I have a 94 honda civic DX and think that the head gasket is bad. I am a rookie mechanic but am willing to tackle the replacement joB.
Are their any tips that you may have that will help me to replace the head gasket and timing belt?

ain't never been this far in the engine!!!!!!!!! thanks

 

first off, are you asking about a head gasket replacement, or how to diagnose what can be causing the white smoke? Have you done a compression check? Have you checked your oil to see if it looks milky brown(coolant leak into oil)? You should probably look deeper into the problem before you go replacing different thing in hopes you get the right one. A compression test will get you started in the right track.

 

do you think I coulld have a bad valve ?

 

I pretty much want to diagnose what is caussing the white smoke as I am leaning towards a bad gaskket. I don't have coolant in my oil. I would like some tips on changing the head gasket as well as the timing belt since I will have to tear into it anyways, right?

I will do a compression test on and shoot my findings out to ya, if you don't mind. thanks

 

White smoke also form when you flood the engine with gas.

 

Normally white/bluish smoke is oil burning. exess fuel is more of a dark smoke. If white/bluish smoke comes out when you smash on the gas peddle it is normally due to worn piston rings letting oil in the combustion chamber.

 

when you do a compression test you can see if you have bad valve seats, bad head gasket, or bad piston rings in any given cylinder.

A leak down(leakage) test will tell you you what is actually wrong in that chamber. If you hear air/bubbles in the radiator during this test it will tell you you have a bad head gasket. If you hear air coming out of your intake it will tell you that you have a bad valve/valve seat on the intake side of that cylinder. If you hear air coming out of your exhaust same thing on in the exhaust valve on that cylinder.

Read up on both these test and they will tell you a lot about the condition of your engine. Come back here with any questions or just PM me. I'll help in any way I can.

 

when u pull the spark plugs out look to see if theres any coolant on them that will give u an idea whats goin on ---or u can do it the old fashion way & give the ol' gas pipe a snort[:'(] if it smells sweet its coolant if u do it u might want to get the head checked to make shure its not cracked [:@]

 

I read up on these Two things and have a pretty good understanding, I think.

Here are the results for the compression test.

#1 145 psi Dry #2 100 psi Dry #3 150 psi Dry #4 150 psi dry

#2 150 psi Wet/added oil to cylinder

Does it sound like worn rings in the #2

Almost think I should do a leak test on it. Wazzz your thoughts? thanks again



when you do a compression test you can see if you have bad valve seats, bad head gasket, or bad piston rings in any given cylinder.

A leak down(leakage) test will tell you you what is actually wrong in that chamber. If you hear air/bubbles in the radiator during this test it will tell you you have a bad head gasket. If you hear air coming out of your intake it will tell you that you have a bad valve/valve seat on the intake side of that cylinder. If you hear air coming out of your exhaust same thing on in the exhaust valve on that cylinder.

Read up on both these test and they will tell you a lot about the condition of your engine. Come back here with any questions or just PM me. I'll help in any way I can.

 

yup sounds like the piston rings on cyl 2. I would do the test over again and verify the numbers. Make sure you let it rotate at least 7 times per reading. Keep an eye on the gauge and see if the first 1-2 strokes are low and then shoot up. This will indicate a worn ring as well(check this on all pistons sometimes the other rings can still give you good compression, but are warn non the less). If you really want to find out more about your engine do a leak down test(this will pinpoint the problem a little more). That way you can fix everything that needs fixing since the engine will be part(maybe the head is ready for a valve job).

If the outcome of these tests point to the rings, you have a few questions to ask yourself. How do you want to handle this. complete rebuild, engine swap/replacement. let me know what you find out on the engine.