Blown Head Gasket

Yeah I nearly fell over. Its also one of those deals where I could buy the head gsket for 200 or the head kit for 275 and get all the seals, they have down to a system don't they. I will pick up a compreshion tester today and check before I get into her to deep. Can I leave the exhaust and intake gaskets, or do they need to be replaced too?

Just got done checking the compreshion of the cylinders. The numbers were good. With the engine cold, cyl # 1 182, cyl#2 190, cyl#3 190, cyl#4 195. Warm, cyl#1 182, cyl#2 190, cyl#3 190, cyl#4 195. On the first stroke of compreshion each cylinder basically climbed to 120 or slightly higher. Then went up roughly 30 lbs each stroke in succession. By the 5 stroke out of 7, they had reached their maximum number. I am quite confident that the head gasket is good, but what are your thoughts? One thing that I did realize tonight was that alot more smoke came out of the tail pipe when the throttle opened, making me think that maybe it is a bad seal in the intake manifold as the vacume of the gases going in would pull more anti-freeze into the cylinder.

I have a 1991 Honda Civic the milage is 150,000.
Recently I brought my car in to a shop to get a FULL DIAGNOSTIC of what was wrong with my car. It was reacting sluggishly and didn't seem to drive as fast as it potentially should. I asked them to tell me EVERYTHING that was wrong with it, and then I would decide wwith them what I could afford to get fixed by what was top priority. They replaced my radiator, a hose, and tuned it up.
Two weeks later the car sputtered while starting and overheated five minutes later. We looked at the water reservoir and it was bone dry so we replaced the water and it was fine. The next day the same thing happened with the sputtering (this time we had to try 3 times before it started) so we brought it back to that shop. They informed us that there was a blown head gasket that was blown not after they worked on it, but before.
My question is how is it possible that a good mechanic could check the radiator, do a full diagnostic of the car, and miss a blown head gasket! Is it possible or did they mess up?

Well my update at this point is.I took the intake manifold off the other day to see if it was sucking antifreeze through the cooling port. When I put the new gasket back on, I bought some high temp gasket sealer, to put around the port and the #4 cylinder intake port. I let it cure for 24 hours then tightened the intake bolts in sequence. There was no change in the emissions. At this point with good compreshion and good intake I can't think of where to go next. We are thinking its a possibilty that it could be left over coolent in the exhaust system from when I inititally blew the head gasket cause it was flooded with coolent. I filled up the collent levels in accordence with the manual last night and marked on the resevior the level of the coolent. We let it run for half and hour and the coolent level never changed. I haven't drained the oil out of it, but I had put brand new stuff in before I first started it and when I looked at it last night it was crystal clear. I have ran the engine a total of 1 hour on that oil, so part of me wants to think that if I was burning anti freeze, the oil would surely be slightly cloudy by now? Would this issue of excessive emissions come down to a timing issue. I was thinking of this last night cause I can tell you at ideal this engine runs excellent and smooth. The only time you get any kind of hesitation is when push the throttle open fast, then you get a deiseling sound. But then runs quickly up to high RPM. I am thinking of renting a timing light and setting it properly. I am pretty much running out of ideas and getting low on $. I am thinking if the smoke dosen't clear up I will have to take it into my local Honda dealer for there opinion.

I took it for a good 7 km run this morning. Runs just fine, no hesitation or burps runs smooth and ideal and great when you come to a stop. After the first time that I took it for a drive I noticed that the smoke was pretty much gone, then slowly it started to come back as it sat in the garage idealing. I then checked the coolent reseviour and it needed to be topped up. I let it sit for a bit again and took it for the same 7 km run as before. When I got back from that run its was hardly smoking at all and the reseviour was exactly were it was before, if not added to by the engine. At that I let it ideal for approx 5 minutes and the smoke was there but a signifigantly smaller amount then before it was road tested. The smoke is still pure white and disipates very quickly. The oil that I can get off the dipstick is still a clean golden color and there is no emissions coming from the dipstick port, when the stick is out, at operating tempurature. I am reserved to running it for a few more short drives and closely monitor the coolent level in the reseviour.

I bought a used car w/3month warranty. It has been back to service 4 times for overheating. The last time broke down going out of town and I was told, by the car dealership they told me to take it to, it was a blown head gasket. Manufacturer had it three weeks, warranty now expired and they said nothing is wrong. I just picked it up friday and haven't driven it. My question is could they put something in to seal it and how long would that last. How can I tell if the head gasket is blown?

Engine Performance problem
1995 Honda Civic Automatic 225000 miles

I think that I've blown a head gasket in the engine of my '95 Honda civic. The engine ran hot on day and I was told that my radiator had a leak, so I got it replaced. But I think I damaged my engine while driving to the shop because the engine started to shake when I stopped at red lights. The next day my car stopped and smoke was coming out of the engine. Was told that I blew a head. How much does it normally cost to get it repaired?

I have a 1996 Honda Civic with 160 k miles. It overheated one night when I blew a heater hose. It is now hard to start and I have antifreeze in the oil. Do I have a blown head gasket?

Engine problem
2003 Honda Civic 4 cyl Two Wheel Drive Automatic 51,000 miles

My question is simply this : How could the MOST reliable car in the market ( accoring to consumer reports at least ) have a blown head gasket at 50,000 miles?

I experienced the temp guage going up, took it to the Honda dealer who determined that there were 2 issues : 1. Faulty thermostat and 2. A possible blown head gasket since the HCC was still registering higher than normal.

Is this a common problems with the Honds cars. Should I consider a Toyota in the future instead?

Thanks

Hello,

when I parked the car today, after driving for about 20 minutes at mostly low speeds, I have noticed hissing noise under the hood. When opened it, coolant water was all over the right (passenger) side of the front engine and radiator. When checked the reservoir for excess water, it was almost full. Radiator was dry (I didn't see the water) and on top of the inside membranes I had a piece of some black soft-rubbery remains (looked like a part of a gasket). So I filled up the radiator with coolant and started the engine for water to settle down a little. Re-filled it and closed it.

The gauge never indicated overheating prior to this or afterwards.

A while later, after driving a distance of about 15 miles, I checked the water. It was a little lower than when I refilled it, but nothing serious indicating a leek or house damage.

But this time, when starting the engine while the plug on radiator was off, it spilled the coolant all over. When closed, it spills coolant via the reservoir's cover or through the house connecting the radiator to reservoir.

To me it looks like a blown head gasket. But I'm not an expert.

After all this, I had a problem to start the car. It finally started after like five tries.

The fan runs fine.

Please help me to find the reason. Should I let a friend who doesn't have a shop to fix this? Many thanks for your help. Anyway, I want to sell this car - is the repair worth it? :(

Sorry to say it is a head gasket more than likely. The reason it was hard to star is because water is getting to your piston and making it hard for yoour spark plug to fire. Repair cost ranges from 550 to 700 dollars. It is a real pain. Mine 95 civic 1.6 is torn apapt right now for the same reason and it never ran hot. It is good idea to replace the timing belt, water pump, and have the head pressure tested to make sure its not cracked while the car is apart if your mechanic says this is not a good idea take it somewhere else. Let me know if I can help. If your are not a very experienced mechanic I would atempt this job myself take it to someone whom works on hondas alot