Blown Head Gasket

Hi there

After an engine overheats, sometimes it is difficult to start because of low compression. Lubricating oil has dried up so try putting some engine oil into the cylinders via the plug holes and crank the engine without the spark plugs to get the piston rings working again.

By the way, since you have done some repairs, have you installed the timeing belt correctly and also the distributor?

Driving the vehicle with a blown head gasket. Can do a lot more damage if left untreated. One thing is that its still going to keep running hot and use antifreeze. Having coolant in the engines combustion chamber can cause the engine to hydro lock and potentially bend a connecting rod. If antifreeze is running through the exhaust system it will damage the catalytic converter over time. It sound expensive to have it repaired, but the more its ignored the more damage it can cause

I would say it would not. A salvage yard can tell you better than I.

Pull the head off and take it to a auto parts store with a shop and have them look at the head for warpage and cracking. They can plane warping.

We don't get involved with costs here because there ARE so many variables. Some shops include things in their quotes that might be needed, then surprise you with a lower bill if possible. Some shops quote the basics to be the lowest cost and get the job, then have to tell you about additional needed things as they're found. Conscientious mechanics are going to replace the timing belt at the same time which only makes sense when they have your best interest at heart. Some mechanics will not because they think they're looking out for your wallet. Hondas use mostly "interference" engines that develop expensive bent valves if the timing belt breaks, and they often break earlier than the recommended replacement interval.

You have an engine problem but you didn't bother to list the engine size or the symptoms so I can't comment on the best course of action. There's seven different engines available. You mentioned head warpage so I might infer you're losing coolant or have white smoke out the tail pipe. If that is correct, there's two things you can do. One is to add a small bottle of dark purple dye to the coolant, then search a day later with a black light. The dye will show up as a bright yellow stain that you can follow back to the source. If you find it inside the tail pipe, the head gasket is leaking.

If you have bubbles blowing into the reservoir or have unexplained coolant loss, there's a chemical test for that. It involves drawing air from the radiator through a glass cylinder with two chambers partially-filled with a special dark blue liquid. If combustion gases are present, the liquid will turn bright yellow. Auto parts stores that rent or borrow tools will have the tester, but they usually make you buy your own bottle of fluid. That's because it will be ineffective if it is contaminated with coolant or if it freezes. They don't want to risk borrowing it to someone after the last person contaminated the fluid.

That fluid can be more expensive than just having a mechanic perform the test. It only takes a few minutes unless it takes a long time for the problem to show up. For example, sometimes the car will only start blowing white smoke after a long drive at highway speed. In a case like that, you'll want to do that right before your appointment at the shop.

To check a cylinder head to see if it's warped, you'd need to take it to an engine machine shop after you clean the surface and give it the proper surface prep for the new gasket to bite into. They'll have a precision straightedge and feeler gauges. The maximum allowable warpage for a cast iron head is.005" in any direction. For an aluminum head it's.002"

When a head with an overhead camshaft is warped it can't be machined flat like the old iron heads were. It has to be heated and straightened or replaced. If you machine them, that doesn't address the camshaft journals which will be out of line too. If that's bad enough, it can cause the camshaft to break, or at the very least, it won't spin freely.

Hi lilbiglou,

The diagnosis and cost of repairs seems correct for overheating issues.

Did you have coolant losses?

Hi there,

This is hard to say, if coolant is leaking than I feel it is an external gasket leak, leaks into the combustion chamber will result in a major failure sooner rather than later, a head check will show if there is any exhaust gasses in the cooling system, if not it will be an external leak and the time factor on the life span just can't be known, I would consider having the problem repaired sooner rather than later.

Mark (mhpautos)

Probably the Head its "warped" because of the intense "heat". Send it to a machine shop to be on the safe zone.

Also you have to check your block for cracks and be sure about it because all the work that its behind (and the antifreeze you found).

Replace water pump timing belt, all oil seals (got burn because of the overheat) and check the idler tensor on the timing belt.

Let us know and good luck!

Hi john hosey,

Symptom indicates a bad head gasket but without removing the head and sending it for testing, we would not know the extend of the damage.

If the situation is really bad, the complete engine might need to be replaced.

Hi superhawk996,

For this engine, when overheating occurs, it can damage the head gasket but is not noticeable in the beginning. The fault would become full blown only after some time, even up to almost a year before it becomes very bad.

I would believe the problem is from the initial failed water pump. After removal of the cylinder, if the rign around the cylinders are very dark or badly worn, that would indicate the problem had been there for some time.