Ok well i made a thread yesturday my carwas overheating when i got into boost, i changed everything in the cooling system and it still did it. So today i said **** it and ripped the head off. This is what i saw when i took the head off.




There was coolant resting on top of the pistons and the exhaust valves are white. Now theres a slim chance that some coolant could have leaked into the cylinders when i took the head off, but i really think it was there before. The headgasket appears to be in good condition just carbon discoloration. The head studs look fine too. Is it possible that the head studs werent torqued down enough? I torqued them to the helms manual specs, but my tq wrench is ****. Thew surface of teh deck and head appear to be straight after doing a few tests. Could there be something wrong with the headgasket that im just not seeing? I dunno this has been confused, i guess im just gonna buy a new headgasket and throw it on and see if it cures the problem, anyone have any ideas?

 

hard to tell from the pics , but it looks like the intake valves are open on cyl 1. but anyway when you installed the gasket did you clean off lal the gunk from the tops of the sleeves? if it wasnt sealing good for some reason that could be a prob. looks pretty messy though. its coolant in there? looks like oil in the pics

 

Ya the valves are open on cyl. #1

it is coolant, just my camera sucks ***.

 

coulda just been everything wasnt cleaned good and good mating surfaces? whats up with the valves open? or didnt you get a chance to check into that yet?

 

The surface of the head was clean, i guess ill run a wire brush over the deck again just top make sure thats smooth. Would it be dumb of me to put it back together with the oem studs? They only have about 700 miles on them, i really dont know if i can afford to order some arp's.

 

i wouldnt . i was always told the OEM studs arent the wisest to use more than once. I dunno if thats true or not. but thats what ive been told over years. ARP's are only like $115

 

Did you have a chance to do a leak test before took off the head? If you don't do leak test, it's very hard to tell if something wrong internally.

 

well, theres obviously something wrong, note the coolant in the cylinders...

 

You're right after looking at the pictures carefully. You might want to consider a engine replacement. Good luck!

 

the engine has less then 800 miles on it...after market internals...

 

did you drain the block before taking the head off?

i mean taking that big brass bolt on the front of the motor off.....this drains the block...

if you didnt do that coolant can sometimes leak in when you are removing the head... either from the intake manifold...or fromm the edges of the cylinders....

post a good pic of the headgasket...the side that mates to the block...

take pics of the sections inbetween cylinders....and anything else that looks odd to you..

post them up

 

oh yeah ...and dont worry about it....it can be fixed

you can use stock headbolts again, BUT its not good....they stretch once and then its over...if you have the cash... ARP....if not new stock ones.

i change b20/vtec headgaskets up here all the time....bseries guys and there sleeved motors most of them look like your motor when the head comes off..

you didnt overheat it bad did you? like pinned in the red?

 

It wasnt getting into that hot on the gauge, once it started getting hot i brought her back home so it wouldnt get too hot. I didnt drain the coolant from the block before i removed the head, i should have though damn it. Ill go snap some pics of the hg.

 

heres a shitty pic of the HG, my cam sux

 

why is the coolant black?

 

...spark plugs are pretty ghosty too...

 

Would that much coolant make it hard to start...or think it would just shoot out the exhaust valves? I also wonder if all of the crap on the block would be preventing the HG from making a good seal...the a6's are bitches to clean off b/c the old paper gasket bakes right into the block like that. It took me forever to scrape it all off w/ a razor blade. I'd try to clean off the surfaces, throw on another HG and see how it is. Keep us updated bro.

 

i cant see a thing...

tell me this are there any areas that black is supposed to be but its not anymore...its shiny...thats where the HG would be blown....it doesnt have to be inbetween the cylinders...but thats where it usually is...

check all the little holes areound each cylinder on the gasket...check for any deformities

 

if you engine wasnt smoking like hell before then the coolant probably got there while you were taking the head off.

 

Swapped head gaskets and even threw in a new water pump, took it for an 8 mile drive and so far so good, PRAY FOR ME! btw it never smoked so im assuming that coolant was from removing the head, also the coolant isnt black, it looks black because of the carbon on the pistons.

 

*prays to the honda gods*

 

dude! whats the update?!. still going OK? Call me or stop by the shop today after 6 if your out and about

 

I would also like to know how it's running.

 

Going good but im decidingto either sell teh caras a whole or part it out and put it back to stock engine wise, time to buy a bike.