Ok so I bought one of those ebay head gasket kits and a I slapped it on. I took the head to the machine shop where I always get my stuff done. I think I did the gasket back in December. Well 5000 miles later, its blown again. In the morning when I first crank it up, it runs likes it only firing on 3 cylinders. I have replaced the entire ignition system and Im pretty much fed up with it at this point. I made sure the block was SPOTLESS and I checked everything for cracks and unusual looking components. I don't know if it was the Egay head gasket set or my block is DONE. I have beat the hell out of that little F22a1 since June of 2005. I wanted it to last up to 300k but I dont think I am going to get it that far. Luckily I bought a 99 Prelude parts car and its got a 100k mile H22a in it. I dont like H22's, but its my last hope to keep my baby on the road.

 

Did you buy the prelude for parts and what is the car you are trying to fix.

 

I guess I find "slapped it on" coming off as shoddy. The old head gasket was completely removed and the entire surface was perfectly clean? Also the head was checked for warping? Did you follow the torqueing partern for proper order to tighten the head bolts? How about proper torque on the bolts? Next during that 5000 miles have you checked the coolant level and has the engine been needing or losing any coolant? Just some simple basic questions to start things out.

 

Do a compression test, then a leakdown test to figure out what is wrong.

Also, post error codes that you find. See How to get CEL codes in DIY section.

Put your year, model, etc... in your signature so we know what vehicle you drive.

 

Hahaha just yo get yall familiar with me, I am definitely not a newbie haha. I had my machine shop check everything and surface the head for me. I took a wire brush and sand paper to get all the crap off the block and then cleaned it with alcohol. I am losing water and I can tell it because its trying to fire that one cylinder but it has so much water down in it. I don't get any condensation out the pipe while driving on a hotter day but in the morning it will throw white smoke the whole 45 minute ride to school. Then when I cut it of and crank it back up, it does that skipping crap again. It doesn't skip in the mornings because (just an educated guess) that the water evaps off the hot piston after sitting for a few hours. I have the feeling I may have a cracked one of the sleeves or something.

 

Did you use wire brush & sandpaper on the top surfaces of the block? (where the gasket goes?) That might be it. THAT surface needs to be flat with a specific surface finish just like the underside of the head.

You'll need a machinist's straightedge and feeler gauges to check that, or convince someone from your machine shop to come & take a look at it.

 

I am starting to lose compression from somewhere now. I have a pretty decent skip around 3k rpms and it skips going down the road. It also feels like I swapped my H22a raping F22a with an 8 valve D-series.

 

I take that back. I registered a perfect 180 psi across the board on a compression test. I am going to buy a leak down tester and see if I actually have a blown head gasket. I also found a pretty decent water leak at the water valve for the heater core so that could be where my water is going. The saga continues!

 

Correct me if I am wrong but doesnt the compression test results tells that you dont need to do a leakdown test. If it was a bad head gasket, wouldnt you find bad compression? It looks like everything is fine in terms of the head gasket. Are you sure its not a misfire?

 

I doubt a head gasket leak would show up in a compression test unless its truly a very large leak. Most are very small leaks.

I've had a leaking head gasket where engine would run just fine, except for start-up missing until accumulated water was blown out, then it would run until shut down and restarted.

Depending on where the head gasket leak occurs, you can have coolant in oil, oil in coolant, coolant into cylinder head, and exhaust gases into coolant stream. Not easy to generalize about head gasket failures.

good luck