92turboLE Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 So if any of you read my thread in the kills forum, you'll know that last night i was racing my friend with the accord. Well, after talking to him today, he pointed something out to me. My car smelled badly of burning coolant and theyre was alittle bit of white smoke (not blue, but white). I would assume that this would be the head gasket going out. The car still has plenty of power, compression is good, but it is burning coolant under load at high RPMs. how much of a pain in the ass is it to change the head gasket. Would i be better off taking it easy and trying to finish my new engine as soon as i can, or to go ahead and not rush the new engine and do the gasket in my current engine? basicly what i am asking is how long would you give my current head gasket to live??? any ideas??? - Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redfox340 Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 Well, any indication of burning will only get worse. As for a time frame, I couldn't tell you... tomorrow it may blow or next year you'll still be hanging on. But, if you are gonig to tear down, I would get your turbo project in gear than. As for pain on repair, not that much, IIRC you don't have to pull the heads and it's only the manifold. The fuel will need to be de-pressurized and removed. Best of luck! - Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 It could be the lower intake gasket has broken. Right where the water jackets are in the heads, the lower intake gasket is pretty thin on the outer edge of it. Just a heads up, it might not be the head gasket. Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92turboLE Posted September 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 valid point... since there is no loss of power or compression... on the plus side, extra combustion chamber cooling lol i wish - Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redfox340 Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 on the plus side, extra combustion chamber cooling Come up to CSU if you're wanting to do that; join the research team! I believe they're on the brink of getting water-injection to work for them! - Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 Water injection works well on Forced Induction cars, keeping the mixture cooler therefore preventing pre-detonation. Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91GranSport Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 If your headgasket is going I'd do it as soon as possible. Remember that your engine is the soul of your car, if it breaks down you're fucked. I'm driving on leaky shocks, bald tires and leaky muffler but other than that, my car runs great. However, if I run into any engine problems you can imagine that I'll get it fixed right away. I've changed head gaskets on a 3800 TPI V-6, but not a 3.1 MPFI before. Either way, you can imagine it needs a bit of work but it isn't a pain in the ass. It's straight-forward and relatively easy if you have a friend helping you. You can do it from start to finish in less than a day. It took me about four hours to complete a headgasket change on a 3800 TPI V-6 with the help of a friend, and all we needed were simple hand tools. You should definitely have a torque wrench though, that's the one thing that's a must have. how much of a pain in the ass is it to change the head gasket. Would i be better off taking it easy and trying to finish my new engine as soon as i can, or to go ahead and not rush the new engine and do the gasket in my current engine? basicly what i am asking is how long would you give my current head gasket to live??? any ideas??? - Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWeb80 Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 check ur coolant reservor when the car is running. When my head gasket went out, exaust gasses were bubbling up in my reservor..... when it finnaly blew, the exaust pushed most of my coolant to my reservor and it overfilled and was running down the inside of my engine bay. Just my $.02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1badtgp Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 Took 3 hours to pull the heads, and about 5 to put them back on(mostly fighting with the x-over pipe and turbo). That was on my 90 TGP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runt Posted September 11, 2003 Report Share Posted September 11, 2003 aweb80....was the tank bubbling when the engine was really really hot, or just sat ideling for awhile? Than again, I think I may have answered my own question... :oops: :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWeb80 Posted September 12, 2003 Report Share Posted September 12, 2003 aweb80....was the tank bubbling when the engine was really really hot, or just sat ideling for awhile? Than again, I think I may have answered my own question... :oops: :oops: Before it blew, the reservoir (sp?) would have about 1 bubble surface every 1-2 seconds, not much, but my dad said it would go soon....sure enough....3 days later......kaableewwweee, my temp went from norm. operating to the red zone in less than 15 seconds. Thats when you shut the car off and coast....i was going to get gas and coasted in the gas station at 10 mph. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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