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We purchased a 92 Honda Accord with the 2.2 from an individual who had recently, supposedly changed the head gasket on the car and was needing to upgrade to a larger vehicle with a baby on the way. It was exactly what we were looking for and was in our range. Car ran fine, heat blew as did the ac. I started to notice little drops of coolant and that when ran long enough the temp would get a little high. I assumed maybe bubbles in the system, the guys said they never flushed or burped it. So I went ahead and did a complete flush and new thermo just for safe measures and got all the air out. But I still found drops and found that it was coming from the overflow tank. As the vehicle heated up, it would somehow over pressurize the cooling system (from bad head gasket I’d assume) and pushing all the fluid into the overflow and then onto the ground. Then once the car gets shut off and sits til later or next day, it’s hard to start. I assume bc the cooling system is depressurizing through the cracked gasket into the cylinder. When I keep the radiator cap off or loose, to keep pressure down, it doesn’t push into the overflow and starts just fine after sitting for same amount of time.
So at this point, I don’t know whether they actually changed the gasket or did it wrong or worst case scenario, the heads warped.
I’m pretty familiar with the Toyota 22re’s and would have no hesitation tearing a head down on it. But have never done this kind of work on a honda. What’s the likely hood of the head being warped? Is it common on these motors with overheating? Or is there maybe something that a person could have overlooked or done wrong if not familiar with this motor. Lastly, where could I find some how-to info on this job?
Tia!
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Replacing a head gasket properly usually includes planing the head, especially if the head gasket originally blew due to overheating. You could be looking at a warped head or a cracked head. Before pulling it off, however, you should definitely use a combustion gas leak tester.
[quote=”Soupison240″ post=182764]What will a combustion gas leak test tell me[/quote]
You did a great job of differential diagnosis, establishing a positive correlation between coolant pressure and hard starting. That test is just missing one step – removing the spark plugs and verifying the presence of coolant in one or more cylinders.
You also observed positive pressure in the coolant system during operation. Very telling, but before undertaking the non-trivial task of pulling the head, you should confirm that combustion gases are the reason for that positive pressure. That’s what a combustion gas leak tester will tell you.[quote=”Soupison240″ post=182764]and what if a guy doesn’t have one of those?[/quote]
Given the rather high likelihood of a positive test result, you may want to skip that test. Whether or not you skip the gas test, but especially if you skip the gas test, you should definitely perform a compression test before pulling the head. That will tell you which cylinder(s) have a problem.
http://www.harborfreight.com/compression-test-kit-8-pc-62638.html
Thanks for the helpful links! I’ll borrow our compression gage from work tomorrow. In what range should the compression be?
[quote=”Soupison240″ post=182770]In what range should the compression be?[/quote]
25YO Honda? Beats me, 120? 180? The compression of the healthy cylinders isn’t so important. The goal is to identify one cylinder, or two adjacent cylinders, more than 30 PSI below the others.
http://troubleshootmyvehicle.com/honda/2.2L-2.3L/how-to-test-the-engine-compression-1
I would do a leak down test. This would give you more sufficient diagnosis of the leak location. Leak down tester can be purchased or built fairly inexpensive. Additionally you can rent the tool from AZ for exhaust gas testing in your radiator, the fluid for testing is about 10$ iirc
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[quote=”Angrysmileyface” post=182776]I would do a leak down test. [/quote]
Thanks Angry, I should have mentioned that. Soup, in addition to help confirm the compression test’s diagnosis of which cylinders are leaking, it will tell you where they’re leaking. In your case, for instance, when leakdown testing the cylinder(s) with low compression, you can expect bubbling in your coolant reservoir. That’s kind of the final guilty verdict on the head gasket or cracked head.
Considering my cooking system is over pressurizing, it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve got a leak into the cooling system, right? Granted I haven’t done a compression test yet, so I don’t know which cylinder yet. But there’s also no sign of coolant in the oil. But if I had a cracked head, wouldn’t it be leaking fluid on the outside? Or is it possible to crack internally? I just watched Eric the car guys video on a leak down test and he said, ultimately I could just hook compressed air to the cylinder and listen for a leak. Safe to assume it’ll be leaking into the cooling system. If that’s the case, would a leak down test be able tell me if its a gasket or a crack?
I know I hadn’t had the car long but I never did notice it smoke or use oil.Head cracks can leak internally. If you have coolant leaking into the cylinders as you surmised from the hard start, I would expect to find at least a little in the oil. If you don’t find any coolant in the oil, I would definitely proceed with compression and leakdown to verify before pulling the head.
Yes, your goal is mainly to push air into the cylinder and see where it comes out. And if, as expected, it comes out in the coolant, either a crack or a bad head gasket could be the cause. Usually a head gasket, but if they just fixed that…
I know I still need to at the very least do a compression test. Unfortunately I don’t have easy access to compressed air for a leak down test without towing the car somewhere. What else could cause the cooling system to over pressurize like it does other than a head gasket or crack? Let’s just assume for the sake of conversation that it’s leaking into the cooling, would a leak down test be able to differentiate between and tell me whether it’s a head gasket or a crack? Or just that it’s one of the two?
As I said before, leakdown into the coolant could be either gasket or crack. No way of saying for sure till you open it up. But hey, it could be a cracked block too.
You can get a leakdown tester and compressor from Harbor Freight for under $100 together. Money well spent; you should always have a compressor anyway. But whatever, if you have free access to a compression tester, and that gives low compression in one or more cylinders, and you’ve verified coolant in those cylinders, you’re going to need to pull the head.
So then are there any helpful tip or tricks or links that you know of to help guide me through pulling the head? I searched through all the videos on here and didn’t find anything.
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