Head Gasket DIY 1985 Civic Wagon Auto
robotech
Band Wagon
Hey all I am a bit new here - and I have searched a lot of these forums but I have yet to find a complete DIY for a head gasket replacement on a 1985 Civic Wagon.
So, as I am planning on doing one myself - I was hoping that some people could post some words of advise as I start this thread and post pics as I go etc.
The 1984-1987 ( 84- 87) Civic Wagon is like one of the coolest cars that I think have been on the road in a long time - that is just me - some guys are in to Mustangs - I like Hondas.
So, I also hear that you can remove the head with out removing the water pump and timing belt etc - I do plan on having the head resurfaced - so how is that possible? Or is someone pulling my leg? I will know more as I get into this project - but if anyone out there knows some cool tricks that will save me time and $$$ all the better!
Thanks!
Robotech
So, as I am planning on doing one myself - I was hoping that some people could post some words of advise as I start this thread and post pics as I go etc.
The 1984-1987 ( 84- 87) Civic Wagon is like one of the coolest cars that I think have been on the road in a long time - that is just me - some guys are in to Mustangs - I like Hondas.
So, I also hear that you can remove the head with out removing the water pump and timing belt etc - I do plan on having the head resurfaced - so how is that possible? Or is someone pulling my leg? I will know more as I get into this project - but if anyone out there knows some cool tricks that will save me time and $$$ all the better!
Thanks!
Robotech
Comments
But if you didnt want to you just need to release the belt tensioner then flick the timing belt off the cam gear
More to come as I start pulling the head sometime in the next few weeks. :roll:
Well at any rate - to get to the head gasket I had a bunch of crap to do!
1. Removed the battery - I do not really want to get shocked!
2. Remove as many fluids as you can - drain radiator etc, and take out the air filter holder and all - there are a lot of vacuum hoses to remove - most should be apparent where they go back - mark the ones that are not -
I also took out the radiator, and for fun took off the front face plate and headlight surrounds:
This just gave me more room to work in there -
As you can see there is not much room to work -
You can take off the center front part that acts as a holder for the radiator and cross support.
See the part at the bottom of this pic?
There is a bolt on either side that are near inside of the headlights - remove the hood latch and it comes free.
The air conditioning radiator I left in - as with main radiator removed that made a lot more room.
You'll need all you can get!
I also removed the thermostat and lines connecting the coolant to the head, and stuff - so that I had more room to work - in the RAIN!!!!!
That helped!!!! :roll:
By stuff I mean: The distributor cap, rotor, and then finally the whole distributor next - I made sure to also mark what direction the distributor was removed at - so I know how to put it back in later.
There are also a lot of hoses and bolts to take off - I suggest that you mark where they came from -
3 - Remove the valve cover gasket and the top part of the timing belt cover- so you can access the area with the timing belt and the head bolts.
4 - Set the TDC marks so that you know where TDC is -
This is NOT TDC - note the mark in the camshaft pulley for TDC : (ill have to re-edit this later)
To set TDC - REMOVE the left wheel ( Drivers side) and put a tire iron, or something like this breaker bar on the Crankshaft and turn it
until you see it move - Find the WHITE marks on the camshaft pulley thing - TDC:
NOW you can see that you have TDC:
Notice the WHITE marks are in line with the HEAD - IE if you drew a line - it would be parallel with the head .
4 - Now you can remove the exhaust manifold gasket, bolts and the intake manifold bolts -
push the intake manifold toward the rear of the car -
There should be room to leave all of the vacuum hoses plugged into where they go -
The exhaust manifold is really hard to get to all of the bolts!
What a PAIN in the BUTT! - later some one told me that it may have been better to remove the exhaust manifold from the muffler side and remove it with the head - How did I get these bolts off?? 1/2 turn at a time baby!!!!!
AAAAAA - better
5. - Now you can remove the head - there are 3 BOLTS that are only held down by nuts 2 on your left - and one on your upper right - weird - anyways the rest are regular Head Bolts! -
OMG I did it!
So, Sure enough the head gasket had signs of wear between the #1 and the #2 Cylinders ( #1 on right)
I removed some before taking this pic - Hard to tell in this PIC - but it was BAD -
I assume that it was putting gas's into the cooling system,
as one clue was when I first added coolant / water and bled system it would spit air (gas's) and water forever
I could never get system to bleed -
6. - Clean this engine block side and remove ALL old head gasket material - clean clean it good!!
Also I am having the head resurfaced - so that we make a nice good clean re-connection. (This did not happen I just had someone sand it )
Another word of advise / something that I ran into - The head was STUCK once I had all of the bolts etc removed - use a pry bar / crow bar to push UP on the head - careful not to damage anything!!
More to come as I get to it -
Sure - whatever you say Sir - I thought I was in the right place- this was supposed to be a guide as to how to get the darn head off the block so you can re-do the head gasket - seems to be engine related - I could not find any guide to do so so I was hoping to make one myself ( poorly I might add - but I am looking / open for suggestions).
Um, if I do get stuck trying to figure out how to move it to another thread - will ya help me?
Thanks!
8)
It is gonna be sweet!
I scrapped off all of the old gasket - got it nice and smooth, and will tighten down the headbolts soon - Ill post pics and procedure about that too soon!
So - after all of the changes above these where my results.
Pass on all of the inspections and other crap - but:
%HC MAX/ MEAS CO (%) MAX / MEAS
IDLE RPM 1039 120 / 168 1.00 / 0.04 :oops:
2500 RPM 150 / 71 1.20 / 0.25
%CO2 %02
IDLE RPM 1039 11.26 4.8
2500 RPM 14.0 0.7
So - based on this - looks like I have a few things that are at issue -
I guess my Idle is to high - not sure why -
If any one has an words of advise - please let me know......
Dude at smog shop said to replace CAT - but geesh!
Oh btw - the high idle was a simple idle adjust screw -
So the carb base plat must be leaky. It is not cracked as I removed the carb and inspected it - I did see that the O ring thing that seals the carb to the base plate looks like it has been squished over the years and leaks.
Here is a pic - of the top - I tried to use permatex #2 - but I dont think that I let it dry long enough - just long enough to get tacky- tried to make an O ring -
Today after warming the rig up - and the warm up / idle finished / got to temp etc - the honda idled!
What does this matter? Well before it would not idle after warming up unless I really warmed it up further - for about 3 min or so...
I had assumed that this was due to a vacuum leak / carb base plat issue that I have been having - running lean ( to much air)
Kinda weird that after all this work above - it now seems a bit better - it was warm this afternoon so Ill see how it does tonight warming it up.
Just dont want to waste any more of the smog guys time untillI know for sure that I have it all better.
So - I must still have a leak - going to get the O ring and see if that helps - Ill put up more pics and update you all as I can....
Those carbs on the last few carbureted Hondas were complex. They had a whole lot of vacuum and mechanical pieces just to pass EPA/smog requirements!
I had an 87 Accord LX with a carb (the LX-i was injected). it would stall sometimes before it was completely warmed up and not restart because one of the TWO choke pull off diaphragms was not working. The choke wold stick closed. Took a LOOOOONNNGGG time to figure that one out. I sold that car with 300000 miles on it and miss it to this day.
My 90 wagon failed smog when I first got it. The cat was clogged/melted inside. I bought a bolt in replacement for about $125 and passed the last 3 inspections with no problem. One shop said it was the cleanest runner they had seen in years.
So, I'd say, drop your cat and have a look. If it's clogged, it might be affecting your idle as well.
If you can get a factory manual for your car, it will have a detailed carb section. It would be worth studying all the magical circuits and how to test them. Haynes & Clymer manuals will not have enough detail.
I really want this to all be stock - and as such get the best MPG....
Just a resurface - valves all looked good -
I have not adjusted them yet - but I don't think that they could be that far off to cause high HC's at idle....
Besides I am pretty confident that there is still a leak in the carb base - HC's look really good at 2500 RPM - ( see above) -
Clue to me being - spray carb clean at base of carb - idle increases, and if I put a towel over carb air inlet speeds up a bit - unless I choke it out to much!
I did order the O ring thing and plan on re-doing it correctly this time - and perhaps use some gasket maker on the outside of the O ring -
Goal = really seal up the carb base - and get rid of the lean misfire!!!!
Wish me luck!
She stared good - and idled up to temp and dropped to normal RPM - no stalling...
That was the "tell" that I was kind of using to gage if there was still a lean misfire / leak in the carb base.
I also sprayed some carb cleaner arround the base of the carb - and no increase in RPM -
So, we will see Monday!!! I will post the results here for all to see!
I actually had to replace the heat riser / carb base gasket as it was leaking - and adjust the fuel mixture.
I hooked up a meter to the O2 sensor - and after warm up - checked the voltage at idle and 2500 rpm.
At idle I was looking at .4 to .5 V - so my buddy whom was an old smog tech said that i should be good!
We will see my B-day is this weekend - and I told the wife - I want this to pass fer my present!
Like the new forum - but no past pics! - bummer....... I have to research and re-post them.....
I found this on redpepper racing and am including it for reference:
http://www.redpepperracing.com/technical/d/26218-3/aay.png
I had a DX carb and found that it was open about 2.5 turns - but on my wagon I had to open it up like 4 turns before I stopped getting a lean misfire.
So this has 12 valves right? 2 on intake and 1 on exhaust? Well there seems to be 2 on the exhaust - I think that this an aux valve - but I have never seen this and some of my buddy's have not seen this either -
Can anyone provide me with a reliable way to adjust them? It seems that these are just above the spark plugs and are on separate lobes and thus open differently then the exhaust -
Perhaps I am missing something simple like - they open with the intake?
Robotech
As it is - I had to sell to a chick in my band - but I'll be looking at getting another one - a 4wd version!