another head gasket question

hockeydad2

Registered User
i have a question for all of you that have replaced headgaskets. i just bought a 90 sc from the orginal owner with 123,000 miles. he's a "honda" dealership mechanic and said he has maintained the car very well. i bought the car knowing the headgaskets are bad. i didn't want to start it, i did check the dipstick, the oil level was about an inch over full and the oil color seemed ok. he said that he was taking off from a light and the car started missing he looked in the mirror and saw white smoke so he shut it down and had the car towed home. i had the car towed home, drained the oil and removed the filter, (maybe 1/2 qt to a qt of antifreeze did come out first). i also drained the radiator and after letting the oil drain all week i installed a new filter and added 5 qts of 5-30 oil. i tried turning it over a couple of times to flush out any antifreeze in the bearings. my question is, it doesn't start, should it start with blown headgaskets? (it turns over normally, maybe a little whine). i bought the felpro headgaskets and bolts, but should i start taking it apart before starting the engine and checking for a rod knock? any suggestions are welcome, thanks, bob
 
When my hg's blew, the car would not start. It would turn over. But as it turned over the radiator resevoir would bubble. Pulled it back, and started tearing it down. I replaced from the head gaskets up, cost was right at $400. Head work was $210 (no porting done), gaskets were $145 w/ head bolts. Also while you have it torn down, go ahead and replace the motor mounts. I went with solid ones $50 at like autozone or napa. After you get it done, go buy some cheap oil (super tech at walmart .88cents) for the first 500 miles. So the heads and gaskets can break back in. After that change it over to the oil of your choice. It took me roughly about a week, between waiting for parts and puting things together.
Just a piece of advice also....Check the valve covers before putting them back on. Mine had been over torqued and the drivers side was leaking bad. Had to tear down the driver side and sand down the bolt portions back to flat.
 
thanks for the reply steve, that's what i wanted to here about not starting. how many miles did you have on it when the headgaskets blew? also did you have any concerns about the bearings and how many miles have you driven since replacing the headgaskets? thanks, bob
 
I had 134500 on the clock when they blew. i had just done the 5-speed swap to. I did have concerns about the lower part of the engine, but Vernon said it should be fine, as I shut it down right then. I have been driving it now for right at 3 weeks and have no problems.
 
sorry....

sorry-but your engine very well may be shot-when the antifreeze got into the oil, it sunk to the bottom, as water in oil will always do-then, the oil pump picked it up, and sent it through your engine, wiping away all lubrication, and causing your bearings to get scorched and stripped of the babbit down to the copper backing. This probably grooved your crank slightly as well-putting head gaskets on that engine will prove to be a mistake-and will probably result in the bottom end going shortly thereafter-if youre not into putting an entire engine in-definately at the very least change the main and rod bearings.

sorry-but my advice would lean towards a rebuild.

Mike
 
i would at least do bearings to avoid further damage in the near future. Also, after a head gasket failure , REPLACE THE OXYGEN SENSORS!. coolant will destroy an O2 sensor and you may end up with driveablity problems or poor fuel economy. Leave the old sensors in when you first start it up after replacing the head gaskets, and let it run for 30 minutes or so to burn off all the coolant residue that's in the exhaust system, then put the new Oxygen Sensors in.
 
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