hi i have a 94 si prelude and it has has weak mpg (i only travel like 20 miles a day and the tank can only last 3 days max) and when i smoged my car i saw alot of white smoke come out what do i need to fix to get rid of these problems?it also over heat if i dont put the ac on. and it gets hot pretty fast. what can i do???
Can you guy tell me what i gotta do and how much you think it will cost to fix these probelms?


Modified by shermanator at 1:54 AM 1/31/2004

 

sounds like the thermostat, but i don't see how that could
affect your gas economy that much, maybe you have a few
seperate problems

 

Your head gasket has gone, White smoke is the sign that your putting water out through your exhaust, along with the overheat prob I bet the head gasket has blown. The engine oil will probably be emulsified with a milky appearance as well, if that's the case a new head gasket, possibly the head will need skimming as alloy heads can warp ? & of course an engine oil flush and oil & filter change are due. Do not run it until you get it sorted or you will probably cook the engine.

 

how much will this all cost?

 

probably at least 6 hundy
is the oil a milky brown color?

 

Most of the time, the oil and antifreeze will not mix if just a compression seal on the head gasket has blown out. It does sound as if you have a mildly blown headgasket though. Does the white smoke smell sweet?

 

not sure if it smelled sweet all i know was last time i took it to be smoged and i saw a huge cloud of white smoke but today i took it to the mechanic and rev it and no white smoke how come? do i have to warm it up so there wont be any white smoke? he said he'll have to check it when the engine is cold.

when i put in the dip stick the engine oil is black/brown. the orginal owner didnt take good care of the car and when i brought it to the oil change place there was almost no more oil in the engine.

and also the radiator water was like green is that suppose to be rite?

what do i have to worry about? Should i fix this over heating problem first or get a major tune up first? help!!

 

well ok now i brought it to the auto shop and it is the head gasket. so here is my question does it cost 1000 dollars to change the head gasket and do a major tune up(timing belt stuff) together. OR DO you think it should be less than 1000k to fix those thing?

 

I would think if they are sending it off to the machine shop to be checked for flatness and cracks, having a valve job done, and doing a service it would be more than 1k. Just make sure the head is checked for flatness and cracks.

 

if its just a head gasket, then the gasket cost like 80 dollars max, and if its got a warped head, maybe another 50 for a milling, but 1k that is insane, you can get a complete runing junkyard h23a1 with lower mile for that much money. i mean yes a mead gasket it labor intensive, but its not that bad. your geting takin if they charge u 1k . though i have always done my own work so i don't know what a shop would charge normaly

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prelittlelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">your geting takin if they charge u 1k . though i have always done my own work so i don't know what a shop would charge normaly</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you don't know they why are you saying he is being taken?


The head work alone from the machine shop will be upwards of $500(if they do a valve job which most decent shops will). Labor at most decent shops is $65 per hour. The job probably has a book time of about 7 or 8 hours. Even if it was 6 hours that would put you at $500 for head work + 400 labor + misc. fluids, belts, water pump, and spark plugs. Now if they are not doing a valve job, then it should cost about $600.

 

so the head gasket can cause the engine to over heat? cuz last time i drove it almost the whole day and the meters for the heat was full like 3/4 almost to the end. i also saw some fog on the bottom of my windshield. can that be the head gasket causing it or the thermo thing not working?


Modified by shermanator at 6:42 AM 2/6/2004

 

Fog on the inside of the windshield is usually a sign of a leaking heater core. Unless it has been raining and you have a small leak.

Headgaskets will most definetely make the car overheat. What happens is that nice explosion of fuel seeps into the cooling system though a small hole in the headgasket. The air that gets in is EXTREMELY hot and also pressurizes the system. Overheating ensues. People also tend to blow radiators up and blow hoses out as the radiator cap can't release the pressure quick enough.

Driving your car with it overheating is not a good thing. If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself or diagnosing it yourself then take it in before you sieze the motor.

 

Yeah 1000k isnt too bad. If they are doing all the t-belt and hardware for that and the head is getting checked. I dont think its too bad. I am just glad to be able to do all of this my self!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by yellow_jacket &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


If you don't know they why are you saying he is being taken?


The head work alone from the machine shop will be upwards of $500(if they do a valve job which most decent shops will). Labor at most decent shops is $65 per hour. The job probably has a book time of about 7 or 8 hours. Even if it was 6 hours that would put you at $500 for head work + 400 labor + misc. fluids, belts, water pump, and spark plugs. Now if they are not doing a valve job, then it should cost about $600.</TD></TR></TABLE>


theres no reason at all for a shop to do a valve job when changing a head gasket. what they will do is check the head for warpage, and maybe mill some off. when i had my head milled and checked for warpage it was 60 dollars. so tell me how a vavle jub affects head gasket sealing?

i agree that it is labo intensive but i think 1k is way the hell too much. he can buy a complete long block of off hmotorsonline.com for less than 1k. and i also have a friend that had his gsr head hot tank cleaned, installed all new valve seals, and had a 3 angle valve job done and if my memroy servers me righ it was no where near 500$, he only payed 150 with the labor included (he bought the valve seals himself).

in my opinion 1k and your getting taken.

 

While it may not affect the actual head gasket, the reason they do valve jobs is primarily to refresh the top end(replace valve stem seals, check guides, and get better compression). You may not like it, but it is common practice. You may not like the price to get it all done, but that is the price you pay when you can't or do not want to do your own work.

As for head work, I've had an awful lot of heads rebuilt, and it was never anywhere near $150. If you can get heads done that cheap, let me know where and I'll ship them there.

And while he could probably buy a new motor for around the same price, he is still getting a used motor that he would have to pay someone to install.