Dethred

If you have steam coming from the passenger side of the firewall check your heater core hoses to see if they're leaking. The question is, are you losing anti-freeze?

 

DatStyle

Hey thanks for the quick response and yes i did find antifreeze (lots of it) probably all of it, on the ground when i came back from work so i put more back in to get the car home. There was too much steam at the time to tell which side it was coming from, minded it wasn't in the cabin it was from under the hood. If it is the heater core, should i change that first then look at the head gasket? Also, when i did a spark plug change a couple of weeks ago, my AME (aircraft maintenance engineer) saw oil on the plugs and said i might have a cracked oil ring and might soon need an overhaul. This guy knows what he's talking about and i trust him but he doesnt have a shop to do my work. My question is, if i have a bad head gasket and i get the overhaul done, will that cover that part too?
Thanks

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Positivelyyours2000

Ok thanks Dethred, I was told about a year ago I was burning oil...when I got an oil change at Firestone. The level was low and the oil light came on! But the oil light has never came on again.. I am not that mechnically inclined..
so most of the time I take it to the shop for repairs which were mostly brakes.
I wanted to get a tune up since I did not get one when I bought it and have put 40,000 miles on the car since I purchased it. But if I need head gaskets wouldn't that be a waste of money .....meaning would I have to get it tuned after the head gasket job too.

and what about a new radiator?? if it head gaskest are leaking fluid into the radiator then i need a new one right.

I appreciate any answers/resposes..trying to get it repair the best and cheapest way....but quality work... I love my 93 Acura Legend...will post a picture soon.

Runs great just trying to solve problems before they get to the point where it is not driveable


Questions

1. Do I need a new radiator. if the head gasket is leaing inot the radiator?

2. Should I tune up before head gasket job?

B+O

Hey i just finally read through the walk through...

i noticed you said dont take it off at the EGR...but it looks you did what i did, and too it off at the EGR yea that was a blizitch to get to. but it went fine. I've got head removal down to like 5 hours now. i've got the whole process memorized, but you got the process documented....hot greasy bacon

nice job on cleaning up the ports


oh and LOL about the knock sensor...i'm STILL rollin around with a CEL for the knock sensor...im going to replace it soon though. 163 bones from that acura dealer here.

i only broke one but it was 1 too many. i think it's the Left knock sensor that i terrorized.

lowest quoted price i got wsa like 1500 for the job...

i ended up spending 240 dollars...i borrowed a friends tools found an air ratchet and a compressor in my garage so i was good.

B+O

it would be good practice to replace the radiator, but it's not a necessity unless you've got green crusty stuff all around the top of the radiator. that green stuff is the radiator leaking.

if you want to tune up, do it during...buy all the parts you need.

i bought some spark plugs....but that's if. you may want to change your air filter and your spark plugs. not too much else really to replace for a "tune up" on this car. specifically the G2...no plug wires, no rotor buttons or distributors, nothing.

robbanks111

[quote=


Questions

1. Do I need a new radiator. if the head gasket is leaing inot the radiator?

2. Should I tune up before head gasket job?[/QUOTE]

IMHO you should replace the radiator every 100k. the radiator is a silent killer of these cars. They clog up at the bottom and you never know it until it to late.

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Positivelyyours2000

Ok i have been on here asking questions about white smoke.

after reading and going to a couple of shops... I feel it is the Valve guide seals.. should I get the heads done too. It is not overheating.


What parts do ineed to do a Valve guide seal job?

telafonic

Awesome thread. Thanks Iceman. I think I am missing something. You say use an air hammer to fracture the bolts, and then you say 'not the screws..'.
What's the difference? Did you mean, fracture the nuts?
I actually did strip a nut on mine, so I want to see what you mean. Also, what is a nut breaker tool?
Thanks.

stir_fry_boy

Iceman - Question: Which was harder: Taking off the intake manifold with all the components, or taking off the heads?

Jetdoc

He is wrong. Everyone assumes this at first. This is caused by a leaking valve cover oring/seal. It's a "hemi head style valvecover.The oil leaks from the top of the head into the spark plug cavity. The oil stays on the outside of the cylinder. All Legends do this. The headgasket gasket set comes with these seals.

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Dethred

Taking off teh intake manifold. Once that is done its pretty straightforward. You just have to get the exhaust manifolds off, the valvecovers off, the timing belt and cam pulleys off and then unbolt the heads.

stir_fry_boy

Yep, that is what I thought too without actually undoing my heads. I have taken off the intake manifold before to fix the coolant inlet bypass pipe, and I was thinking - you know what? It wouldn't be that much harder to go and replace my Head Gasket, just a few more bolts plus a lot more money.

Dethred

The things I had trouble with was I stripped the edges off of the lower valve cover bolt on the left head, took hours to get out. Also, getting the exhaust manifolds off. Now that I know the little tricks to doing everything the intake manifold is 3/4 of the project.

Merlin the Wrench

Iceman - that you for sharing your experience in a DIY. For years I've wondered what I would do if my Legend developed the BHG and now that you've posted the DIY, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

From a mechanic's view there are a few things I can suggest - have a good set of both 12 point and 6 point sockets. The 12 point sometimes will fit in tight situations where the 6 point won't. Likewise, the 6 point will bite a nut that is hard to come better than a 12 point will. 6 point is less prone to round nuts than 12 point. Buy a quailty mac, snapon, husky or craftsman set VS cheap ones.

The bit in the DIY about tape, plastic bags, magic marker etc to mark and store parts in an absolute the first 10 times you do something like this. I cannot tell you how many times I've done something simple and then spent hours trying to remember what nut or bolt went where.

I would suggest having a set of cam pulley bolts as spares, they are quite cheap. I've seen them so tight that the ones on the driver's side head snaped off trying to remove them.

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Dethred

Amen to the cam pulley bolts. I couldn't get mine lose with my air tools with the belt on. It would just spin the engine backwards.