Head Gasket Failure Honda Civic 1.5 - Workshop Recommendation

Mechanics Civic X
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Good evening and happy new year to everyone.

I have been searching the forum for topics related to the head gasket, failures, and so on (I have also seen @Calamarman’s), and I’m afraid I’m in the worst situation. Head gasket failure according to what they told me at Darsan Auto Alcalá.

Let me give you some context (the car has 162,000 km, it’s from November 2018): About a month ago, the car had a bit of trouble starting in the cold or after being off for several hours/days. Some vibrations in the first 15-20 seconds, and then on the first slightly “stronger” acceleration in 2nd or 3rd gear, 3-4 jerks in a row. Once past that, the car runs perfectly. The engine temperature has never risen, nor have I noticed excessive white smoke or anything similar from the exhaust. But about 10 days ago when starting it, all the warning lights on the dashboard came on. I don’t know if they disappear once the car warms up, because I directly left the car parked until I got an appointment at the Honda workshop and they took it by tow truck.

I thought it might be the ignition coils (the spark plugs were changed at 120,000, although it probably has no relation to the problem), but it turned out to be the head gasket due to the CO2 test. The worst or one of the worst possible scenarios.

Honestly, I don’t know what to do. The repair, if it can be repaired, is around €3,000 according to what I’ve been told, or more if it couldn’t be repaired and had to be replaced with a new one. I suspect that maybe in another workshop it could be cheaper (with this I don’t mean to say that I’m thinking of going to just anyone for much cheaper, not at all) but, do you know of any trustworthy one that could do it? I’m from the Alcalá de Henares/Azuqueca area.

Another scenario I have considered is selling the car clearly indicating the problem and obviously at a much-reduced price. But I think as time goes by, I’m leaning more towards trying to find a solution and repair it.

A hug and a thousand thanks in advance.

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I personally wouldn’t have it repaired at an official service center, the labor cost is exorbitant and they’ll estimate more than necessary. Look for a workshop that can replace the necessary gaskets and check the cylinder head’s surface, it might simply be between the cylinders through a cooling hole, which is quite common in the US for these engines (although it’s not common here for the cylinder head to fail) and make sure they work with official materials.

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At Talleres Todomotor in La Garena, they treated me very well and seemed like reliable people when I took my previous car to them. In case you want to ask!

Here’s the link

https://maps.app.goo.gl/bodoJkJdYK1DCVJz6?g_st=ic

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I just picked it up right now. It seems that if there is a leak, it would be between cylinders 1 and 2. When doing the CO2 test, it came out positive but it wasn’t a striking color change, it happened towards the end of the test and was a very slight color change. There was a liter of loss from what should be the coolant level. They are not 100% sure yet that it’s the head gasket although it seems to indicate that it is. They told me to drive about 250-300km always checking if the level drops when cold, and then bring it back.

In total, with the possible repair/rectification or gasket change, it would be approximately €1800. I don’t understand much about this honestly, but it didn’t seem like an exorbitant price to me. All this as long as it can be repaired, which they are almost convinced it can be due to the tests they have and also because I have never had problems with power loss or high temperatures and the CO2 test didn’t show a drastic color change.

So I think I will follow those steps and hopefully everything can be resolved as soon as possible. At the official workshop or another one as you mentioned.

Thank you very much, Kytos!

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I’m noting it down right now, as I didn’t know about it! Thank you very much :slight_smile:

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Hello, I hope you get it fixed and continue enjoying the car!!

I wanted to ask you, have you noticed that the coolant level has dropped previously? Did you have any engine or electronic modifications? Have they given you any reason as to what might be the cause?

The truth is that it’s a failure not commonly heard of with these engines, at least in this market, but if they’ve told you it can be repaired and they surely provide a warranty on that repair, I would do it.

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Hello! Thank you so much, really. It seems that’s how it’s going to be!

Until I had those vibration issues when starting and the jerks on the first acceleration, nothing at all. And once the car warms up, everything is perfect with no temperature rise or anything. It has the “legendary” K-Tuner with the TSP canned tune for about 4 years, which surely must have had something to do with it (or so I think because in the end, it puts more strain on the engine even though I’ve never been on a track nor have I driven on the street as if I were on one). This could be one reason, temperature changes, heavy use… which is true, I do give it, I drive almost 30k annually.

I’ve been told that at the Darsan workshop in Alcalá, they haven’t had this problem with the 1.5. With the 1.0, a couple of them.

I’m going to repair it. I’ll be checking the coolant level during those kilometers, and then I’ll take it in for that :slight_smile:

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