Blown head gasket

[SDAlexander8]

LOL
Seriously.. it shouldn't be a big deal on a Honda. Top speed was conservatively limited at the factory is my understanding. Man, i would love to know how many dozens of hours my old B16 would sit above 9k for extended periods.. and it just felt.. right. I had a Mugen ECU with no limiter.. perhaps Honda's fuel cut off actually creates a damaging condition?

When i have this engine sitting above 6000 rpm it doesn't feel “right”.

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[SDAlexander8]

I'm still wondering how acetone got into his motor. He stated there was 1tbsp in it which leads me to believe he put it in there intentionally? Maybe hoping that it'll clean the intake valves? I'm just throwing guesses now haha

What is the active solvent cleaner in intake valve cleaning sprays?

Edit: petroleum and naphthalene. Interesting...

 

[gtman]

same with his coolant temp and IATs, jesus

Intercooler and 53 degree ambient temps for the win!

 

[amirza786]

Intercooler and 53 degree temps for the win!

It was probably a very cold day. It is Iowa

 

[gtman]

It was probably a very cold day. It is Iowa

It was exactly 53 degrees.

 

[bbeem]

Looks like I have attention now. I'm not mad it, nothing money and time can't fix I guess. Anxious and a little nervous to tear into it. I'll make sure to take plenty pics. To elaborate the car has always ran perfect until I had about 3/16" of acetone solvent in my catch can and started it. Figure about 1tbs or .5 oz. I can go grab the catch can that's now removed and figure it out if it matters. I guess the other note is it sat for hours before starting and acetone evaporates quickly so maybe it was mostly vapor by then. When I started it misfired and started like shit and a little more vibration. The next day when I went WOT it would misfire like cut out for a split second, like 1 split second every 2 seconds at high RPM. I took 15 datalogs that day of it doing it. When beating it like that and driving it regular over the week it used about 3/4 the overflow of coolant. I filled it up and only drive it once in a while very lightly the last 2 weeks and it doesn't seem to go through much but only putting maybe 30 miles on it. I would get misfire on 3 and 4 at WOT high RPM on ktuner that day. p303 and p304. I also got the p303 p304 when starting it up twice. When pulling the plugs the piston heads of 1 and 2 are perfectly clean and 3 and 4 are wet with coolant on the top. When driving it lightly it runs well but I feel more vibration and I also get a little rev blip when clutching, like pressure is moving from 3 to 4 I imagine. When I took to dealership they said they tested it and did injector test and the car is perfect. I didn't push it because I was going to tear into it myself at that point I figured. I have compression test but didn't bother after I saw the coolant on 3 and 4. I'm going to test before I pull the head though just to compare. I travel each week so Ill be doing it the 28th and 29th in a couple weeks. Also looking for studs for an upgrade. These available? Appreciate it.

 

[charleswrivers]

OP... I don't see how a little bit of acetone made an engine go pop... I don't see how it'd make you go lean. It'd be a supplemental fuel source to make you go rich. People have been adding it directly to their gas in the hopes that it'll improve MPGs (people will believe anything if they read it on the internet... and there's lots of great theories and papers on it.). I can't say to how it compares to gasoline... It should burn cooler than fuel and does seem to evaporate readily... I just... well... I don't see it. I may be missing something fundamental... but I assume it returns downstream the MAF sensor so it's weird cooling effects it could do to a sensor wouldn't be a thing and it'd be straight up supplemental fuel. For all the stuff I've seen where people are putting this cleaner or that or water straight into their intake stream... a little acetone, whatever residual was left in a catch can also just doesn't seem like enough to cause a hydrolock either.

But, if it happened, it happened. That coolant is going somewhere .. and it's probably built up in your oil turning it into an emulsified oil/water mix. You should also have it leaving your exhaust.

Either one of those ought to be fine.

MAPs just looks to be reselling the OEM. $200 is wild money for the HG, but they're calling it a kit so I expect it should include the head bolts. I've reused them before on junky cars and small engines... but I'd go with a new set on something you care about. If your DITY, make sure it's torqued down right. I looked around and didn't see anything. Rockauto did have an option, but I couldn't find damn thing anywhere... both just-gasket and what should have been the whole kit.

I didn't see thicker gaskets available. It'd lower your CR a bit. I've heard of running doubles... but I've heard mixed noise on it.

As an aside to the speed... (151/80)x3000=5662.5 and looking at a drag calculator should only take around 160 HP on an assumed fueled 1 passenger 3200 lb car, 22 ft^2 frontal and a .28 CD (gas+passenger and guessing on the CD and A. We're claimed as 12% better than a 9th gen's CD*A and they were around a .3 on CD... so it ought to be close. It couldn't be too good as we don't pop up on any of the .27 advertised cars... though it looks like the actual value was never published. It's a shame... it ought to be quite good.)

250 HP would let you get around 175 MPH, also around redline. Most of the pump gas, stock turbo Civics ought to be drag limited before the hit redline, with power have peaked and falling after 6000 RPMs well south of 250 whp... and they'd be absolutely *creeping* up in speed mile after mile much past 150. I've gone a good deal faster in my misspent youth... but I doubt I would have ever tried it in a Civic.

 

[bbeem]

OP... I don't see how a little bit of acetone made an engine go pop... I don't see how it'd make you go lean. It'd be a supplemental fuel source to make you go rich. People have been adding it directly to their gas in the hopes that it'll improve MPGs (people will believe anything if they read it on the internet... and there's lots of great theories and papers on it.). I can't say to how it compares to gasoline... It should burn cooler than fuel and does seem to evaporate readily... I just... well... I don't see it. I may be missing something fundamental... but I assume it returns downstream the MAF sensor so it's weird cooling effects it could do to a sensor wouldn't be a thing and it'd be straight up supplemental fuel. For all the stuff I've seen where people are putting this cleaner or that or water straight into their intake stream... a little acetone, whatever residual was left in a catch can also just doesn't seem like enough to cause a hydrolock either.

But, if it happened, it happened. That coolant is going somewhere .. and it's probably built up in your oil turning it into an emulsified oil/water mix. You should also have it leaving your exhaust.

Either one of those ought to be fine.

MAPs just looks to be reselling the OEM. $200 is wild money for the HG, but they're calling it a kit so I expect it should include the head bolts. I've reused them before on junky cars and small engines... but I'd go with a new set on something you care about. If your DITY, make sure it's torqued down right. I looked around and didn't see anything. Rockauto did have an option, but I couldn't find damn thing anywhere... both just-gasket and what should have been the whole kit.

I didn't see thicker gaskets available. It'd lower your CR a bit. I've heard of running doubles... but I've heard mixed noise on it.

As an aside to the speed... (151/80)x3000=5662.5 and looking at a drag calculator should only take around 160 HP on an assumed fueled 1 passenger 3200 lb car, 22 ft^2 frontal and a .28 CD (gas+passenger and guessing on the CD and A. We're claimed as 12% better than a 9th gen's CD*A and they were around a .3 on CD... so it ought to be close. It couldn't be too good as we don't pop up on any of the .27 advertised cars... though it looks like the actual value was never published. It's a shame... it ought to be quite good.)

250 HP would let you get around 175 MPH, also around redline. Most of the pump gas, stock turbo Civics ought to be drag limited before the hit redline, with power have peaked and falling after 6000 RPMs well south of 250 whp... and they'd be absolutely *creeping* up in speed mile after mile much past 150. I've gone a good deal faster in my misspent youth... but I doubt I would have ever tried it in a Civic.

Thanks for looking into it too. Think I might just do the $200 kit. There's roads to run on out here so I don't feel it's too sketch, the civics pretty planted. It starts to peter out at 150 and gets close to redline upper 160s. I havn't bounced it off the rev and actually topped it out. I don't often light it up that much though. Have an FZ1 and race bike for that.

 

[amirza786]

Thanks for looking into it too. Think I might just do the $200 kit. There's roads to run on out here so I don't feel it's too sketch, the civics pretty planted. It starts to peter out at 150 and gets close to redline upper 160s. I havn't bounced it off the rev and actually topped it out. I don't often light it up that much though. Have an FZ1 and race bike for that.

So OP, you don't feel that taking it to 150 MPH plus is possibly pushing it a bit to much? It is a very planted car, I have briefly gone up to 100 mph passing slower traffic (on drives between Northern Cal and Southern Cal) but moved back down to 80 mph. Although a sustained 80 to 90 mph speed at 3K rpm's don't pose any issues, a sustained 150 mph plus could

 

[gtman]

So OP, you don't feel that taking it to 150 MPH plus is possibly pushing it a bit to much? It is a very planted car, I have briefly gone up to 100 mph passing slower traffic (on drives between Northern Cal and Southern Cal) but moved back down to 80 mph. Although a sustained 80 to 90 mph speed at 3K rpm's don't pose any issues, a sustained 150 mph plus could

amirza... what's the big deal wringing it out to 150-160 mph on the street? Race car drivers do it all the time. Oh wait, the OP drives an econobox. A very fast econobox though.

”I havn't bounced it off the rev and actually topped it out. I don't often light it up that much though"

Here's my take on this. Honda tuned the Civic very conservatively. And in my mind the available tunes are safe when cars are driven "normally". Normally to me is everyday driving with occasional bursts of high throttle and high-ish speeds. Maybe the occasional AutoX or trip to the drag strip. I think our cars take that in stride and it's a helluva lot of fun. Unfortunately, I don't think our cars were designed to hold up well at 150-160 mph on numerous occasions without some issue rearing it's head.

Though having said all that, the fact the OP has hit the upper 160's is kind of impressive. Scary, but impressive.

Good luck with the fix, bbeem.

 

[amirza786]

amirza... what's the big deal wringing it out to 150-160 mph on the street? Race car drivers do it all the time. Oh wait, the OP drives an econobox. Nevermind.

”I havn't bounced it off the rev and actually topped it out. I don't often light it up that much though"

Yeah, I don't really know what to say there...

 

[SDAlexander8]

I hope you’re not taking it to 150 on stock tires either. I don’t think they're rated for those speeds. If you hit a pothole or your tire blows going that fast, you could be in serious trouble. Take it to a track, it’s much safer.

 

[kshawn]

I've gone up to 155mph twice in my SI. It felt pretty planted.
If I had to make an assumption, speed wasn't the only abuse.

But I can't be the one to judge. I blew mine up eventually.

 

[bbeem]

I'm not mad about the concern but it will be alright. It's on eagle F1 A2s rated 186mph. The stock AS tires are sketch at high speed for sure that's true. Really shifty, especially under breaking and turn in. Don't plan on racing an si, it's my daily. Maybe 1 track day for fun but I race Moto. Probably shouldn't have posted that garage pic but the car can do it pretty easy and prospectively safely. It's the cheapest car Ive run at that speed and it handles it very well. Wouldn't want to try in the softer civic/sport for sure. Also driving it hard will be harder for the long haul obviously but I doubt it's done anything compromising thus far. I might wring the motor out but I don't blast the drivetrain. Launches and burnouts and dropping clutch stabbing the throttle and slamming gears ect. Anyway wanted to stay on head gasket problem and parts. Appreciate it.

 

[charleswrivers]

I'd be very interested if we can get a picture of the old gasket so we can see the defect. I haven't heard of another HG failure... other than once, and I don't think there was a lot of info that was passed along.

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