I suspect i have a bad HG, when I run the motor without the radiator cap , bubbles appear after it gets to temp, but only after I press the throttle.

I want to do the job myself, but want to know if I should shave the head if it hasnt overheated.

any thoughts?

 

you cannot tell by looking at text on a thread, nor can you accurately tell by seeing a photo, only way you can tell for sure is to give your head to a qualified machine shop to check for straightness.

A head can warp even if it is not overheated.

You also have issues of the head and/or block pitting. So sometimes like in the case of my rebuild, I had to have the block shaved because of the mostly the inability to get an actuate ridge ream after boring out the motor, and instead of doing a valve job etc etc I just went with a brand new assembled head.

 

Do you have any other symptoms? Is it overheating? I would do a coolant system pressure test before tearing anything down...

 

peanut butter under the oil cap? a bunch of white smoke out of the exhuast? what vehicle? year? motor?

 

its a 92 22re with 235xxx, no other symptoms--I had two honda civic HGs blow on me and I replaced them both myself, but this little guy isnt showing any of those symptoms--no smoke or cloudy oil, just loping idle at times...

When I first turn it on, the temp gauge might max out for 10 to 15 seconds and then drop to a little over 1/3

I lose alot of coolant and have not seen external leaks anywhere, it gets pushed out into the overflow tank--

I tried pulling each plug wire while it was running and the piston second to the front didnt mind that i just cut the spark, so i wonder if the leak is there...

 

i replaced the tstat with a 195 degree tstat, put a new 13 pound rad cap on--but the radiator is off a pre 86 toyota so its not stock...

 

I dont know what a pressure test is, or how to do it...i have been debating whether i should pull the head, and i dont want to, so if their is a way i can rule it out i would do that...but i was thinking it would be a good time to look at the valves...sounds like an industrial sewing machine...

thanks for the suggestion

 

well get a compression checker... it threads into the spark plug hole.. While you're at it. pull all the plugs and take pictures of them. How do they look? Get a coolant pressure checker. It sits in place of the radiator cap and with it you can pressure up the coolant system to see where leaks are.