Kenso

Half the Legends I see around town are beat to death, it's hardly surprising a lot have blown head gaskets. Your average Legend outside of this forum (where people are more aware/particular about maintenance for the most part) is a beat down 12-16 year old car 9 times out of 10. When a car gets to this age, been through multiple owners, lack of maintenance, etc, it's no wonder they have frequent BHG issues.

__________________
ITR 00-106
91 6spd coupe
95 FZJ-80

George Carlin on the American Dream (NWS)

 

contact148

well my 93 just went last week at 341,286 KM My uncle was the orig owner and NEVER did the timeing belt OR HG whats funny is the timeing belt looks like new after all those K's and years

monstag16

my father went 220k until BHG. the original was what got em which caused the engine to overheat. if they put a better cooling system on the legend, it would've lasted much longer. gaskets are real sensitive in the legend

Boru

Personal opinion: The Legend is not so prone to BHG as it is to radiator system problems. Overheating leads to HG symptoms and HG leaks.
My '92 has 154,000 miles and no problems. My '91 had a radiator replaced
by Firestone at 98,000; HG problems started thereafter. At about 250,000
miles I had the HG replaced and still had symtoms. I replaced the radiator
with an Acura OEM-type; now, all is back to normal. These are great cars.
Radiator/coolant maintenance are the key to engine integrity in my opinion.
Rust behind the rear wheel well is another topic. Well, door lock actuator is
up there too. The trunk lock is problematic. Damn leather cracked. Antenna froze. Door handle broke twice. CD casssette?? God, I love these cars! Did I mention that my evaporator needs replacement on the '91? Curb appeal and road feel; that is what has me hooked.

IAmLegend

176k on the original HG as far as i know

i think it has a combination to do with maintenance and with time

i dont think these legends have "flawed" head gaskets. if they did, most of them would go out in a couple of years. all you can do is maintenance. if you dont allow your car to overheat, you've done the best job you can do. that being said, im on the original hoses with green coolant. i will probably change to honda coolant next flush (just bought the car). new radiator, new water pump, engine stays cool

as far as radiators go, no one ripped off anybody. aluminum and copper radiators as both good radiators. copper disperses heat better, but aluminum makes up for this by being designed to have more and thicker plates. in the end, they both work the same and aluminum is cheaper to make.

HG's will go out, it happens. my Leg is 16 years old, eventually the material will deteriorate. it happens. in addition, it deals with tons of compression and heat on a daily basis for years and years. in addition our engines are aluminum. in high temps, aluminum can tend to get soft which could allow a leak to occur.

bottom line is never let the engine get overheat and you will have done the best you could

Mike Diaz

It's funny that some people get mad and say the Legend had a design flaw in the head gaskets, like they were supposed to last forever.

I was replacing Dodge Neon head gaskets at 15-20k at the dealer. Jaguar v8's can't make it to 100k without blowing the head gaskets, Toyota 4 cylinders blow head gaskets like any other car.

I think we all take for granted that it's a car, built by humans, and there's no car out there that doesn't break.

__________________

3.5L DIY | Crank-No Start Diagnosis | How I built My Legend