Honda 1.5 headgasket: any "gotchas"?

notfarnow · 06-07-2007, 07:12 PM

A friend of mine blew the HG in his 94 Honda Civic. It's been a great little car for him and he'd really like to get a couple more years out of it.

This guy has come through for me a couple times in the last year when I was mid-project and really needed help, so I'm going to do his HG for him. I've been reading up a bit, but thought I'd check in here to see if there are any "gotchas".

I've read that the HG does tend to go on the 1.5s, and need to be replaced with a special gasket & new headstuds. Ordered them.

Now, here's what threw me off: I called a local shop that does a lot of work on these, and they said to just throw in the improved HG & studs, without having the head planed or pressure tested. They said the heads are rarely tweaked enough to justify planing, and seldom crack.

The shop has never steered me wrong before, and it would mean I could take the head off & button it back down over the weekend.

Still, it strikes me as odd. Anyone have experience with these Honda 1.5s?

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

I've done one, your shop is correct. I did have a tough time setting the timing for some reason, I locked the cam and was still off when I timed it. Maybe just me, but it was a straightforward job, wish I heard about the head stud upgrade though...

chris57 · 06-07-2007, 07:53 PM

Not a lot of experience with these motors but a surface and pressure test at a machine shop is so cheap it is not worth risking. You will spend maybe $150.00 to have it checked and surfaced. Its cheap insurance

bell · bell's Garage

it's a honda 1.5l......pretty indestructable until you slap a turbo on it.
on my old si (1.6l) the hardest part was getting to the 2 10mm bolts which are under the intake manifold which attatches to a bracket off the block, i think the 1.5l has a much simpler intake manifold though so should be easier.
change the timing belt while your in there, unless something catastrophic happened and it was driven for many miles after the gasket went you shouldn't need to worry about any machining.
should take you about 2 hours.

use a floor jack under the engine to support it as you need to pull off the engine mount by the belts to get the timing belt off/on, and just make sure everything is tdc before you start it

sewell94 · 06-07-2007, 09:54 PM

i specialize on working on hondas. make sure you check the deck on the head and make sure its perfectly flat. get it checked its cheap so do it right. Also use some copper spray on the new head gasket. The hardest part about doing the head gasket on this is getting the crank pully bolt off, the factory puts them on with loctite at 120lbs tq. very easy engine to do the head gasket on, i can do one in about an hr.

notfarnow · 06-08-2007, 05:48 AM

Great stuff, thanks guys!

Looks like my safest bet will be to have the head checked. He dropped the car off this AM and it is really chuffing, and lots of white smoke.

Timing belt only has ~20k on it.

sewell94, why does the crank pully need to come off?

bell · bell's Garage

the timing belt is hidden behind the crank pulley and you need to remove it to get the cover off. there is an access hole in the wheel well.

notfarnow · 06-08-2007, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bell
the timing belt is hidden behind the crank pulley and you need to remove it to get the cover off. there is an access hole in the wheel well.

Do I need to remove the cover if I'm not changing the timing belt, or is it a one piece cover that has to come off if I want to remove the head?

I haven't looked very closely yet, so I figured it would be as easy as doing a VW.

Jims5543 · 06-08-2007, 08:11 AM

It has an overhead cam, you need to pull the timing belt to get the head off, you have to pull the crank pully to get the cover off the timing belt. I think Godzilla works for Honda putting that bolt on.

BTW- Make sure you put loctite and torque that crank pully bolt back on, it will work its way loose if you do not. As me how I know.

Edit - I would also change the timing belt while I was at it and the water pump while your in there.

djmcmath · 06-08-2007, 12:10 PM

+1 Jim -- Godzilla does, in fact, put that crank nut on. In my experience, the best way to get it off involves pulling the wheel off that side, lowering the engine down (after disconnecting a couple of the engine mounts), and applying an impact wrench.

Like the others mention, the only thing that's given me trouble on this job is the timing. One tooth off won't make it run terrible, but it may be noticeable, so make sure it's at TDC when you start, and then again when you're putting it back together.

And given the hassle of getting the timing belt off, I totally agree with Jim -- it's cheap, and easy, and, hey, what the heck, you're in there.

I've done a couple of head gaskets on older Hondas and (gasp) have never had the heads checked for flatness. I've also never had problems with head gaskets failing afterwards (once the original HG goes, other expensive bits of the engine are likely to fail before the replaced HG goes). Maybe I've just been lucky, or maybe the heads just don't warp very often, or very much.

Good luck, and try to enjoy it.

notfarnow · 06-08-2007, 12:26 PM

Timing belt was done last year and only has ~20k on it, so I'm not going to change it.

PITA to have to remove crank pulley; don't have to do that with a VW OHC

Great tips though, I really appreciate it. It's good to know what I'm up against. It'll be fun, actually. Beer, pizza & JJ Cale.

Jims5543 · 06-08-2007, 12:54 PM

My first time taking off that crank bolt took up and entire Saturday, lots of cursing, lots of temper tantrums, too many trips to the car parts store.

I never thought to drop the engine down and hit it with an impact. I ended up with a large breaker bar and 6 foot long pipe to break it loose.

Jake - Do the timing belt it buys your friend another 20K miles before he has to deal with it again. Your taking it off anyway. I have no ide how many miles a year he puts on the thing but it may buy him another year or two beofre he has to deal with it again.

Mine broke with me trying to squeeze more out of it..... bent valve city.

notfarnow · 06-08-2007, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim Cesiro
Jake - Do the timing belt it buys your friend another 20K miles before he has to deal with it again. Your taking it off anyway. I have no ide how many miles a year he puts on the thing but it may buy him another year or two beofre he has to deal with it again.

He only puts 10-15K/yr, and only want 2 more years out of the car. If it had 40k on it, I might be able to justify changing it, but this car will rust away before it will get another 40K on it.

As for the crank bolt, I'll have to use the "armstrong" method... my impact gun isn't working.

Jims5543 · 06-08-2007, 06:46 PM

A 6 foot long pipe is your friend. Remember too the threads on the crank bolt are reverse righty loosey lefty tighty.

sewell94 · 06-08-2007, 06:52 PM

the threads aren't reversed, they're normal. The bolt might not be that bad since the timing belt has been replaced and been off before. The best way w/o an impact gun is to take the wheel off, get a breaker bar and long extension, i usually place a jack stank under the extension(about halfway) and get someone to get in the car, put it in park or gear, have them hold the brakes and pull/push like a mofo.

notfarnow · 06-08-2007, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sewell94
The hardest part about doing the head gasket on this is getting the crank pully bolt off, the factory puts them on with loctite at 120lbs tq.

Will torching the loctite help?

I really appreciate the advice, btw.

notfarnow · 06-16-2007, 05:11 AM

So I'm getting started on the headgasket this morning.

Quick question for the experts:

It looks like if I unbolt the intake manifold from the head, it will save me from removing all the plumbing & wiring.

Is that how it's generally done, or do you remove the head with both manifolds attached?

Porsche_monkey · 06-16-2007, 05:27 AM

You typically pull the manifolds off. And buy new gaskets.

bell · bell's Garage

when i did them i'd remove the exhaust manifold but leave the intake manifold connected......you'll need to unhook the fuel lines and such but no big deal.

David · David's Garage

3/4" cheap impact for the crank pulley. It will knock it off in 2 or 3 impacts. Don't even try it with a 1/2", even a high dollar one, it will impact hundreds of times and nothing will happen except the rubber will fail in the damper. BTDT.