Blown head gasket – should I fix or rebuild engine?

[traverscott74]

My brother's 2005 Honda Civic-Ex over heated a few months ago and when we checked, it had a blown head gasket and already warped head. We were presuming the overheating caused this. So we brought to a local auto shop and were quoted $2200 - too costly for me. Do you think I should just get a rebuilt engine or is it worth to have this fixed and spend $$$? It's really a pain...

[TheSt|G]

For a blown head gasket your two main costs are the labor to get the head off, and for the machine shop to resurface it to take out the warping. If you can DIY the labor, the cost of the machine shop and the new hardware/gaskets isn't too bad.

[Lapkritis]

http://www.honda-tech.com

I would suggest a junkyard head complete. Good luck.

[safe]

Originally Posted by traverscott74

My brother's 2005 Honda Civic-Ex over heated a few months ago and when we checked, it had a blown head gasket and already warped head. We were presuming the overheating caused this. So we brought to a local auto shop and were quoted $2200 - too costly for me. Do you think I should just get a rebuilt engine or is it worth to have this fixed and spend $$$? It's really a pain...

Happened to my Audi last year, the water pump broke and it over heated.

I ripped out the head and had it resurfaced.

[Robey5]

"...2005 Honda Civic-Ex over heated a few months ago and when we checked, it had a blown head gasket and already warped head..."


Why not, I will bite...

My suggestion here is that you will want to tackle this job on your own. Get a manual (chilton or haynes) and use it as a reference to taking the cylinder head (cast aluminum, I believe) OFF of the engine. Take a Friday off with your brother, start the fun on Thursday evening, get the cylinder head off of the engine by Friday, and bring it to a machine shop and get it straightened.

While you're at it, get the valves reworked by the machine shop.

Pick up a new gasket (set), and put it back together. Use the torque on the head bolts outlined by the manual.

Here's the upside: the Hondas that I have worked on were pretty easy and straight forward. The blown gasket will present itself pretty obviously; and you will likely get it back on the road (with a new oil change) by Sunday. Not too bad of a job, realistically speaking --- if you've done any slightly advanced work on a porsche in the past.

Good luck...

[porterdog]

Honda motor swaps are easy (like, an afternoon is plenty of time). Scrapyard motor from a known-good supplier.

[NICE 69 S]

FWIW, my son had an Accord, and a hose broke and the gasket blew. Tried to fix it myself, but after an hour looking at it, took it to a local shop. I could see no way to get the intake manifold off, but the guy at the shop removed the head with the manifold on. One month later, a different hose broke, and the new gasket blew. After negotiations, shop said they would do the job for half price (THEY SHOULD HAVE REPLACED THE CRAPPY HOSE).
Anyway, after they got the head off, I had them push the car into the parking lot. I went to Sears and bought a 6in grinding wheel and removed the labels from both sides. I plugged up the hole on the top of the block where the oil comes up into the head, put rags in all the cylinders to keep the grit from falling down to the pistons, and ran that grinding wheel (laid over on it's side) over the top of the block by hand. There were so many high spots, it just blew me away. Took me two days of sliding that grinding wheel over the top of that damn block to get to the point where I thought the gasket would have some integrity.
Moral of the story here is that if the head is warped, then the top of the block is probably warped too. If I had to do this again, I would epoxy some sort of flexible shaft into the hole in the grinding wheel so I could use my drill motor to circulate the grinding wheel while I was moving it from side to side. (Don't forget to unplug the oil hole after you get everything cleaned up).
Bob B

[jjeffries]

Former Honda service manager here, although not much different to contribute to the good advice already given. You'd want to understand why it over heated in the first place, and make sure that is resolved before investing in the repair. Is the radiator ok?. Not worth trying to redeem an engine which has been hot enough to warp the head, especially when used replacements are available so easily and inexpensively. Best of luck, John

[porschetub]

Chuck the motor get a good runner from a dismantler and cut your losses, an overheated motor has all sorts of nasty hidden issues AFTER you recon the head and refit it etc,don't like jappers but thats the way they are so no offence intended just cause they don't repair well and were never intended to be.

[Mrmerlin]

So what was the outcome on this repair?