'04 Civic with head gasket issue

Just joined this site - awesome. I have a 2004 Honda Civic EX Coupe with 87k miles. Everything was running fine except for two separate instances, where the temp gauge went past the halfway mark to hot but did not get into the hot zone. I was able to turn on the heater and a/c to draw the heat away from the engine.

The dealership advised that I had a blown head gasket which I've already had repaired last month (11/09) but couldn't give me a reason why the head gasket blew nor how I go about avoiding the problem in the future (other than normal wear and tear). I just don't see having a brand new Civic with no accidents and having a blown head gasket at 87k miles as normal. I had a Toyota before my Civic and had approx 150k miles before any major repairs including the head gasket.

I had brought my car to the dealership May '08 for lack of power in acceleration and again in March '09 because upon acceleration my car would shift into a high rpm and get stuck at a high rpm before dropping back down to normal rpm. Could both issues be a precursor to the blown head gasket?

In June 09 I brought my car in to the dealership again and they noticed radiator low on coolant but results were negative for any head gasket leak. My radiator cap did fail and was replaced and I was advised to keep an eye out for my coolant level.

I was told I had air pockets in my cooling system so my temperature gauge would not catch the hot temperature to alert me that there's something wrong. I was also advised that my thermostat was stuck and had no external leaks.

So my question is how I prevent another head gasket failure (other than normal wear and tear)? What should I be looking out for? Thanks in advance.

I had the same overheating problem--diagnosed w/ head problems @ 110K. Traded the damn thing in. A piece of total crap. It is the LAST honda I'll ever buy.

ps good luck yer gonna need it. cause ya prolly never found the original overheating cause did you? Neither did I--that's why it's GONE.

I wonder if this stuff works www.youtube.com/watch?v=3suQy44G_B0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3suQy44G_B0)
Here's a Red neck fix! www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BjuAHBxnEw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BjuAHBxnEw)

Make sure your Temp sensor, and electric fan are working.

Symptoms of a bad head gasket -

1) Was there any contamination of oil in the coolant reservoir tank?
2) White smoke (steam) from the tail?
3) Any water in the oil block?

Symptoms of loss, or shorted coolant will cause a over heated condition.
1) Bad radiator cap / thermo stat
2) Bad electric fan, fuse, relay, temp sensor
3) Coolant leaks - water pump, thermo stat, hoses, heater core, aux tank, and freeze plugs.
4) Shorted coolant, because of a bad coolant bleed procedure.

http://www.rxauto.com/demo.htm
I would do a gas analysis on the radiator fluid. Napa also sells a kit to test for combustion gas in the anti freeze. I always get the head pressure tested and checked for straightness at a machine shop. Use a flashlight and lay it flat on the block look for cracks. Make sure everything is clean before reassembly.

Sometimes you can smell gas/oil in the coolant reservoir tank,
instead of a sweet coolant smell.