Well, after cracking a sleeve in my old motor I got a stock block to run for a while since I don't have the cash to build another motor. Problem now is that the goddamn headgasket doesn't seem to be sealing.. This is a b18c btw..

I got it all together yesterday and started it up and drove it around and it smoked like a champ... So, I figured I didn't torque the head down well enough so I got another headgasket from acura today and torqued it to 80lb ft. w/ regular moly lube w/ arp studs, which should be plenty. Well sure enough it still smokes like a bitch. Seeing how I REALLY don't have the money nor have the incentive to pull it all out again, anyone have any suggestions for a ghetto fix?

I didn't copper spray the gasket which I'm regretting now, but would throwing some bar's leak in there possibly stop the leak? I'll seriously try anything at this point. I don't have a leak down or compression tester myself but I'll try to do it tomorrow to figure out how bad it is.

Either way, I'm sick do death of even looking at the damn car at this point because I've been working on it for a good 4 days straight. I really really don't want to have to pull the damn motor again, but if there's no other choice than oh well. Thanks.

-Mike

 

Well, you could have torqued it down to much with 80 ft-lbs. I remember a friend telling me he did 75ft-lbs, and the headgasket leaked. You might have to pull it, spray it with copper spray, then reinstall it and torque it to 65 ft-lbs. Not to many things you can do to fix it once it leaks.

 

I had the same problem and found out two of the head studs weren't grabbing because the block was stripped in those two holes. You might have overtorqued the alluminum block or perhaps the two surfaces aren't machined properly.

 

To my understanding, I think you're supposed to torque the headgasket to 70lb ft. w/ the arp assembly lube. I torqued it to 80w/ regular moly grease. I torqued it previously to 70 w/ just oil, but that didn't seal. My last block that was built lasted 15k miles and I installed the headgasket dry and I never had a problem with it.. I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it even trying another headgasket.

How often can/do the decks actually warp on a block?? Because like I said, this is a STOCK block. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to pull the goddamn thing, but I'm trying to avoid the inevitable.

-Mike

 

I highly doubt the threads are fucked up...

I'm willing to bet now that the deck on the block is what's fucked up. I wish I had a good straight edge, but no one I no has one, and they're expensive..

-Mike

 

you can torque the head studs to 80 lb, it won't stripped the threads at all...

did you torqued the3 studs down in 2 steps ?
did you put the 2 dowel pins on the block ? this may solve your problems
did you put the headgasket the right way ?

double check this...

stan

 

Ahh.. I'm nearly sure the deck is warped now..

I actually torqued them down in 3 steps to be extra sure..
Yes, I put the dowels on the block.
Yes, I put the headgasket on the right way.

This isn't the first time I've installed a head on a block, either way thanks for the help. I guess it's gotta come out again.

-Mike