sr5guy

Heres a quick and easy way to spot a BHG. If you see this gook under your radiator cap or in the reservoir you better start saving your money.

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bl420

Bar's stop leak???

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**Anti Alpine Type-R Thread**

sr5guy

No way... that's not stop leak. That mess forms from exhaust fumes entering the coolant from a BHG. It smells like exhaust gas, too. If your shopping for a legend, first thing to check is the radiator cap and overflow hose. If the seal on the cap is swollen or the overflow hose is swollen and smells like exhaust fumes or if it has this gook on it, than you can bet that you have a BHG. Supposedly, the chemical reaction turns the coolant acidic which eventually eats out your radiator and heater core. I ran the car for quite awhile without a thermostat until I finally changed the head gaskets last month, that explains the amount of buildup.

P.S. If you've done a head gasket job on a Civic, you can do one on a Legend. Dont be scared, they are alot easier than you might think. Most pain in the ass part is taking off the EGR pipe on the back of the intake.

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Jetdoc

When I put the wrong type of antifreeze(Dexcool) in mine it developed a brown sludge in the cooling system. I don't know if it's the same as that.
Just for info, your cap, radiator and coolant can look normal and still have a BHG. If it does look like yours did it's a real bad sign.

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sr5guy

That brown sludge was probably from the exhaust gases mixing in with the coolant, same as my car. I have done headgasket jobs on newer GM 3300 motors which use dexcool from the factory. Dexcool forms CLEAR sludge, with round balls in it almost like hair gel. I think its from from the silicone content in it, the buildup seems similiar to he silica gel packets you get in a new box of sneakers.

I have been shopping for a new legend for about a month now. I went to look at one last week and first thing I saw was a mildly swollen reservoir hose that smelled foul. Took the car for a ride on the highway, when I got off, sure enough, the temp started to creep up. Nonetheless, the seller felt really stupid.

P.S. Were you running your car with the thermostat removed or stuck open?

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The dude with a chip on his shoulder.

Stop asking me to compare my chip with Telion's damnit. Mines better .

Jetdoc

The Dexcool mixed with the "green" coolant that I wasn't able to flush out when I changed the coolant. See My BHG Story
The sludge was from the Dexcool. It wasn't as dark and gritty as yours. Once I flushed it out, and put Prestone in it stayed normal. I drove for a few weeks with the BHG while troubleshooting and there was not a hint of any exaust gases but I knew they were there. No I never removed the thermostat, just replaced it with OEM.

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sr5guy

Bump for good info. This has been a pretty accurate indicator for me.

-Matt

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The dude with a chip on his shoulder.

Stop asking me to compare my chip with Telion's damnit. Mines better .

Forevralegend

that is good info, thats what my uncle told me like 5 years ago when i was first learning to work on cars and hes been working on cars all his life professionally

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LPB

Now that the entire world has had a chance to read this, there will be a "run" on Legend radiator caps. Let's see...I have a blown headgasket. I only have to clean out the reservoir and change the cap. Viola!

I firmly believe that anyone electing to buy a used Legend needs to have the engine tested. I still believe that the easiest is to have the radiator fill opening "wanded".

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Mike Diaz

You might want to check the oil for coolant. That's typically a sign that oil has entered the cooling system. Exhaust gases wouldn't make it sludge up like that.

coolant in the oil probably means the crank bearings have been scored. Prepare for a future bottom end problem, I've already seen it twice. Both engines ended up with a rod through the side of the block months after the head gaskets were replaced.

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

blkonblkcpe

Another "fairly quick" way, is pull the spark plugs. If one or two seem like they were washed clean, chances are that cylinder bank's where the HG is leaking.

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sr5guy

Next time you get a legend in with a BHG take a peek at the overflow hose. I guarantee it will at the least be swollen and stink like exhaust. This car did not have oil in the cooling system or vice-versa, the head gasket was rotted out between the #6 cylinder and coolant passage. The exhaust gases mixing with the glycol coolant causes an acidic chemical reaction and that sludge buildup is most definetly a byproduct of that reaction.

-Matt

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The dude with a chip on his shoulder.

Stop asking me to compare my chip with Telion's damnit. Mines better .

Mike Diaz

Matt, I have to disagree. I've done 8 C32A head gaskets to date. 7 of them were perfectly clean with coolant being sucked into the rear cylinders. There were no hints of any brown residue in any of the reservoirs. I make sure I check this before putting the car back together. 1 of the cars that had the brown residue in the overflow came back with a hole in the side of the block. When I tore the block down, you could see where the crank bearings had been scored so bad that it heated up the end of the rod and allowed it to break.

My buddy also performed a head gasket job at his shop, it had the brown residue in the overflow. 7-8 months later, that engine came back too with a hole in the side of the block. Same exact scenario.

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LPB

It begins to appear that when a seeping headgasket "rears its ugly head" that most prudent action would be a JDM engine and an R&R of new headgaskets prior to reinstall. Unless you perform the work yourself, for the early G2s it would be more cost-effective to just part it out or drive it to the recycler.

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Enkei 16" J-Lips
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sr5guy

Well at least we agree on one thing - and that is that the brown residue is an indication of a very BHG.

-Matt

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The dude with a chip on his shoulder.

Stop asking me to compare my chip with Telion's damnit. Mines better .