Ok im pretty sure i have a blown head gasket. I have a 94 Civic LX. The car warms up like normal but the seems to be big clouds of white smoke that come out of the exhaust.

Ive tried searching but came up with no results. My questions are,

1. How hard is it to do a head gasket yourself?
2. Do you have to pull the engine to get the timing belt off?
3. Is there a helpful DIY on this by chance?

 

Okay im not very mechanically inclined yet but let me give it a shot. Correct me if im wrong guys

1. Is your check engine light on? Does the car run crappy? Lots of the white smoke? This could either be the head gasket or a coolant leak? I'm sure there are several write ups on this sort of thing you just need to look in the right spots.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Head...1_Honda_Civic/

2. No

3. I'm sure there are.

http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=649277

 

Do a compression test on all cylinders.

It's pretty much a for sure thing it's the head gasket tho.

 

does it smell lik fuel or anti freez? u should be able to smell by the liquid that comes out ur back exhaust pipe

 

the guy above me is right if you smell a kind of sweet smell that's anti freeze, 9 time outta 10 it's a head gasket and the anti freeze has pushed into the oil passages and other areas. It's not hard to do a head gasket especially on a civic, you basically need to tear the engine apart down to the block to get at it, the timing belt is not to hard to get off, if you look on the timing belt side of the engine there is a plastic cover now under that you should find the timing belt tensioner, loosen this and you will be able to slip your timing belt right off. Make sure that youkeep track of all of your bolts when doing the job and when you get everything apart down to the block make sure you carefully clean the surfaces of the block and head where the head-gasket touches, this will ensure that you get a good seal when everything is put back together. And make sure you have a torque wrench I've seen many people screw up their cars trying to tighten head bolts without one. I've been a mechanic for many years now and done many of these jobs in the past, if you have any other questions just email me.
efardoux@nmu.edu