So one day I check out my coolant overflow tank and I see some very tiny black bubbles. They go away for a couple of months. Then I'm sitting in traffic idling in a lot of heat and my temp needle started bouning up and down fast, never getting past the 3/4 mark. I get home that night and I let the car warm up to see if I could see any bubbles in the radiator. A few minutes after it was heated I look back and I see white smoke. I check out my exhaust tip and there is a good bit of water in the pipe. So I think its a headgasket without a doubt. So I pull my head off yesterday and the gasket looks to be perfect. Any ideas what may be going on?

 

cracked sleeve maybe..
wats done the motor/which motor..

 

Its a B16A2 in a Civic Si. With Greddy turbo at 5-6 psi. The headgasket was stock.

 

if you have a cat on the car, water in the exhaust is normal as the cat produces
water. It was probably your head gasket.

 

Here's a pic of my exhaust pipe, shortly after I had turned the car off from the night when I thought it blew:

 

doesnt mean much imho. cat or not the exhaust will blow water either from a cat
or from condensation. white smoke out of the tailpipe = blown HG

 

Do you not think, the pics slow A LOT of condensation?

Just wondering because I thought was an excessive amount.

 

looks like a normal amount to me

 

thats nothing compared to my car. if you push the gas in my car anything behind
the tailpipe will be soaked.

 

same here..lots of condensation....just clear...no smoke..mostly vapor...jus the cat doing its job

 

in your case maybe

 

Maybe you head needs machining.

 

Yeah I'm gonna take it to a machine shop tomorrow. Get it checked out and what not. Maybe some port matching.

 

i had the same problem you did....

got it checked and it is the head gasket....but to fix it in the shop is out of the question....asking price is about 600-up...

maybe a next project for me....

 

Dang $600 is a lot to change it. IMHO that it is not too hard to take the head off. Atleast you'd learn something though.

 

taking off is not the problem is putting it back together is what im worried about..

 

Why's that? Just as long as you have a torque wrench and you know the torque sequence you should be ok.