Hello Everyone,

I am new so I hope I posted in the right area.

Here is the history of the car: 1998 Accord EX 4 door 4 cylinder Vtec.

I bought with 141K it now has 154k in 6 months of ownership. Preventative maintenance: timing belt, water pump, cam seal, crank seal, distributor seal, drivebelts, cap and rotor, sparkplugs, wires, radiator, upper and lower hose, valve adjustment, PCV valve, battery, cabin filter, and all fluids changed(tranny,oil, brake fliud, power steering). All of this completed at a local honda dealership. Most work done 5 months ago.

Anyways so now you know the history. On sundayI was driving back from LA to Arizona and about 100 miles into my trip, at night about 65 degrees outside the check engine light comes on. Thinking it is a sensor gone bad I think really nothing of it. Well within 5 minutes I get a sudden loss of power and temp starts climbing to the red! I pull out of the freeway asap and shut if off. Try to restart and it cranks but a no start.

Towed it back to my parents house in LA. Checked oilnext day and I got white gunk!! Checked radiator and overflow nocoolant at all visible. Blown head gasket! I send it over to a local dealership and $95 later they tell me yup blown headgasket and that it has compression throught the radiator. SoIget it out of there and send it to an independent that will do the work for $950+tax that includes resuface of head, flushing the motor, and head gasket. Dealership wanted $1800 plus cost of resurfacing head(estimated at $300-$500!!) So for giggles I asked the dealership what a new head cost $1095 and a new block $3200.

So after all that what do you guys think? Is the head gasket a common problem? I think I did all the preventative maintence I could on this. Just bad luck? Also if the block is bad after the mechanic takes the head off tommorrow do you guys recommend a used engine or JDM? And if so can you recommend me a JDMwholesaler so I can buy one if needed? Thanks for you input. All I see is me writing a big check to get it running again.

 

A blown head gasket happens. The cause could be from the engine previously overheating, but I don't really have a good explanation. Other members have had to replace the head gasket and haven't had a problem with the car as long as the head gets resurfaced. And you said that they were going to do that.

If the shop did a leak down test and air got into the radiator, then I would get the head gasket replaced. They should also be able to determine if the head or the block is cracked.

I would suggest a used engine if something went wrong with the block.

 

no not a common problem at all. if the block is bad then a used motor is the trick. lkq all models here in az is my choice for low miles cheap motors. you dont have one there in la that i know about. good luck

 

I would first look around and see how cheap I could get a low mileage motor from a salvage yard. Make sure it is the same engine code though (engine code located on engine to the left of the exhaust manifold, beneath a radiator hose - it should say either F23A1 orF23A4 since your model is an EX). I have seen them around here for $300.

 

Head gaskets just happen sometimes, however overheating can definitely be a contributing factor.

One thing to consider. If the coolant entering the oil system severely diluted the oil, lubrication of the crankshaft and connecting rod bearings could have been impaired, resulting in bearing damang and journalscoring. You might examine the drained oil to see how bad it was and look for bearing material in the oil filter. If anything shows up, I would go w/ a used engine.

good luck