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I have a question about a recent repair I actually had done ( I did not do it myself which made my wallet hurt) on my 97 Honda Accord SE. It’s the 2.2L I4 engine and I had it basically a year when I got it fixed, though symptoms started showing up before then. I had the head gasket replaced this past July, and I remember from one of the ETCG videos that the head gasket is pretty robust on an Accord. It does have plenty of miles (190,500 when I bought it, 197,700 when I got it fixed), and I am wondering if there was something that caused it during that one year, or was it already there. There is quite a bit of work already done such as:
Speed sensor replaced (I already know this is a common Honda thing around this time)
Exhaust fix (Not sure what was replaced, but part of it rusted away recently so I have a leak again)Valve cover gasket: This actually I got done twice once by Firestone (learned that one the hard way) and then by a local shop where I am in school at. The first time I know they fucked up because I barely got far before I started smelling gas fumes inside the car. But they did not do a complete job, and I had to get it fixed again (which the mechanic stated that it was replaced badly the first time).
I had the valve cover gasket replaced again because I had bogging issues with the car, where I would want to accelerate but the car would have issues delivering power. It was not smooth deliver of power at all. I heard a long bang once or twice while the bogging first appeared.
I also had a leak in the air intake pipe (plastic tube attached to air filter) for a bit.
I noticed a bit of overheating last fall around october when I idled for a little bit but nothing dramatic. Not until after winter, this spring did I really notice it over heating (I did warp a piston…)
Which lead to the head gasket issue.So What I am asking is that, in all of these issue, was it something I did ( which is more likely the case) or was it something that could have already been there? I know there is a lot that happen but I am very curious on what really happened.
I know I start overheating a little bit in October but it could have been the fan switches.
Yes I am young and the reason I did not get it checked out right away is because I am a poor college student. First car all that fun stuff.
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Its hard to say with not knowing the service and life history
of the car. It seems that the problems were there and got worse.
Its like a drip in the sink.Starts out small and gets bigger from there. 🙂My question is, how do you know you have another head gasket failure? Head gaskets are often misdiagnosed on those engines. Perhaps confirm you have a head gasket problem before you start looking for a cause. Also, not all workmanship is created equal. In my experience most problems are caused by the people working on the vehicle, not the vehicle itself. Thing is, that’s very difficult to prove.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/what-to-do-when-your-engine-overheats
I had it taken into a shop that I trust in my town and they did a compression test. I knew I was loosing coolant and they replaced the gasket and the car has worked fine after that.
Edit: Eric I am 100% sure you are right about it being the people working on the car and not the car itself. I had a little work done at a chain store (bad life decision) and I think this is what happened in the end as a result.
If you “noticed overheating”, you should have gotten that fixed pronto. Overheating leads to warped cylinder heads and leaking head gaskets. It was less prevalent in the old days of iron heads, but now that almost all heads seem to be made from old pop cans, you gotta watch the temps.
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