I've got a basic D16Y7 in my 96 civic. Last November I hit my remote start (live in MN, it's cold), heard it start for a second and die. Went out to start it manually and I got nothing, wouldn't fire at all. Between the newborn, work, and sub-zero temps, I decided to just park it for the winter as I had another car I could use.

Fast forward to a month or two ago and I finally got around to taking a look at things in the warmer weather. Spark/timing all looked good so I tested compression. 1 and 4 were alright but 2 and 3 had about 20psi. I assumed I had blown my head between 2 and 3.

I finally found the time to get the head off today, but I don't see anything obvious on the block, head, or gasket layers.

I was curious if a gasket blow would be obvious, or am I just missing something else? Happy to include any pictures if that helps.

Thanks for your help!

 

Post pictures of the head and block

 

Not the greatest pic on the head, I can snap another one in about an hour after "bedtime" if need be.
My brother in law suggested rings, but I thought it was odd having both 2 and 3 go out.

 

Has the car ever overheated?

 

It's been a while, but not really. Don't recall this car ever really having overheating problems. Biggest issue I had heat related was my cab heat sucked in the winter, I suspect my thermostat was more of a "summer" thermostat but I just never swapped it out.

 

No heat can be a few different things, one is broken flapper posts/arms. Two is something wrong with the coolant flow valve near the firewall in the engine bay. And third is an air pocket that is residing in the heater core.

An overheat can cause the head or block to warp. Usually the head but once in awhile the block warps too. The only way to check that is with a precision straight edge and feeler gauges. The straight edge is typically 100 bucks or more. Starrett makes a nice 24" one for about 100 bucks.

Now that the head is off the car, might as well take it to the machine shop, have them check it for flatness and also pressure test it.

 

For future reference, the next test that you should have done after the compression test is a cylinder leakdown test, which would have revealed where compression was lost in cylinders 2 and 3. Without the cylinder leakdown results, you are now left guessing the cause for low compression in the two cylinders. If you're lucky, the head gasket was blown rather than a list of other possibilities that can cause low compression.

A machinist will leak test the head, check the valve seating, and mill the head flat. However, a flat block mating surface is just as important as a flat head, so purchase a precision straight edge and check the block flatness as well. This way, you have a higher chance that the head gasket won't leak when you reinstall the head.