head gasket?

[drifter_for_life06]

So i took my car to the shop today to have em look over the cooling system. Replace thermo check for leaks and see if they kno why she is overheating. Guy took the car in, replace thermo flush and filled rad. Took it for test drive and it still over heats, and now is smoking out the tail-pipe. Everyone at the shop said its a good sign of a blown headgasket.......thing is i havent ever seen tailpipe smoke....im lost

anyone know if it is indeed the gasket

how hard is it to replace it myself?

its a 92 S13....(KADE)

[chrislis]

well they're right about one thing, smoke out the tail usually tells the tale f a blown head gasket, happened to my buddys car a couple months ago.

[ILikeMy240sx]

what color is the smoke? smoke due to blown HG is white...

Id atleast check for compression if anything. Check your oil for milky sign. Also see if your coolant inside the rad bubbles when you run your car.

It would be ALOT easier to change the HG with the engine out of the car but you can still do it with it in the car. I think you have to unbolt the engine mounts and raise the motor a little too.

[DjPantsSpecR]

ha definately not, you dont need to unbolt the motor, and headgaskets on this car are still really really easy with the motor in the car

you can do it yourself, youre gonna want to download a copy of the FSM and follow that word by word

i have 2 240s that ive owned a for little over a year and ive done five headgaskets, i even forgot about two of em....

i dont remember how long it took me the first time, but eventually i was ina situation where i had to swap the heads on the two cars

i removed and installed both heads in just under 8 hours.... 4 hours a headgasket, but both were done in the exact same steps

[ILikeMy240sx]

It would be easier to take the front cover off with the motor raised a little no? I dont know what its like to change the HG on a KA but on a SR, I wouldnt want to change the HG on it with the motor still in the car...

[DjPantsSpecR]

no, plus you only need to pull the upper cover anyway, so its still really easy on the KA

the only ****ty parts are the vacuum lines on the back of the head and two of the intake manifold bolts

[240TweakerNewbee]

Take the KA out and give it to the salvation army... then put a real motor (SR20DET) in it, and as long as you don't crank up the boost you won't have to worry about head gasket problems.

[drifter_for_life06]

yes the smoke is white

havent check the bubbling ****, but i got a ntoe from mechanic that quotes: "Bled coolant system, replaced thermostat. Believe there to be head gasket blown or cracked head."

[240DRFT]

have u checked your oil yet. it should look like choc milk if its bad

[dfw240_EE]

Doesn't thin white smoke also mean running rich sometimes? Particularly when accompanied by the smell of gasoline?

Thick white smoke though I believe means headgasket.

[Bruno240]

it wouldn't be white if it was running rich. gas doesnt burn white it would be black.

black- running richwhite-coolentblue-oil

i believe that is right. correct me if im wrong

[DjPantsSpecR]

however, i had a very warped head... very means 0.008 inch, but still, the overflow tank gurgled every time i drove it

no smoke, ever

many head gaskets later, head swap

aluminum heads on iron blocks are gonna have a tendency to warp pretty easy. alls im saying its possible to not have water in the oil or smoking and have a massive head problem.

[drifter_for_life06]

cars currently not at home so i didnt check the oil, i do know however soemtimes when i was driving before the temp gauge would sky rocket, i would hear a "boiling" sound coming frmot he engine bay and it continued for a short while after i shut the car off....im assuming thats cause it was over heating...

[grimple1]

if it gets too hot you can blow the HG and warp the head.....Had it happen on my old accord. Didn't notice the heat gauge and *poof* blown HG and warped head.

[lee.]

Take the KA out and give it to the salvation army... then put a real motor (SR20DET) in it, and as long as you don't crank up the boost you won't have to worry about head gasket problems.

Go read up on the KA, it's an amazing engine that most don't know about. Don't be so quick to judge about an engine you know nothing about. The KA is just as a real ENGINE as the SR. I prefer a engine in my car, 20+ batteries in the car to power a motor doesn't fly with me.

[dfw240_EE]

if it gets too hot you can blow the HG and warp the head.....Had it happen on my old accord. Didn't notice the heat gauge and *poof* blown HG and warped head.

It's worse on Hondas, all of their vehicles are aluminum blocks. There even the block will warp!

[drifter_for_life06]

I prefer a engine in my car, 20+ batteries in the car to power a motor doesn't fly with me.

WTF?!

[dfw240_EE]

WTF?!

If you notice, 240TweakerNewbee said:"Take the KA out and give it to the salvation army... then put a real motor (SR20DET) in it, and as long as you don't crank up the boost you won't have to worry about head gasket problems. "

In the strictest engineering sense of the word, a motor refers to an electric motor, and an engine refers to non-electric kinetic energy generators (like a gasoline piston engine).

I think that is what lee was referring to. It's splitting hairs really. Like how I still write conductance as Mho (Ohm backwards, get it?) when the "new, proper" terminology is Siemens.