Another Head Gasket, what am I doing wrong?

[MattyG]

Hi,

Dunno if this is in the right forum but here goes....

I have blown another head gasket on my car - 2nd in 4 years, on 2 successive Honda Preludes - one 2nd Generation, the other 3rd.

I was wondering if I am not taking care of my cars properly.....I check the oil and water often, and do all the filter change stuff.......and yet it seems like out of the blue my car overheats and before I can pull over the (expensive) damage is done.

Its costing me big $$ and I'm wondering if there is anyone out there that knows any ways I could prevent this kind of thing from happening. I realise these cars are old and everything, but there must be something I am not doing.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

[Moppie]

Sounds like Bad bad luck to me.

How often have you been changing the coolant? that could be one of the problems.

But I know two 3rd gen Lude owners (ones also called Mat) who have had blown head gaskets.

[Tireburner]

This tip came from a heavy equipment tech, and it worked on many a Ford 3.8 L V6-- known for blowing head gaskets.

Spray the block with liberal amounts of Permatex copper spray gasket. Lay down the head gasket apply more Permatex to the top of the gasket and torque the head down. This will fill in the irregularities and solve this problem.

[Blackbird01]

Also, make sure you're using a 50/50 mixutre of AntiFreeze and DISTILLED water.

[Andre the Giant]

Silly question but... You're not running nitros are you?

[DravenGSX]

Try not buying a Prelude next time. Seriously, it sounds like you've had been luck with Preludes, and it sounds like Preludes have a head gasket problem. Is your car modified? If so have you introduced some kind of forced induction into the equation? If so, that could be your problem.

[Doctor]

The might be a problem with car not being able to effectively cool the car down properly. Might be a thermostat or a inexpensive little item along that line.

Make sure that you are cooling the engine down properly after a hard drive.

Could also be the timing causing the car to ping, head gaskets are usually a result of this. It sounds like coins ratteling when on WOT.

Cheers,
Ben

[MIC 80]

Sounds like big bucks alright, 3 time was it?
when you have the head off (that is if you are doing the work your self ) do you get the head checked for trueness or have it machined, because if not that could be the cause, also check the cooling system radiator/water pump and hoses, oh almost forgot get the system pressure flushed if the car runs even a little hot, next one is to look at your driving if you drive the car hard it could also cause problems.
Like doing a skid or racing and the stoping and turning the motor off straight away is not to go for the motor. be sure to run coolant in the motor with filtered water as just running straight water is very bad.
Your next step aswell as getting the head checked is also have the cylinder block checked, or just go and get a motor from the car wreckers cost you about $500 give or take depending on availabilty and your type of motor

Hope That Helps You A little Good luck:sun:

[texan]

One of the things to remember here is that each car we are speaking of was at least 10 years old at the time. 10 years is honestly a good long time for a head gasket to hold, so it's not all that surprising they are letting loose now. Beyond that you are probably driving the cars at least a little bit hard (who could blame you, especially on the wonderful 3g), which will quickly bring to light the age of the car's mechanical systems. I belong to a very large prelude owners website, and there is no known issue with constantly blowing head gaskets on any year Prelude. My advice is to make sure the head and block mating surface are clean and true, then put a fresh gasket on there and chalk this one up to owning a decade old car. Hope this helps, peace.

[GTStang]

I don't know about Preludes but i know most cars after the 70's use stretch to torque bolts on heads. Bottom line with these is you can only use them once, then you have to buy new one's. Did you use the original bolts? If you did i bet this is your problem. Spend the $50 bucks and buy ARP head bolts no matter what when changing your heads there worth it! Also make sure you torque it to spec and go in a circular part form the center out