Head Gasket...

I think its time for a new Head Gasket... I'm not really excited, being laid off and all. My poor car has become rather suicidal since I quit driving 3k+ miles per month. Anyone else had a bad head gasket, or is it just me?

Hope your a mechanic or you have a buddy who is. One of my neighbors had his head gasket replaced at the local honda dealership a few weeks back and they charged something ridiculous like 1100 or 1200 bucks....

are you sure you have a bad head gasket?
head gaskets are pretty straight forward. Ive never done it on the accord, but all you really need is a torque wrench and new head gasket and a basic racket set. Hope you can do it with out removing your intake manifold. That thing is a pain in the ***. just remember to mark you timing belt to the cam pulley. I think new head gaskets are like 60$ at honda

silverbullet99 said:

Hope your a mechanic or you have a buddy who is. One of my neighbors had his head gasket replaced at the local honda dealership a few weeks back and they charged something ridiculous like 1100 or 1200 bucks....

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Unfortunately, that is what I will be looking at (or some shop, somewhere). I was thinking about doing it myself with my father-in-law, but he just doesn't have the time, and it is a little too big of a project for me to attempt on my own. I also have several trips planned in the next 3 weeks (including heading on a 4 hour drive Friday morning) so I need it done quickly too... Woe is me...

mraw112 said:

are you sure you have a bad head gasket?
head gaskets are pretty straight forward. Ive never done it on the accord, but all you really need is a torque wrench and new head gasket and a basic racket set. Hope you can do it with out removing your intake manifold. That thing is a pain in the ***. just remember to mark you timing belt to the cam pulley. I think new head gaskets are like 60$ at honda

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According to my Haynes Manual, you have to take apart quite a bit... I'm not sure I even would want to attempt it myself... Maybe BCK will come down and do it for me

Did you over heat the car at all since you knew the head gasket was bad? It's not a bad idea to bring the head to get milled flat again just to be sure, otherwise you may have to do the job all over again.

finch13 said:

Did you over heat the car at all since you knew the head gasket was bad? It's not a bad idea to bring the head to get milled flat again just to be sure, otherwise you may have to do the job all over again.

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The dealer told me they send the head out to get taken care of whenever they change the gasket, so that's probably part of the reason it is so expensive from there...

No, I have a lot of coolant disappearing and no puddles to show for it. I changed my oil last week and it wasn't cloudy or anything, but the coolant tank was empty (after 3-4 weeks since I topped it off before) and there was residue in the bottom. I think I topped it off last Thursday, and last night I checked and the reservoir is back down to the minimum line. I have only driven about 40 miles since Thursday, so its a pretty good guess that the coolant is getting burned off internally. The dealer is going to diagnose it for sure tomorrow afternoon and let me know if they agree that it is the head gasket or not...

You can sniff the exhaust after the cat has ignited. Burned coolant has a sweet smell to it.

I'm not sure how detrimental coolant is to a catalytic converter, but I hope it won't destroy it like a too rich fuel mixture can.

compression test will tell. also milling the head is not expensive. a place locally does it for 20$.

I did mine when I did the head swap, it's really not that hard. But yes, you do have to remove the intake manifold. **** that thing.

Might as well to the water pump and timing belt too.