I dont have much experience with all this but i have read a little bit on what a blown head gasket is. I didnt really know where to go with this, but by any chance could anyone tell my the "symptoms" of what would be showing by any chance. Or if anyone could tell me some good news and let me know theres something else that is similar to a blown head gasket.

I know that they are somewhat hard to change and im hoping i could do this with a Haynes workbook, and one of my buddies. If there was any chance someone could tell me like the shortcut "steps" like how to change it. What i would have to do. ex: Take this off, this, this and this..ya know.

Thanks,
Ramsey

 

if you have a blown headgasket then coolent will be leaking into the cylinders most of the time and trying to burn off. Basicly your exhaust will be pure white coming out the tailpipe bad enough that you will barely be able to see through it. If it isnt leaking into the cylinders look in your dipstick and the oil will be milky colored because it is mixing with the oil in the oil pan. Another symtom mught be oil leaking from a crack onto the oitside of the block or head and running down the side and onto the floor.


hope this helps

 

yeah, i noticed a little bit of some white smoke comming from my exhaust. Me and my friends had cut it off near the end at the muffler. Dont think that would make a difference, but anyways it was just barely comming out...not very thick at all. Like theres a small ring around the head. I havent been able to check the dipstick yet, you can only check that when the cars warm correct? to see if its milky?

Just wondering if anyone knew what else was up with one, the "overall" how to change them??

 

Look in your radiator, if your coolant has oil in it you need a head gasket

A head gasket 99% of the time will blow at the pressure points meaning on the outter edge of the cyl wall, it is very rare to have one blow all the way through to let oil run down the block. If you are getting power loss and your car is smoking a little bit I'd say a piston ring is wore out on it. Go to a local autoparts store and get a compression tester. Also what year and trim level is your car with what engine if you know it but more importantly how many miles/kilometers is on it.

 

177,xxx mile on it as of now. I just looked at it this morning with my brother, he knows a little bit more about cars, he had a hatchback and an older prelude before so he knows a little. He did say infact it was a blown head gasket. There was like an oil ring right around the head where the gasket is. So this week were gonna pull that and then in like 2 weeks (so i can save some money) get my head resurfaced and then get a new head gasket and put it back together.

Then in a couple more weeks just get a new rebuild kit or something...ill have pics up of the process.

Thanks guys.

 

a shortcut, differing from the manuel is,.. dont remove the intake manifol, use a hoiost if you got accesss to one, to raise it, then also use it top slowly lower the head back i8nto place as you line it up and you can get it drop on sweet, knowing that you have not scratched anything in attempts to align it...

 

my blown head had oil in the coolant and it would burn coolant like crazy

 

I recently had my head gasket changed.
The first thing I noticed was during an oil change, there was oil leaking and dripping down the side of the oil pan. Just looking around the block, I saw oil leaking near the 1 and 4 cylinders between the cylinder head and the engine block. I had the exhaust manifold shield off because I was trying to change the O2 sensor but never got around to putting it back on, so I got a good view of the gunk. The oil level was also low before I checked it and my coolant was below the min level and kind of dirty.
The engine was noisier than usual. It's quieter after the gaskets were replaced.

 

So what your saying is to like change it from the bottom? or how does this work a little more detail.

 

Normally, the intake manifold is detached from the cylinder head. I think he means that you could keep the intake manifold attached to the cylinder head when you remove the cylinder head off the engine block. It would be a short-cut because you have less pieces to unbolt and rebolt and you wouldn't have to replace the intake manifold gasket.
I read up on it but was too chicken to do the whole procedure myself.