I have been having problems with my F22a running on what feels like 3 cylinders when I first crank it up. It used to only do it in the morning but now it does it every time I go to crank it up. It will run really rough for the first 5 seconds and it will quit. I have noticed that my coolant has been disappearing at an alarming rate and I cant figure out where its going as I have not found any leaks. It will condensate heavily from the exhaust in the morning on my 45 minute commute to school. During a normal drive on an 80 degree day, it will not condensate or give any kind of white smoke. Im going to drive it until the old girl just doesnt want to run too good anymore. Shes got 250k miles and runs next to my friends with H22a's. Does what I am describing sound like a bad head gasket? I have ruled out the plug wires because they are recent and the spark plugs are fresh.

I also want to know if the ebay head gasket sets are any good? I need to go ahead and replace most of my gaskets and 35 bones seems like a smoking deal that cant be passed up.

 

I would go with the same head gasket brand Honda used OEM on your motor. You can look up the head gasket on majestic Honda website and it may have the brand. For my 95 Honda they list the gasket as NIPPON. You are describing a blown head gasket or cranked head or block. If you do decide to replace the gasket you should at least have the head checked for warpage. I don’t know what they sell on eBay but for all the work involved I wouldn’t chance an unknown quality of the replacement part.

 

F22a cracked?! No....lol

It really wouldnt surprise me if it really was cracked. I have heard of H22a blocks getting cracks in them and crap but not an F. Im not asking to get another 10 years out of this motor. All I really want to get is at least another 50k miles out of this baby and then I am going to pull her out and put something else in.

 

You should do a compression test on each cylinder to figure out if you are dealing with low compression in a cylinder.

 

Your symptoms are spot on for blown head gasket. I had similar symptoms on my 94 EX. I pulled a spark plug and was able to detect coolant on the spark plug when cold. With spark plug removed, turned engine over and I could see water spray out of open spark plug hole. That was enough to satisfy me that head gasket was toast.

Suggest having cylinder head rebuilt by a qualified machine shop. Shop should leak test for cracks, install new valve stem seals, reseat valves, and "shave" head for flatness to ensure good seal. Suggest an OEM or Felpro gasket.

Might as well do timing belts since they have to come off for this job. If you've never replaced TB tensioner idlers and water pump, catch them also.

You Accord w/ 25OK miles is just broke in good for these 2.2L engines,...if they are maintained. I sold a 90EX w/ 270K miles that had perfect compression.

good luck

 

I recently did a 5 speed swap and when I had the motor out, I replaced the timing belt on it even though it looked pretty good. I just ordered the head gasket set from fleabay and hopefully I will have it about this time next week. My friend says he uses the cheap head sets from ebay all the time and he hasnt had one fail on him yet. All I really want is for it to last another 50k miles and I will be moisturized. I am getting the head surfaced, hot tanked, and new valve stem seals installed for $75. Thats a pretty good deal for that much work. Even though if they dont lap the valves, I dont have a problem doing them since I already have the stuff to do it.