Civic-EG.com Forum 3.3.1

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:00 am #246649 This was a thrilling accomplishment as this was my first head swap as an enthusiast. I just finished replacing my cylinder head for the first time. A good 90% success but I am getting alot of white smoke after cranking the motor which probably indicates water leak somewhere...
I replaced the same head gasket twice (trial and error)... On my old head, I purchased a $26.00 regular gasket from a auto store, installed it and torqued the bolts to 80lbs. Discovered the cylinder head was bad. Next, I ordered a refurb cylinder head, changed timing belt, water pump, idle pulley, adjusted the valve clearance and did the timing on the distributor successfully. This time, after googling it, I torqued the bolts of the cylinder head to 50 lbs using the SAME gasket (second time around)
I fired up the engine and it cranked beautifully right away however with a lot of white smoke.
My compression test was 170-175 on all cylinders and a leak down test held the 90-100psi mark.
My question is... by lowering the torque the second time around, would water have swept thru the head gasket since it was torqued to 80lbs previously ? Also, I did not put those 2 alignment sleeves that goes to align the head onto the block when installing the head. Would that have any effect to the cause of the white smoke ? Or is my timing off with the distributor and I will have to get a timing gun and time it more accurately ?
My thoughts are that I may have to take the head out again and put in a Multiple layer steel gasket and those alignment pins if that will help fix the white smoke problem.. or maybe something else is the problem.. Your comments are greatly appreciated. ....

see photo ... http://s1094.photobucket.com/albums/i44 ... 7773-1.jpg

Last edited by jmoshe on Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

1992 Honda Civic LX

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:12 am #246650 i would always use a new HG everytime. the head bolts should be torqued down in sequence at like 22lbs then 49lbs i believe.

while the head was off some coolant could of gotten into the cylinders how long did u let it run?

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:48 am #246661

i would always use a new HG everytime. the head bolts should be torqued down in sequence at like 22lbs then 49lbs i believe.

while the head was off some coolant could of gotten into the cylinders how long did u let it run?

Yes , I did that ...in sequence at like 22lbs then 50 lbs.

About 5 mins.... cranked it about 5 times later every 15 mins or so to see if the smoke would somehow disappear......

1992 Honda Civic LX

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:09 am #246677 thats odd. when you take the head off, does it appear that any coolant is leaking?

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:30 am #246692 cylinders 2 and 3 look pretty wet in your block pic.

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:05 pm #246695 if its like a kinda green, crusty, nasty looking liquid around your block and/or radiator, its gotta be that head gasket. that happened on my old accord once.

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:31 pm #246699

cylinders 2 and 3 look pretty wet in your block pic.

Sorry, disregard the photos with the cylinder head. Those were taken after I removed the bad head... The photo with the white smoke is the one in the topic and that's after i put in the refurb head.

1992 Honda Civic LX

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:40 pm #246701

thats odd. when you take the head off, does it appear that any coolant is leaking?

I haven't taken the head off yet after installing the head...

1992 Honda Civic LX

[teal_dx]

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:00 pm #246705 it's odd that your compression #'s are good yet you're still burning coolant...
Timing will not have anything to do with the white smoke, so it's definitely head gasket related... I would not have re-used the same HG over again, also I would only use OEM head gaskets.

Also are you re-using the head bolts? the 92-95 head bolts are stretch bolts and honda says not to re-use them (even though some people do w/o problems. maybe try another compression test and see if the #'s have gotten any worse since the first time you started the motor Everything points to leaking head gasket...

Do Not PM me your technical questions. Post them in the forum!
My 1992 SOHC Turbo Hatch
My Youtube Channel: 6th Gear Garage

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:06 pm #246727

it's odd that your compression #'s are good yet you're still burning coolant...
Timing will not have anything to do with the white smoke, so it's definitely head gasket related... I would not have re-used the same HG over again, also I would only use OEM head gaskets.

Also are you re-using the head bolts? the 92-95 head bolts are stretch bolts and honda says not to re-use them (even though some people do w/o problems. maybe try another compression test and see if the #'s have gotten any worse since the first time you started the motor Everything points to leaking head gasket...

Thanks Teel... I'll go ahead and put in a OEM gasket this weekend..
Now, would the missing alignment sleeves that connect the head to the block affect any this ?

1992 Honda Civic LX

[teal_dx]

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:35 pm #246730 you mean those two metal dowels?

It's a good idea to have those to keep everything centered. Think about how the bolts go through the head, if there is any extra space around where the head bolts go through the hole... if so then the head could be slightly out of position. The dowels are a few bucks from the dealer, worth it for a piece of mind

I'm still stumped about the white smoke with those compression #'s.
Are you sure it was burning coolant and not oil?

Do Not PM me your technical questions. Post them in the forum!
My 1992 SOHC Turbo Hatch
My Youtube Channel: 6th Gear Garage

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:32 pm #246741

you mean those two metal dowels?

It's a good idea to have those to keep everything centered. Think about how the bolts go through the head, if there is any extra space around where the head bolts go through the hole... if so then the head could be slightly out of position. The dowels are a few bucks from the dealer, worth it for a piece of mind

I'm still stumped about the white smoke with those compression #'s.
Are you sure it was burning coolant and not oil?

I really do not know if it was coolant or oil being burned... It was white'ish
as in the image at the top of this thread...
and yes.. I will get those dowels as well....

1992 Honda Civic LX

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:35 pm #246764

Now, would the missing alignment sleeves that connect the head to the block affect any this ?

lol. absoulutley.
don't bother putting the head on without them.
the head can move and cause the cam to bind on hard acceleration (around 6300 rpm).
also, my compression #s were different in all four cylinders (150 to 180).
with the dowels in, compression was 192 in all four, and accelerated smoothly past 7k.
get a new hg, 2 alignment dowels (same piece as in transmission), new headbolts and give it another try.

street machines > dyno queens
z6 turbo power FTW tuned on crome

[teal_dx]

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:06 pm #246773 If the smoke smelled sweet or a little like antifreeze, then it is coolant. If it is slightly blue and reeks like burning oil, then you have other issues.

Do Not PM me your technical questions. Post them in the forum!
My 1992 SOHC Turbo Hatch
My Youtube Channel: 6th Gear Garage

- Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:57 pm #246787

Now, would the missing alignment sleeves that connect the head to the block affect any this ?

lol. absoulutley.
don't bother putting the head on without them.
the head can move and cause the cam to bind on hard acceleration (around 6300 rpm).
also, my compression #s were different in all four cylinders (150 to 180).
with the dowels in, compression was 192 in all four, and accelerated smoothly past 7k.
get a new hg, 2 alignment dowels (same piece as in transmission), new headbolts and give it another try.

The kind of bolts that are in are the swirly type where the top half is swirled and the bottom is threaded... are they replacable with the 'no-swirl' type where the top is straight till the threads?

1992 Honda Civic LX