.

EDIT: Also worth mentioning the car does not smoke (white or blue) at all or consume oil. The oil is a healthy color and has no coolant in it nor does it smell like coolant or gas.

 

Pictures:

 

1) Head gasket failure is among the most complex engine diagnoses.

2) Plan for time to pull the engine, to have the head rebuilt and milled flat etc., to make careful micrometer measurements of the block, and to have the block top milled flat.

 

I understand that diagnosing if the head gasket is indeed my issue is a complex diagnosis. But I would think that the area it is leaking from (pictures have not been approved by mod yet) and the fact that it seems to be pressurizing the coolant system is enough to diagnose that as my most likely culprit. I just posed the question on here just in case there was an engine specific issue that could also cause these same symptoms.

I am not planning on pulling the engine on a car that I got for under $1000. I will put a straight edge on the block and head when I get to that point and if anything I may have the head milled but engine removal is out of the question. I have been looking at the Fel-Pro steel gaskets to replace the one that is possibly failing now. I do not want to use a cheapo graphite gasket and have to replace it in another 50k miles.

 

Has the possibility of a cracked block or head been considered?

 

The Ishino Leak Gasket should still be available at autopartsway.com

It is the MLS version for the D15B7.

Where your leak is, are you sure it's not oil from the distributor? Or coolant from the ECT sensor or coolant from the temp guage sensor?

I would get rent a block tester to confirm combustion gases in the cooling system before pulling the head. If and when you do pull the head, you should get it lightly milled just for a smoother surface assuming it's not warped. You will then want to wet sand with 3000 grit quality 3m sandpaper the block to both take off as much of the graphite gasket material left behind as well as smooth the finishing surface of the block.

The reason they used graphite gaskets was to allow for rougher finishing mating surfaces and the MLS gasket may not take to such a surface. When I wet sanded my block and head (neither were warped) the Felpro permatorque gasket worked just fine. My only problem is I used a thinner one for the D16Y8 and had pinging issue due to that.

 

If it was leaking substantially more coolant or had water in the oil I would consider that as an posibility but with how mildly it is leaking and how well it runs I do not suspect a cracked head or block at this time.

 

​​​​​​Where are those sensors located? I will make sure to check them. As soon as the picture post is approved you will be able to see where the leak is located. It is on the vehicle right side underneath the distributor and seems to be coming right from the mating surface between the head and the block right where the large coolant passage is.

 

Pinpoint this^ leak. What's directly above the puddle? Then go from there before blaming the headgasket.

 

Once the pics post you'll see what I mean. Looks like it's coming right from between the head and block that's why I suspect head gasket. Doesn't appear to be bad because it isn't overheating or smoking from the exhaust yet.

 

TomCat should be able to expedite the visibility of your pictures. You're clearly not a bot.

 

Sorry, it doesn't notify me or give me any indication that attachments needing approval and display normally for me regardless. Just located the method to approve. Should be visible to all now.

As for those sensors they are on the head under the distributor. The ECT is the 2 wire while the Temp gauge sensor is the single wire. Both go to a coolant passage in the head to measure coolant temperature. ECT for the ECU the temp gauge sensor as is labelled for the gauge in the gauge cluster.

If it is indeed a bad head gasket then I have confirmed the USA autopartsway still carries the Ishino leak gasket (Ishino made Honda head gaskets):

Ishino Cylinder Head Gasket
Part Number: ISH1621414 Manufacturer: Ishino Stone

Product Notes:
This special head gasket should be used when failure was caused by gasket leakage. Please refer to Honda service bulletin 97-047. It advises that if the head gasket is being replaced due to leakage, this is the correct replacement gasket. Also recommended are special head bolts (90005-PM3-004, 10 bolts required). If the head gasket is not leaking but is being replaced for other reasons, use gasket #12251-PM5-S02 along with the normal head bolts. Refer to the service bulletin for further installation instructions.

 

have you done a compression test. is the oil a chocolate milkshake color? can you see antifreeze dripping when the engine is on? If it were my car I would try some Radiator stop leak before I pulled the head.

 

That stop leak stuff is the worst it clogs up heater cores and thermostats. In my opinion its pretty low effort to just pour stop leak in there... I'd rather find the actual issue and fix it. Like I said in a previous reply the oil is a healthy color and is not being consumed or leaking.

Thanks for the info on those sensors tomcat I will check those out to see if they are what is leaking.

 

Pictures Attempt 2

 

 

I beleive everyone can see your pics. I approved the attachments for both posts of pics a second time just to be sure.

Looking at your pics, I also noticed the bleeder bolt seems to be missing from your front radiator tube hookup on the head. Should look like this as it's the same on all 92-95 USDM.CDM motors:



And the 3 spots under the distributor on the head that could be spraying coolant is the left red circle, the heater core hose that goes to the firewall, the middle circle, the temp gauge 1 wire sensor, and the right circle which is the 2 wire ECT sensor.




Please note, the ECT sensor and the temp gauge sensor is pipe fitting threads so they are tapered, over tightening them can be catastrophic. I tend to use liquid Teflon on the threads before putting them in for good measure.

 

scrape off the grud around the leak. then lightly dust some baby powder on the block at the area of the leak. go for a drive. when you get back look for the damp spot where the leak it. Im betting it will be where the upper rad hose connects to the head.

 

Looks like youre right about that bleeder screw. What is that little part called? I cant seem to find it on rockauto. Also could I just replace that top radiator connector entirely? That seems like it might be the easiest but I cant find a part number for it either.

 

https://www.hondapartsnow.com/parts-...hermostat.html

 

Nice! I will try to pinpoint my leak and if it looks like its coming from that housing I will go ahead and order both of those. Thanks!

Seems like everyone is really pushing hard for it being something other than the head gasket. Is head gasket failure not a common mode of failure on these engines or something?

 

Actually it's quite common but it rarely blows coolant outside of the engine. Typically if it's a head gasket you burn coolant or mix coolant in the oil.

Everyone is pushing to find the problem, not just attack a suspected area hoping its the problem only to learn you wasted time and money and didn't actually fix something that was broke.

A block tester is typically a good way to test for bad head gasket:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/o...BoCbskQAvD_BwE

 

Indeed, a number of users are suggesting you go through a proper diagnostic before attacking the head gasket as the source of the problem. It's good advice. TomCat eyeballing the missing bleeder screw is evidence of the way people are trying to steer you in the right direction by paying attention to detail! We'll sort this out!

 

Just as a data point, I've got an A6 that has the water neck tapped for the bleeder screw's threads, but it's not drilled all the way through. That may be the case with the OP's.

 

If i get time this weekend I can make my self a water bottle version of this and check my coolant system. After what everyone has said though I think I will try to clean up the sludge off the block and put some powder on there and see if I can find where the leak is coming from. From when I filled it up the other day it has barely lost any coolant so the leak I have is extremely slow.