we reciently changed the head on an h23 due to overheating.
The driver had overheated the car, cracked the head, then continued to drive the car home. she did not notice how long the car had been overheating.

we replaced the head and are using a felpro head gasket, torqued the headbolts to 74 ftlbs by the book, and did a valve job to honda specs.

we also had to flush the radiator and clean out the intake because of the oil/coolant that was in there. an oil change was also done.

when we went to start the car we filled the radiator with water and had 4 quarts of oil in the car.

the car started then proceeded to run on its own. every once in a while it would bogg down but not die.

we topped off the radiator and checked the oil again (needed half a quart)

then the car got to operating temp. and the bogging then proceeded to get worse causing the car to die. then the car would not run unless the gas was feathered the whole time.

we noticed that the car would also produce steam coming out of the exhaust (not sure if it was just water in the exhaust). now when the car is started it only will idle at about 100 rpm.

we did a compression test: approx no: 230 - 210 - 235 - 230

before the incident the driver said that the car would die randomly when the gas was let off. this was before she noticed the car overheating.

there is pretty much all of the information that we have right now. we were going to try and swap the tps sensor to check and see if it was that. but we have not yet.

my question is: what could possibly be the problem with the car?
and could she have warped the block after overheating?
if it is a timing issue: how exactly should the arrows on the cam be pointed? parallel or in towards each other a little? pics?

thanks for your help in advance,

dan

 

bump...

 

First, i would have gone for the OEM headgasket as you cant go wrong with OEM honda parts.


Also, would have gone for like a 50/50 in the radiator or use water and some keep cool or something. straight water is eah.


You guys didnt have the block checked for warpage or cracks? A vaccume leak would also cause this type of idle. I believe there is a few people who have experienced the same problem on the same motor, however im not certain on this.

The car isnt throwing any CEL's correct ? Have you messed with the idle screw? what all have you tried looking for thus far ?

Im sorry i cant be more of a help, not to experienced on the h23.

I would strongly suggest looking for a vac leak and double check everything including the timing. If you have a helms manual it should tell you how to set the timing belt and cam gears.

 

the up arrows should both be pointing up.

 

we did not do 50/50 yet bc we had to flush the system for the rest of the oil/coolant crap that was in the motor.

we did not think to get the block checked until we put the head on... we did not realize that the car had been running hot for a long period of time...

did not check the vac tubes yet. thanks for the idea.

it is not throwing any codes...

havn't adjusted the idle screw bc it worked before...

my friend and I are used to civic's & integ's. workin on a prelude cramps the hands!

thanks for the help,

dan

 

Don't screw w/ the idle control screw, it should be set from before you took the head off. It wouldn't be your problem, anyways.

It sounds like you have either a warped head or block, or a cracked block.....or a combo of them. Pull the head and check for cracks. If none are visible, check for warpage w/ a straightedge. If it's in speck, get some Magnaflux and check for cracks again , b/c some of them can't be seen by the eye.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by OpTiX619 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
we replaced the head and are using a felpro head gasket, torqued the headbolts to 74 ftlbs by the book, and did a valve job to honda specs.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Also, that's not correct. IIRC, the manual says to torque the head studs in steps up to 54 ft/lb's.......74 ft/lb's may be right w/ ARP headstuds, but i'm assuming you didn't use them.

 

the head was cracked, we bought another one to put on the car however, we did not check the block for cracks n stuff...

 

The head we bought, came off a running car, and was told it had no cracks..
I did put a straight edge across it and it looked great...

Thats why we didn 't have it Pressure checked....

 

bizzump for anymore ideas....