Okay so I am trying to help my friend fix his turbo civic and I am at a loss as to what may be the issue. A little back ground on the engine,

2000 Honda Civic EX d16y8 *not 100% sure*
eagle rods
srp pistons

He had the block honed and assembled at a machine shop who does a lot of the honda work for the locals around here.

We put the head back on with a stock gasket and arp head studs. Reassembled the engine as n/a for the break in period at the recommendation of the machine shop and started the car. Let is idle for about 10 minutes and oil began to drip from somewhere on the back side of engine. It appeared to be a leaky head gasket on the drivers side.

We disassembled and checked the block and head for trueness and reassemebled with a known good head we have as a spare. It appears to be leaking from the same spot. There are also a few coolant leaks which appear to be coming from the front of the block where the alterntor braket bolts on.

Any ideas as to what may be the problem here. This is the first time I've done any real work on a honda motor so I am not sure if we may have missed something putting it back together. If you need any more info which may help you help me figure out what the heck is wrong let me know.


-jeff

 

Did you reuse the head gasket when swapping the head?Sounds like a leaky gasket

 

maybe the headgasket was put on upside down or the dowel pins arnt fully seated

 

Originally he tried using a copper gasket which I thought was the issue. So the second and third time around a brand new OEM gasket was used. Purchased a new set of dowel pins as he didnt have any the first time around (or so he says) but I guess it is possible they still didnt seat correctly. I'm gonna give it one more go because I am 100% positive that it has to be something really simple.

Also any comment on the coolant leaks. Do any of the bolts that go into the block protrude into the water jackets anywhere? Its possible it may be just a hose but I appears to be seeping around the bolts in the front that hold on the alternator bracket.

-jeff

 

There are no bolts protruding into the coolant jacket on a D series engine (or any honda engine that I know of for that matter). how much oil are we talking about and have you driven the car at all yet?

ohh and good luck I hope it's something cheap/simple.

 

What did u torque the arp studs too? Paul

 

He drove the car around the block the first time he started it. There is still an oil streak all the way around the block where it was leaking. Now when we run the car however the oil leak is very small compared to what it was originally.

There were no instructions on the box so I called arp and they told me 61 ft-lbs. Used the arp moly lube as the recommended for assembly as well.

-jeff

 

61ft-lbs sounds kinda low side. I believe i torqued mines down to 72ft-lbs when i had the d16. Arp is really on the conservative side. That might help, Paul

 

61lbs is right but i go 65lbs to play it safe on my engines.