LV_legend

This reminds me the whole summer that I did my own HG job on my 94 L.

Just to add a little more on this thread,

If anyone doubt about HG problem and needs a little MORE confirmation if they have HG problem or not, go to NAPA store and buy a kit called,

Block Leak Tester.

It is blue chemical fluid that reacts to exhaust gas. If you have HG problem, the exhaust gas fume will eventually come out through radiator neck. So, if you keep the blue chemical on the rad neck for a while while engine running, it will become yellow..... It is fairly easy method and only takes a few minutes to detect HG problem.....

I spotted mine by such method and after self HG service, it never have had any overheat problem so far. Now it is reaching 200k miles...

Another "STRONG" recommendation is change as many things as possible during HG job such as,

T-belt
all other belts
Radiator
Upper rad hose
Lower rad hose
coolant lines etc etc...

Also, I highly recommend to directly go to dealer or any vendor to buy only OEM's (except Radiator). Such as those hoses, don't waste your time to find out those hoses from local auto part store... it is purely waste of time and money... just use OEM's..

Good luck whoever try this HG service.. If any questions, just let me know. I can also share my own experience too....

 

Dethred

I might have to try that block leak tester just for F**ks and Giggles.

Anyone wanna guess my problem?

-Overheating (sporatic for over 1.5 years after complete Cooling system overhaul)
-trace coolant in oil
-Air pockets show up in coolant
-Burning coolant smell in engine bay which eventually comes into cabin with windows open.
-Small amounts of gray smoke on startup.

Anyone care to take a guess? I think I'll be using this DIY in a few weeks.

The_Iceman

Delays my friends, delays. I'm back in in full finish mode now! Apologize for this but hey when you work hard...you can play harder.......... To answer a couple question that I read this morning, It's not stickied because it's not complete. You DO NOT use any RTV sealant between the new gaskets and heads. I'm o.k. with Mike D hosting this for me. I made the pics smaller exclusively just for this forum. I appreciate the offer though. I have plenty of web space to host this but I prefer to leave this one here because I love this site so much and this is where it's needed the most. Got more pics and things to share and will be posting with a vengence...

I>C>E>

Legend93

Never use any RTV or any sealant for that matter, on the head gasket. When you torque the HG down, all that RTV will be squeezed out. Some will squeeze into and clog up the coolant holes. Take it from me, I've had first hand experience with this on my 84' Prelude when I was younger. Luckly, my only problem was no heat going to the heatercore. But it took me several months to figure out the problem.

The_Iceman

Won't make them any smaller I promise. Today is my get busy day. Stay tuned!

DonChiChino

I thought this would be the perfect thread to post this problem:

Where to mount the transmission vent aka "breather"?

Dethred

Try looking up the top sticky'ed threads in the main 2nd gen forum for your question.

Dethred

Any news or extra instructions? Puting it back together should be the easy part aside from keeping stuff in order and not throwing any CEL codes once its back together....

The_Iceman

While I'm in the process of posting I figured I'd post a pic of my finished product. This pic is 1000 miles after the gasket job. I have to replace my a\c condensor pulley as it seized up and snapped my belt. I'll get some pics of that as well.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

WestOffShore

Damn, this is an awsome thread. And your finished product....so so perdy!

Hotstartup

good work man

Positivelyyours2000

My car recently started smoking. Not heavy while I Idle sitting still ...like at a signal light.... but when I take off.....Puff the Magic Dragon..If pump the gaswhile in park I get the same thing after letting it idle.
It does not run hot. The needle is in the normal area (4 O'clock Position)
The anitifreeze resvoir is near empty though

I guess my question is :

Is it the Head Gasket...Rings...or i was even told to check the PCV valve?? the cause of the white smoke. It does it every day and it is not extremely heavy but i can can see it in my reaview mirror when i take off
if i need to rebuild the head gaskets will i need to replace the radiator too?

would someo ne tell me the different causes of white smoke?

I have a 93 Acura Legend L ,4DR with 241,000miles.. It runs great. If it was not for the smoke i would not be worried about it and i am trying to decide if I should keep it or repair it..of course it is paid for...Need a little knowledge

just put a fuell pump and a main relay in it

Dethred

Could be your PCV valve, although that is pretty rare on these cars. Also check your Oil level and mileage since last oil change to see if you're burning any. Another check is your Spark plugs, if you're burning a lot of anything that isnt normal they will usually show whats wrong.

B+O

great pics

ROFL!

DatStyle

Ok, I'm still kind of new on the forums but i'm learning a lot. However, i cannot seem to find the end to my cooling system problem. Sorry it's kind of long but i'm really frustrated. Here it is:
One day at a gas station while i left the car idling, i come back out and suddenly all of my coolant is gushing out of the bottom right in front of my eyes. After refilling coolant temporarily, the car started sputtering out at low rpms and stalling (automatic). So I took it to a so-called trustworthy mechanic (not anymore) and asked him to look at it. Him and his mechanic friends could not tell right away but after a while told me I have to change my water pump it's leaking and the condensor fan which activates the fan for cooling is burnt out so i had those changed. Still doing it; so then it was the radiator now. Got that changed. Now it's a sensor so dont worry just change a sensor and it'll be fine. Meantime, the temp gauge is redlining and back down with ram air and up and down and throttle reving high and low when cold kind of like Ice-Mans. So i was just about to put it away fro the winter the otehr day anyways and figure it all out afterwards (sick of wasting more money with useless mechanics). The last day that i had it out, just as i pulled into my parking lot at work, temp gauge still playing games; pfff and theres smoke from under my hood and when i checked to see, all i could tell was it was coming from somewhere by the firewall. Before that, i remember my heater wasn't working consistently either just like Ice-Mans. So i called my friend aircraft-mechanic at my school and he and another few guys told me its a heater core or something like that has blown because of which the heater was also acting up. Now, from Ice-Mans thread it looks like i have a bad head gasket, but now with this heater core problem, i'm confused and fed up and pissed off after spending about a grand and a half in cooling system problems and i dont want to see that mechanics face again. Can someone help?

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"Once A Legend, Always A Legend"
Lots of us here spend more time fixing our Legends than we do driving them, but those few moments that we spend with our babies are worth it all.