How to replace a headgasket?
 

I've searched and came up with nothing. Over the summer I bought an EF and after a few days white smoke began to spew all over the place. Local mechanic-friends told me it was my headgasket and told me how to fix it. I bought a HG kit and change the HG along with the cam cover gaskets and seals. Slapped everything back together and what do u know... STILL WHITE SMOKE!!! They all claimed to assume I knew to shave the head (doh!). Does anyone know where there's a write-up of changing the HG or knowledge themselves so i can get it right this time? Thx.

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

here is the one i followed, lots o big pics

http://hondaswap.com/general-tech-ma...ts-pics-71528/

it could be that you need to have the head decked, put a precison straight edge up to the bottom of the head and check to see if there are any gaps between the center of the head and the sraight edge

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

sweet stuff anyone have a time frame on how long this should take?

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

I would say about 3 hours, depending on how slow you are with tools. Me, I am slow, I strip stuff and drop screws, you name it. I will probably get mine out of time and then have that to deal with too, lol.

Thats an awesome write up though, I might have to use that myself.

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

anyone want to explaion Top Dead Center?

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

Good rule of thumb is that if the headgasket goes, have the head planed. As thin and flat as they are, they are prone to warpage.

That's a good writeup. Some will tell you not to reuse your head bolts as they tend to stretch themselves when being torqued down. If you're running boost, or power mods/addons I would put new ones in. On a high mileage engine, or a performance engine, it's risky to reuse the original head bolts. They're not that expensive and can save you alot of headaches in the future. The only thing there I really don't agree with, is the two stage torque sequence, I use a four stage (or five depending on how you look at it).
1. Insert and Thumb tighten bolts, no "real" sequence needed there though I do it anyway.
2. Using tightening sequence, snug the bolt down so that you feel "some" resistance, generally set the wrench to 15 or 18.
3. Using tightening sequence, tighten to next stage, 22 in this instance.
4. Using tightening sequence, tighten to final torque setting.
5. Using tightening sequence, go back over bolts and verify torque setting.

Meh, probably just me, but I like to be sure it's done right. Kind of a pain in the arse to have to redo it.

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

wtf? Someone told me it was 100% necessary to remove the crank pulley bolt, is that not true?

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

Is that what keeps the tension on the belt?

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

Yeah, but it clearly says in that DIY that you can just "slide it right off". I don't expect it to be quite that easy, but if it can be done without removing the crank pulley bolt, I've been wasting valuable ****ing time on my car..

RE: How to replace a headgasket?
 

"Properly" performing maintenance on your car is not wasting time IMHO. I should think that the belt would need to be tensioned correctly to avoid future failure.