soulman

I don't think this topic has been discussed before, if it was, my appologies in advance. One of the reasons why our headgaskets fail is the material used to manufacture them, not being able to withstand prolonged periods of heat ( correct me if iam wrong).
If we had custom metal/steel headgaskets made, would that solve the issue?

http://www.headgasket.com/gaskets.html

these guys manufacture custom headgaskets.

I noticed some of you have mentioned copper headgaskets. Those of you who have used it, did you have any problems with it so far?
My prelude had a steel hadgasket in the H22 motor. Due to a sticky thermostat it the temp was going up and down like a yo yo. But the headgasket never blew. I raped that motor, always redlining it for 50,000km. It still ran strong b4 i traded it in. So Iam thinking, if we get a steel headgasket made, our legends motors will be a bit more reliable.
What do you guys think?

 

sr79labrat

Eventually I will blow my hg then I will have some made...it is only a matter of time until the boost gets to high. Machine shops can make them for us also. If some one sent me a pair- I would have them made in a couple of months and we could prob. get a good price. How much are a factory set?

Thx, K

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tnelson

The copper one we have had made have had no success. the only two guys who tried them gave up because they had problems and would not seat properly. No one has tried steel headgaskets, but if you want to get them cut, more power to you.

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soulman

check ebay, do a search for "acura legend head" . There is a complete rebuild kit going for $145 , buy it now price..


So you guys are saying the copper ones didnt work? they blew as well? damn. We got ONE hot engine ! Well let's see what everyone else has to say on this, i might contact that company and ask them to make a pair. My motor seems ok for now, knock on wood, but i know it will go eventually. Iam driving like a grandmother these days cuz i just cant afford another car with no engine on my driveway. PLus its freezing cold outside ( -22), cant even hold a tool in my hand!

sr79labrat

I have access to a machine shop to do this for cheap. If t-nelson can draw us up an image they can be cut pretty fast!
Let me know...


I am running 7.5psi and have had no hg probs yet. When I try 10-15 then I am sure I will.
Thx, KTW

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Cole Austin

I don't see how a steel headgasket on an aluminium block is going to help things out? Those 2 metals act completly different under heat.

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soulman

Then why do the other honda motors such has h22 ( prelude) , b18c5 ( type R), use metal gaskets ? and those motors are high revving, run even hotter than ours. Iam not saying this idea will work, but i just want to see what ever one has to say about this before spending the money to get custom ones made. If it can save us from BHGs every 10,000 km, then why not, right?

Cole Austin

Good point.

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Mike Diaz

Just put some super glue in there, that'll hold.

Seriously, if you're planning on keeping the car for a while, make sure you have the heads shaved so you get a 100% flat surface, and make sure you clean the deck of the block VERY good, so there is no gasket residue.

You should definitely overtorque the heads to at least 63 ft. lbs.

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Dv8

I was one of the two that had the copper ones made up. the first time they didnt seat correctly. you can take a stock gasket(composite) and just slap it on and it works,like a sponge. Copper you have to spray a filmy spray called halo mar. That gives the gasket a spongy film. I had the gaskets made up bu Hussy copper, one of the biggest names for making copper headgaskets. I told them i had an aluminum head and block, but the copper just didnt seat at all and leaked right away.

The second time, i used this stuff called 3 bond the gaskets lasted two months before it started leaking. Both times the gaskets leaked, not blown, but leak in the cyl.

Either the copper wasent soft enough or the imprints that the stock gaskets have, should be made on the copper ones. Hussy did tell me that the copper was the same they use for all other aluminum block and head engines.


~TRu Hybrid

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B+O

Thank you for that Dv8. People cant get the idea that the engine itself isn't prone to blow headgaskets left and right.

the Copper just didn't seal.

the stock headgaskets are FINE people even with boost, you just need to take care of the damn car. if you treat it like a piece of sh*t you're going to get treated like a piece of sh*t. understand that.


since you've had the stock gaskets in there C, you haven't had a single problem from them have you?

and please understand im not flamin anyone here...

It's just in the last 3 years this sites been run i've been tryin to atleast spread knowlege that the car isn't prone to headgasket failure, it's prone to age failure...age bring about abad things in ALL cars, once fixed headgaskets dont go again unless you did a shady job...

However, against ALLL my damn sayin this, people dont seem to hear it. i got approached by some dude the other day talkin about he like Legends but he's read they are prone to headgasket failure....i wonder where he got that idea...

stevieray

Ivan, I agree to a certain extent. If the car is not maintained properly (more specifically the cooling system), it is prone to BHG. However, properly maintained, the HG should last the life of the car. In my personal opinion, the reason we see so many BHG is that most of our cars were originally owned by people that were neither enthusiasts nor well versed (ie: older people and more affluent types) in proper care and feeding of the Legend and quite frankly, had enough money to not give a sh!t. If the radiator blew, they probably did NOT pull over to the side of the road, shut it off and gotten a tow as they should have. They probably just drove it to the closest service center and said "fix it", not knowing that they had just done long-term major damage to the engine. Remember too, that most original owners probably cut their teeth on American cars with cast iron heads & blocks that could take overheating abuse to a certain extent. Hell, I had a '66 Chevy Impala that I drove for a month or more with a leaking radiator, overheated the piss out of it and it never flinched.

Just my .02. BTW, good to see ya---

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soulman

I talked to one guy here on the forum, he said he maintained the car, no cooling system issues, and didn't abuse it, he ended up with a BHG. Explain that to me ? Aging? iam sorry, but a BHG at 150k is not aging, do u know the average lifespan of a civic or prelude engine? they go on forever!

You DO have a point Bang&Olufsen DK , maintaining the car is the key. And that;s what I thought too, the HG cant seep for no reason! Thank you for the comforting words. But after reading so many postings on BHGs, i am a bit paranoid that the car will leave me stranded one day. I just got my car last weekend and i love it, and i plan to keep it for at least 5 yrs. But i want it to be perfect, and reliable. I was planning to go to montreal ( 4 hours drive from toronto) but decided not to go thinking the gasket might go any minute. I guess reading so many postings on BHGs has created a fear in me... Even while driving iam constantly looking at the temp gauge ;( This is the first honda engine I have seen with the seeping HG issue.

DV8, how many clicks have u put on your motor with the stock HGs? ( after they were replaced).
I guess i dont mind changing the HGs every 100,000 kms hahahahaha

Dv8

First engine had 120 on it and was fine the second was at 40k and I put less than 10k on the engine, but i ran nitrous like a mad man, so the HG started to go bad. The first engine,i bent a valve the second, i torched the block and HG, the third is now my 3.5 TYPE II and i baby it. tune it on a dyno with a A/F monitor and I put 3k on it this past year so i dont drive it much anymore. My other legend has 190k on it and at about 175k the HG started to be a problem. I run an open thermostat and keep water full in the summer and 50/50 in the winter, it stays cold. temp fix. IT does eat up gas a lot more. it was regularly maintained by the only other previous owner.

I do belive that cars better maintained last longer, but weather conditions play a big part maintained or not. Also Legends 91-93 in paticular have the internal cooling system do a lot of extra stuff thats not needed, eventually causeing heat to build up in case of an air bubble or loss of coolant. the early 2nd gen legends ran coolant to the oil cooler and DIff of all things.Great idea but, it would build up heat, beacuse it made the system more prone to air pockets or loss of coolant, that heat eventually takes a toll on the composite HG. The new legend engines have it all capped off and the oil pump cooler is removed. same with the RL block. Speaking of excessive, they put a cooler for the power steering.
Look for a copper HG that will bond to aluminum and that can be imprinted, because of me hussy copper has the template to make another set of HG if you want to try them your self. it only 85 bucks.

~TRu Hybrid

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B+O

that's the exact thing that ticks me off the most. i have met many a mechanic that will misdiagnose a problem so fast it'll make your head spin. My mom's friend was told by a TOYOTA DEALERSHIP that her headgasket on her 89 Toyota Corolla was going to go bad. she took care of this thing like nobody i have ever seen take care of a care...seriously. this car had the veneragble toyota 4AFE engine (reliable beyond recognition) she had me change the timing belt for her around the same time she got that dumbass tellin her she needed a headgasket. i got a techer of mine to look at the car with me. went over the spark plugs checked the oil did a leak down test and all types of sh*t....they were tryin to drain her of money. not a thing was wrong with her car...hell the TB even looked new. o_o

if you've seen a well maintained 91 with a bad headgasket i want you to bring me the service records and all things done to it. i have seen too many 91-93s floating around with less than perfect service records having not a single glimmps of a bad head gasket.

...seeping head gasket ...

not flamin you, im flaming the notion.......seeping head gasket....pah. I've seen more '00 Dodge intrepids with blown headgaskets than i've seen Legends.

Valvestem seals i'll give you they seems to let loose on high mileage engines(175,000miles and up) but using a higher weight oil usually works. even using "High Mileage" works on that problem for the most part. i have a valvestem seal slight leak (251,300 miles or 404,342km), it was worse with 5W30 but i've moved to 0W40 with Lucas, and that stopped oil smoke. and im going to soon go to 5W50 Castrol just to see what 50 weight oil does for hot oil performance...

I do agree with DV8 though the first run of Type Is were more complex in their cooling systems and therefor have a large chance of trapping air somewhere and if the car isn't taken care of you can get problems down the line in the cooling system. proper maintenance is the key, most people dont know you're supposed to change your coolant every 15,000miles or 6 months if im not mistaken. coolant isn't a life long fluid in the car.

EDIT:

I was mistaken, it's every 15,000 miles or every 12 months. you're supposed to check and/or change it.