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robby j

New Member
The girlfriend wanted to drive the CL this morning to work, I said ok (half asleep). Car over-heated (apparently really badly). She drove 50 km (35 m) before it happened.

Here are the symptoms:
1. Car starts, but not easily as before.
2. Check engine light is on.
3. Blue smoke.
4. No power
5. Temp climbs in about 5 minutes to hot (always ran cool before).

My assessment of what probably happened:
1. Radiator cap failed, water evaporated, car overheated, head gasket blew.
2. Thermostat failed, car overheated, head gasket blew.

This is what I get for being too lazy to get out of bed to take her to work.

Ok, so what do you all think? She tells me that there was never steam coming from the front of the car, and I believe her as I've taught her about cars. She didn't see the temp gauge climb.

Worst case scenario? Probability that I just need to pull the head and put a new gasket on it and change the thermostat? Do these heads warp easily? Cracked (shit) block?

It's a 97 2.2 CL 5 speed
 
Seems like you already know everything that could have happened, pull it apart and find out. Might need a new head gasket, might need a new head, might need a new block.
 
sounds like youve got a pretty solid handle on the situation...

pull the head and have it checked / get it planed if needed
replace the head gasket
replace the thermostat
while youre in there, are you ready for a timing belt and water pump? might as well do those too



:hmm: i guess thats another possibility for what could have went wrong... your water pump could have failed.... shrug: dunno
 
My fear is that when I find out what is wrong, if it needs a block or head I won't be able to find it in Mexico. Does anybody here know someone that would ship a short block or a head to Mexico? Prepaid of course.
 
My fear is that when I find out what is wrong, if it needs a block or head I won't be able to find it in Mexico. Does anybody here know someone that would ship a short block or a head to Mexico? Prepaid of course.

You might be able to call some companies in Cali. I know deporting out of the country is easier than importing. So you might have some great luck on a j-spec engine.
 
JDM engine yo!

Probably your best bet. Call hmomotors in Burbank California.

What part of mexico are you in?
 
thanks for the info. hope to crack the motor open tomorrow or tuesday. i'm in toluca, central mexico just 30 miles west of mexico city, home of a gm plant, a chrysler plant, robert bosch, dana axle, freightliner, ge, nestle has two plants here, gates, very industrial, 9000 ft altitude. groovy place to live, not hot, snowy volcano near my house.
 
you need to watch out if the car got really hot
i made that mistake once just pulling a head having it planed and throwing in a new head gasket
the block was shot
not sure if it was sleeves or a warped deck
ended up just being cheaper to throw in a used motor
 
So how can I check the block and sleeves? It's very easy to get a new motor up north in the USA but remember that Honda has only been in Mexico for about 10 years or so. Spare/used parts are very hard to come by. I'm about 16 hours from the border so shipping is very expensive, plus I'll have to pay an import tax of 15% on any car part. Added problems are that many don't want to ship because of the hassle. I need UPS or FedEX because USPS will hand off to MexPost and if I EVER got a MexPost package, it would be a miracle. I might get it or I might not.. If I do get it, it could be weeks or months.

When you consider all this, I'm better off repairing what I have.
 
very true, sucks that your that far into Mexico or else it would have been easy to get a engine from this side of the border.

to check your block and head you need a machinist straight edge and feeler gauges. Im not sure how to do it myself but I bet a quick google search will tell you how.
 
Ok, can somebody here tell me how much a complete 2.2 weighs? I'm investigating having a motor brought into Mexico through a customs agency. That way I can avoid the Mexican postal system. I suppose that a crated motor would have dimensions of 1 meter x 1 meter x 1 meter. Correct? Thanks in advance for everyone's help here.
 
was able to find figures for an H22... the weights should be close enough to an F22 for your purposes...

a full H22 (block / head / trans) weighs about 400lbs (181.43kg)...
an H22 trans weighs about 100lbs (45.35kg)...
so i would estimate it somewhere in the 300lb (136.07) area + container

you are probably looking somewhere in the 330-350lb area (149.68 - 158.75kg) for a complete head and block
:shrug2:


also this could be a good time/excuse to upgrade your F22 to an H22 ;)
 
BTW if your going to need a F22 we are going to have one very soon (my room mate's car was totaled) asking price is $250 usd Plus shipping and insurance.
 
BTW if your going to need a F22 we are going to have one very soon (my room mate's car was totaled) asking price is $250 usd Plus shipping and insurance.

hmmm, even if i fix my motor, i think that i'll take you up on that. would be great to have a motor for spare parts or do a build up on. how many miles on it? is it modded? are you including accessories? where are you located? is it the vtec version? (F22B1, right?)
 
the results

1. thermostat non-existant (just the shell) gasket shot to hell too.
2. two hose leaks from weakened original clamps
3. heater hose doubled, no water could flow through heater core
4. flexi radiator hose (yuck!)
5. temp sensor on front water neck non-functional (why so many temp
sensors?)
6. air filter really clogged
7. fuel filter clogged as well
8. blown head gasket

about 3400 pesos (300 USD) in parts including 200 for the head planing.
1050 (135 USD) in labor. I didnt have time to do it myself.

gonna fire it up tomorrow, it was late and some silicon still needed to set. motor looked very good inside!

the great thing about mexico is cheap labor. parts are more expensive in some cases (90 bucks for a head gasket?)
 
hmmm, even if i fix my motor, i think that i'll take you up on that. would be great to have a motor for spare parts or do a build up on. how many miles on it? is it modded? are you including accessories? where are you located? is it the vtec version? (F22B1, right?)

non vtec engine, it has less than 150k miles but ill sell it as 200k. Ill include everything you want (But wiring harness) as long as you pay shipping.

engine is not modded but dose have a tune-up with less than 50 miles.
 
well, warden (Magana), i'm gonna have to pass on the motor for now. i have mine running really well, and there are many other issues to attend to, but i really appreciate the straight up price! the logistics are what is holding me back. it'd cost me about 1000 when all is said and done, transport to border, transport to toluca, and a customs agency to handle the importation. thank you very much once again.rj
 
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