Blown head gasket, cracked head, or both?

I have a '92 Honda Accord Wagon with 228,000 miles in immaculate
condition, and recently passed smog with all readings well below
average.

Recently it overheated due to radiator leak. I pulled over as soon as I
noticed steam, let it cool, and filled up the radiator, drove home.
I replaced the radiator, and everything seemed fine for a few days.
One morning I noticed white smoke coming out of the exhaust, with the
tell-tell sickly-sweet coolant smell. The engine still idled perfectly,
and a couple minutes later the steam disappeared. I checked for water on
the oil dipstick and oil cap; there was none. Also, no sign of oil in
the radiator. I drove it 50 miles on the highway, and checked the water
level when I returned - it was approx. 1 pint low.

It drove OK for the next couple days - white smoke disappearing after
warm-up. Today I started it and the engine ran very rough for the first
15 seconds, then the idle smoothed out. Now the steam was coming out
continuously, although the idle was still smooth.

Researching online, it seems that Honda engines are notorious for
leaking/blown head gaskets after overheating. What I'm wondering is:
In your experiences, what are the chances that it's just the gasket and
not a cracked head or block, or a warped head? I really like this car a
lot, and want to do the job myself (2.2L engine with A/C). I guess I'll
find out soon enough, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Any ideas/suggestions are very much appreciated.

Wish me luck!

Pigeon

"Pigeon Hohl" > wrote in message newsigeon-
> Any ideas/suggestions are very much appreciated.
>
> Wish me luck!
>
> Pigeon

Most likely a head gasket, but some of the earlier Honda engines were bad
about
warping the heads too.

You will have to pull it down to find out which is your problem, in any
case.

A machine shop can check for cracks and true the head if it needs it.
If it is cracked, you can get a reconditioned head for it.

Check for cracks in the block, but that is not really so likely.

Put it back together right, and you should still have a lot of life in the
car.

Steve B. > wrote:

> You'll have to be careful with this one as the "might as wells" will
> get you. Try to keep from replacing toooo much stuff until you have
> a good end result. Also keep in mind that you could have bottom end
> damage from the overheat as well and sometimes when u put a fresh head
> on a worn bottom end you suddenly gain oil burning issues that you
> didn't have before.


Thanks for the responses. My idea was to try to do this with minimal
expense. I asked a local mechanic friend about possibly doing the job
for me, as my experience is limited to stuff like timing belt
replacement, valve adjustment, ect. He said if he did the job, he would
insist on having the machine-shop grind the valve seats (in addition to
checking/milling the head). Also, he said you might as well replace the
piston rings and the lower bearings as long as the head is off. This
seems a bit much, especially considering what you say about "might as
wells".

At this point I think I'll just remove the head and have a shop look at
it, and take it from there. After all, 227.000 on a Honda is basically
just broken-in, no? ;-)

Pigeon

Steve B. wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:08:23 -0700, Pigeon Hohl >
> wrote:
>
>
> >
> >Thanks for the responses. My idea was to try to do this with minimal
> >expense.
==
If you like the car and plan on keeping it, once the head is off, why
not go ahead with ring and bearing replacement along with grinding the
valve seats?
For slightly more in parts, and little extra labor, you'll then have
an improvement in reliability and performance instead of barely
patching it back together.
That being said, I've got a '77 Toyota pickup truck where I found a
remanufactured head for $125 and a reground cam for $40 many years
ago. That's all I changed (plus gaskets) after overheating on the
highway, and it still runs just fine today.

"Daniel" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Steve B. wrote:
>> On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:08:23 -0700, Pigeon Hohl >
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> >
>> >Thanks for the responses. My idea was to try to do this with minimal
>> >expense.
> ==
> If you like the car and plan on keeping it, once the head is off, why
> not go ahead with ring and bearing replacement along with grinding the
> valve seats?

People used to do this. BUT, one of the Houston engine rebuilders cautioned
me not to do so.. Putting in rings without conditioning the cylinder walls
is
perhaps not an improvement. And just putting bearings on an old crank
may not help as much as you would hope.

If the valves are burned or are not seating, I agree that this is a good
time to
do that work. Some say that you will cause problems by improving the
seal with a valve job without redoing the rings....and, I think that
sometimes
this may be the case...but not always.

You can patch an engine and run for a good while. To do it right costs
money.

The owner can choose the level of expense he is capable of affording, but
dont
expect a new engine with a partial or half hearted repair job.