Problems after replacing head gasket
 

A week ago my 97 Accord with a f20b in it needed a head gasket. It was blowing white smoke and had milky oil both on the cap and on the dip stick. I pulled the head, got it resurfaced, and put a new gasket and bolts in. The only thing was the gasket wasn't visually blown like most I have seen. But it also wasnt blowing white smoke as bad as some cars I have seen with bad head gaskets.

So now that the new gasket is on, the car does not run like it should, and seems to have some other issues. I noticed some more milky substance in the cap, so I cleaned it out and am waiting to see if it returns.

The car also doesn't run well, it sputters and back fires. It is throwing a CEL for cylinder 1 pos sensor. I swapped in a new distributor and it still throws this code and runs rough. Turning the distributor doesn't seem to make any difference in how it runs. This could just be because the timing belt is off, but i'm trying to get my hands on a timing light.

The final problem is the number 3 cylinder spark plug seems to get covered in what I believe is oil. I am talking about the bottom half of the plug not the top. The car is not blowing blue smoke though, in fact its not smoking at all.

Any help is appreciated.

I would definitely check the timing marks. Align the crank to TDC. See if the cam marks are lined up.

You may want to do a compression test. A leakdown test would be more useful to indicate piston/oil ring problems. Also, the valve seal could be bad and allowing oil into the cylinder.

I did the poor man's way of checking the valve seals when the head was out and filled the chambers with water and they all held it fine.

I never thought about doing that. Did you rotate the camshaft to see if a worn part of the valve stem could cause a leak?

Did you use a lot of extensions when torquing the head gasket? That can make the torque be lower that you put on the bolt. Google 5WHBskK_F3o to see how to do this.

Yes I did the valves seemed good. I did not use any extensions when torquing the bolts.

I checked the local auto parts stores and neither had a leak down or compression tester to loan out. Also none of my mechanic friends have one, how they can work on cars all day long and not have one I'm unsure.

At this point I am pricing out getting a replacement engine as this one has just been problem after problem.

I had a persistent problem w/ CYP sensor (code 9) and checked sensor resistance at the ECU and found it was good there also. I replaced ECU to fix problem. Car sometimes would run, but sometimes would not start. When it did start it would miss and hesitate a bit.

Suggest taking your time if you can and resolving CYP sensor first, then see how it runs.

good luck

I am not familiar with the F20b engine. Are you running an OBD2 ECU on it, or OBD1?

OBD2 codes give more information, like P1381 is intermittent and P1382 is no signal from the cylinder position sensor.

I am running and obd1 ecu. I am going to leak down test it tomorrow.

But I did find a guy selling a H22a locally with a LSD transmission, aftermarket clutch and flywheel for $1200 so I am thinking about just picking that up and swapping it in. The f20b has been nothing but trouble.

Well I got my hands on a leak down tester. 90% leakage in cylinder #3 and it came out the oil cap so it went past the piston rings.

Time for a new engine.

Torque is Torque
 

You are incorrect. Torque is torque. If you use a torque wrench and 100 ft of extensions, whatever torque you are applying is the torque being applied to the bolt.