Hi, I am new to the forum...my sister has a 2000 Honda Accord EX with the 4 cylinder engine..the car has been a great one...currently has 149K miles on it...for the last 3 years or so its been slowly leaking water out to somewhere...we put water in it like once every month or 2...now the last few days its been going out every day...car has never smoked it has never given any sign of any problem whatsoever...today we opened the oil fill cap and looked inside the cap and theres "mud"...checking the oil we found bubbles and milky appearance to signify our worst fear - water in the oil. My question is does anyone have a writeup about changing the head gasket yourself? The car still runs great but I want to fix it! Thanks!!!

 

Invest in a Haynes or better, a Honda Shop manual for your model. I've found theHonda manuals to be the gold standard. I would not trust anyone's post, except for assistance and usually some good tips. I replaced the head gasket on my 94EX and it's not too bad a job. I'll search for my writeup and post it.

One tip is to have the head inspected for cracks and prepped by an auto machine shop. Usually problem is leaking head gasket, but I've heard of cracks in the head itself. They also "shave" the head face to provide an absolutely flat surface for best sealing. I once tried to avoid this step and got to do the head gasket a 2nd time for my reward,...a real bummer.

good luck

 

thanks i plan on getting a manual tomorrow but wanted to see if anyone in here has had the same problem with their car and if was a difficult job and so on...if someone has a write up and or pictures that would help a bunch.

 

The head is not that hard to remove. Make sure you have a breaker bar for the head bolts and unscrew them IN ORDER so you don't warp the head.

 

Following are my summary of 94 EX head gasket replacement.

The cylinder head leak was not completely sealed and coolant continued to be pushed out of the engine into the reservoir. I decided to replace the head gasket and removed the head last weekend.

Job is not terribly difficult, but there are quite a few items to be removed to access the cylinder head. Honda manual is essential. I did find one anamoly which is not mentioned anywhere in the manual and speculate it possibly represents an earlier repair to the engine. The center-rear head bolt is about 1" longer than the other 9 bolts. Perhaps the head bolt threads were damaged and the threads were tapped deeper to provide good threads for bolt tensioning. Anyone removed a 2.2 cylinder head and found one long center bolt?

The cylinder head is being refurbished by a machine shop that has done good work for me in the past. They will check for a cracked head (head gasket showed some loss of rubber coating so I think the gasket is bad, but want to be sure) and check the head for any warpage. Head looks fine.

Cylinder wall sleeves and pistons look good w/ a light coating of varnish. It's amazing how much coolant passage there is around the cylinders. I suspect a part of the 2.2L durability may be the very even cooling of the cylinders.

The cylinder head bolts were very tight and required perhaps 500-800 ft-lbs to break loose. I pulled very hard on the end of a 3-4 feet lever arm to break them. I cleaned the bolts, chased the threads w/ a dye and found another anamoly. I have a 12mm x 1.5mm tap and die, and these fit the bolts and block tapped holes perfectly. However, Honda shop manual says the bolts are 12mm x 1.25mm. Last number is the thread pitch (1.25mm/thread). Anyone have an answer?

I finished the cylinder head gasket replacement this weekend. Re-assembly was considerably slower than removal. I took all day Saturday and 2-3 hrs this morning to complete. I made a couple of bone-heads that didn't help. I overlooked the rear timing belt cover behind the camshaft sproket until after I had reassembled the timing belt, and had to remove timing belt and camshaft sproket again.

Manual is a very good guide and an essential tool for this job. In the heat of battle, I sometimes fail to follow it to my eventual regret.

One of the trickiest parts is removal and installation of the intake manifold. A major wiring harness conduit is bolted to the underside of the intake in two places and a strut to partially support the intake manifold is also attached w/ a bolt. Car must be elevated enough to get underneath and access these bolts. A set of wobbly extensions was very helpful. One bolt was not accessilbe w/ the wobblys and I waited till manifold was released from cylinder head and was able to rotate manifold and access while the bolt retained the wiring harness.

The EACV (idle air control valve) must be released from the throttle body or you must remove the attached coolant lines. I removed the EACV, but it is no picnic to re-install. I tried to re-install before landing the throttle body on the new gasket, but couldn't pull enough slack in the coolant lines to get the EACV in place. Installation of the EACV after the throttle body is in place is tedious due to poor access to the bolt heads.

Accessing the intake manifold retaining nuts is tricky for those on the underside. They can be accessed w/ a ratchet through holes but you need to reach under w/ your hand to remove the nut and install for re-installation. Nut on far pax side must be released w/ closed end wrench.

I was very pleased w/ quality and completeness of the Fel-Pro gasket set I ordered from Rock Auto for $129. It had everything I needed w/ exception of VTEC gasket which I optionally decided to replace.

It cost $250 to recondition the valve train and cylinder head and have a leak test performed to insure there was no cracked head. I have found from a sad experience that re-installing an aluminum head w/o re-surfacing is asking to get to the job a second time.

I had several minor fuel leaks to correct. Main fuel line banjo bolt leaked by the crush gasket (did not have a replacement). It sealed after rotating the crush washer. Then the fuel injectors leaked. I replaced most of the o-rings except the rings that fit into the fuel rail. They didn't look same as the replacements and I decided to reuse. One was damaged during re-installation and I replaced w/ the Fel-Pro oring and it fit fine. I lubricated them w/ oring grease the second time, which I should have used in the first place and probably would have avoiding pinching the oring that leaked.

BTW, I found out why I had some previous problems w/ valve cover spark plug seal leaks on my former 90EX. I installed the tube seals upside down. The trailing edge of the inner seal flap must be installed towards the outside of the valve cover, not the inside! This allows the tube to easily penetrate the seal. The seal has a spring ring which cause the rubber flap to seal against the OD of the spark plug tube. If you look at the seal, you might suppose that the tube goes into the groove of the seal, NO!. Groove is to the outside and solid side of the seal to the inside.

Car restarted easily and so far has run fine w/ no loss of coolant and steady coolant temps. What a relief!

good luck

 

The center rear bolt was longer in my '98 Accord. Clearance for the oil pressure switch?

 

Same longer bolt issue here too. I had the F22B2.