Cylinder Head Stuck On

Got to work tonight replacing the cylinder head gasket on my 88 Civic DX. After removing the exhaust manifold, intake manifold, distributor and timing belt, the head won't come off. I removed the 10 head bolts, and it's not even loose or anything. Am I missing something? Did I miss a hidden bolt? I can't see any reason why it's not even loose except that 18 years of heat may have welded it to the block. Any tips or suggestions? It's almost smashin' time.

look really closely to make sure you have not missed any fasteners

check again, did you miss any fasteners

use a rubber mallet and bump the head in a couple of places to knock it loose

they won't have "welded" together because there is a gasket between them and it is two different metals.

heads rarely just come off, they usually need a bit of gentle persuasion.

don't beat on it, be gentle.

i don't have any specific knowledge with hondas, but i have removed a head or two

on my datsun heads, there are two little 6mm bolts that go between the head and the timing cover, i've seen pictures of people breaking timing covers because they missed these bolts then tried to force off the head. (aluminum timing cover is ex$pen$ive)

be absolutely sure you have all fasteners out before "smashin' time"

see if you can use a pry bar,, put it on the cylinder head and try to left it alittle, but first like dimefurry said use a rubber mallet and bump the head in a couple of places to knock it loose, you can bump it relatively good with the "rubber" mallet and it wont hurt it

Yeah, try a rubber mallet and a pry bar. On a Toyota that I took the head off of, there was a blace between the block and the head where you could pry without damaging anything. Be careful that you don't damage either the head or the block because then the gasket won't seal properly.

there was really no need to remove the intake manifold to pull the head off. I have pulled atleast 4 or 5 heads off, but d and b, and always left the manifold on, which made for good leverage to shake the head back and forth a bit.

you just have to be persuasive, it will come off.

yep what they said... but there should also be two alignment posts that go from the head to the block that weren't mentioned.