Head Gasket Replacement?

[woodly1069]

Hey guys I was wondering about a project I have been putting off for some time now as I think it's gonna be a real pain in the arse. Can anyone tell me how hard it is to do the head gasket on my 2000 Civic. This is a base model with about 148K miles on the clock. The little car still runs great but my son let the car run hot last summer and ever since we have been using some antifreeze. We have tried to seal it up with some Blue Devil Head gasket sealer but it still uses some fluid, although not much. I can go a few weeks which is just city driving and add maybe one cup to the radiator. It doesn't leak a drop and it's not in the oil so we have just been using the car for short drives. Now I am starting to smell burning antifreeze at startup and I know that it's being consumer by the combustion chamber. I guess I am afraid that the head may be cracked but really don't think so. If I get the head gasket can I do it in a weekend. I am a pretty well versed wrench and did the timing belt on this car at about 90K miles. Is there anything I should be looking for when I do this? Are there know weak spots, etc.?
Thanks in advance for any insight with this project!

 

[boostin22]

It's not very hard and easily a weekend job. Google works best though

 

[Osiris19]

It shouldn't be too hard if you have knowledge and know what you're doing. I swapped a head and head gasket in probably a total of 8 hours with just knowledge I gained from reading online. You should change the water pump and timing belt as well, and check to make sure your head isn't warped.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[RonJ]

D16Y7 engine?

If the engine severely overheated, it will never be the same so also consider shopping for a replacement engine.

If you decide to replace the head gasket, use a precision straightedge to check for head and block warpage. Also use a Honda OEM head gasket and replace the head bolts, which must be stepwise torqued to spec in the proper order.

Download the 96-00 Civic service manual at site 1 in my signature.

 

[woodly1069]

Damn RonJ now you got me a little worried. Are these things prone to warpage and breakage? Hate to get into it and find that the thing needs to be replaced for sure! And I guess I'm not sure what you mean by D16YJ? It is a 1.6 L single overhead cam I think...

 

[RonJ]

There are 3 different SOHC D16 engines that came with the 00 Civic. Here's how to determine which one you have:

http://honda-tech.com/showpost.php?p=48684945&postcount=12

Civic engines are made of aluminum, which makes them highly susceptible to warpage, if they overheat. In general, to avoid engine damage, you should never let the temp gauge needle rise above the halfway mark.

 

[RonJ]

We have tried to seal it up with some Blue Devil Head gasket sealer but it still uses some fluid, although not much.

Also, it's a very bad idea to add this^ type of product to your engine. It won't fix anything, but it will surely add substantially to the work needed to complete a head gasket job because now you need to flush out all that crap from the heater core, radiator, and engine.

 

[woodly1069]

Yeah, lessons learned the hard way. We were just trying to get the kid through a bit. With school and work he had his hands full and couldn't afford to fix it. In hindsight we should have just had it fixed when it happened but teaching lessons about money kinda clouds the picture. Since I have "inherited" the car it's now my problem...oh well such is life. Thanks for the pointers!

 

[woodly1069]

It seems as if my Civic has the Head code of: P2F-HA-4 Hope that one is not one of the crappy ones! It does say "USA" on it so maybe it's a good one!

 

[RonJ]

Possible previous engine swap. You have a D16Y7 head, but it appears to be from a 97 Civic
[97 LX D16Y7 Auto --> P2F-HA-4 also had USA and (9/6) stamped on it]

Is D16Y7 also stamped on the block? See link for location.

 

[woodly1069]

Yep, saw the same thing in the link you provided. Hope like hell that's not the case but ??? Do you guys typically use a Honda parts or something from Advance Auto or Napa like a FelPro? I see that they sell a kit with extra gaskets and seals and also just the head gasket by itself, any thoughts on that?

 

[Abailey21]

if you're not a "race car driver" just stick to OEM gaskets, honda makes gasket kits that'll cover everything you remove

 

[CO671]

Also make sure the radiator, thermostat, and waterpump are in check. Before you start to take apart the engine, ensure that the coolant is circulating around, wait for it to get to operating temperature and feel both hoses that there's fluid flowing. If the lower (longer) hose is getting flow.

The first project I did on my car, believe it or not I was changing my headgasket. I knew absolutely nothing mechanically prior to that. Here's my writeup from another thread:

When I first got my Civic 2 years ago as a 16 year old who didn't know much about cars, I threw out $3,000 and got it anyways.
1 week later, the headgasket and overheating started showing and I didn't have the cash or wanted to ask my parents so knowing nothing other than changing motor oil and coolant, I did research and changed the headgasket myself.

I can't recall the overall price but you'll need essential tools:
Socket and wrench set (I got a $75 Craftsman set from Kmart)
Torque Wrench ($40)
Breaker Bar ($20)
Haynes Manual ($20)
Gasket set (headgasket, intake manifold gasket, exhaust manifold gasket) ~$100 around
Oil, filter, Coolant, etc; $100
Already had a jack and stands
Rough estimate of tools (that will always be used in other occasions) and parts: $400
Basically around $200 in parts

Align motor to TDC
Drained the oil, coolant, removed the manifolds off the head.
(put headbolts in certain order so you know which thread they came out of)
Using the correct cross pattern to remove the headbolts
Removed head, cleaned it thoroughly, took it to a machine shop that leveled/resurfaced it for $40 overnight.
Rough estimate of labor: $40

edit: make sure you use new intake and exhaust gaskets, and that you clean the intake manifold + sand the surface before mating it with the head)
Put everything back together re-using the headbolts in the correct order w/ torque wrench, (DONT FORGET THE DOWEL PINS)
Coolant, oil put in, fired it up.

edit: I came across a problem but it was only my power steering pump belt not having enough tension, that was a simple fix.

I'm pretty sure that's all that was necessary I mentioned, apologies if there's any misinformation.
The shop costs alone are averaged $600-$900 for a headgasket change.

There are many Headgasket DIY tutorials on Honda-Tech, ClubCivic, all over the internet so Google would be a great companion, check them out.

These are resources I saved into my bookmarks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=YayYzTDV0uo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnShxIgbsUE&feature=related
http://www.clubcivic.com/board/showthread.php?t=206158
http://hondaswap.com/general-tech-articles/how-change-head-gasket-lots-pics-71528/