Signs of a broken headgasket. - Honda Prelude Forum

twisted_prelude · 12-03-2001, 06:56 PM

a local performance shop told me that i blew my headgasket. but i drained the oil and was still rich dark black. its funny cuz i had an oil change done recently at Brake & Muffler shop and they didn't mention anything about a broken headgasket. could it be this performance shop is ripping me off? and when the lude has been warmed up it doesnt put out white cloudy smoke. so what should i do? if i did blow them the oil should be milky chocolate right? any other symptoms i need to know of a broken headgasket?

H23Lude · 12-03-2001, 09:05 PM

is your car burning oil?? does it have white or blue smoke?? Also check if your coolant looks milky. Or is there oil in it?? Or pull out your dipstick and see if it looks milky. or smell it.

LoudLude · 12-03-2001, 09:45 PM

go buy a compression tester from your local auto parts store. The numbers there should indicate whether or not your headgasket is blown.

PreludeNYC · 12-03-2001, 11:47 PM

I just replaced my head gasket, one question, I never understood, how come blowing the head gasket caused you to burn oil or for it to become Black, or for you to burn white smoke, well the signs of my car with a blown head gasket is I losed like ALL power!!! I mean my car didn't have any pickup, BUT after replacing my headgasket which took about a whole Saturday, It was nice out and I took my time, first time doing anything of that caliber too... and there is a huge difference....How come my car would lose power b/c of a blown headgasket & why would it burn oil or make it become REAL black & put out white smoke, I can't figure it out....

Peace,
Jose

ludeimg · 12-04-2001, 12:32 AM

if you arent noticeing anything really wrong with your car i would say they are full of sh!t but if you notice a major power loss, find coolant in oil, the white smoke, or your compression is really low there is a good chance its blown. i wouldnt have a performance shop work on it though. their labor rates are usually pretty high and they arent as profesional about the way they run their buisneses. i would go to a honda certified tech and see what they think.

like i have said in other posts find a friend at a honda dealership and find out who the best tech they got is and request him to work on the car, unless that friend is a tech and ya know he wont screw ya.

ludeimg · 12-04-2001, 12:39 AM

PreludeNYC

the reason you lost power was because you have no compresion when the headgasket is blown the air has a huge hole to get out of the motor through.

your oil will get all over the motor and it will burn in the combustion chamber.

coolant is also getting to the inturnals so its burning and going out your exhaust.(the change in color.)

if im wrong on any of this just correct me.

PreludeNYC · 12-04-2001, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ludeimg
PreludeNYC

the reason you lost power was because you have no compresion when the headgasket is blown the air has a huge hole to get out of the motor through.

your oil will get all over the motor and it will burn in the combustion chamber.

coolant is also getting to the inturnals so its burning and going out your exhaust.(the change in color.)

if im wrong on any of this just correct me.

..wow! Yea I noticed my car was like 100% BETTER after I replaced my Head Gasket... wow all that occurs...Last Question how did I blow my head gasket??

Peace,
Jose

twisted_prelude · 12-04-2001, 01:34 AM

WTF they are probably ripping me off. anyways my full synthetic oil is very rich black. its clean and no sign of milky coffee stuff and theres no bubble either. also there is no cloudy white smoke after the car has been warmed up for a while. my mileage is @ 65K KM's. so i guess everything is ok? how do i use the compression test?

hondaplex · 12-06-2001, 12:12 AM

Also check to make sure you dont have OIL in the COOLANT.