i can't imagine that, despite my crude backer, my 600 grit sanding
removed enough material to make a significant difference in the mating
of the surfaces. i am a metal fabricator and i am sure i removed less
than .0005 or less total. if a gasket can't make that up... the
gasket itself was, say, about 1/16" thick or greater. are they not
designed to take up some slack in the mating surfaces?

the head was done at a shop that pretty much only does that,
particularly for dealerships. it was perfect.

the heater core hasn't been addressed. could my mistake of not turning
up the heat while filling the system leave a large air pocket in the
system?

thanks. this forum is easily the best!


'Curly Q. Links' wrote:
> larson.joshua@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > first i'd like to say thanks to the great people on this forum for all
> > the help they provide.
> >
> > i've done a search for my problem and i've found some things but
> > nothing exactly fits.
> >
> > i recently performed a head gasket job on my civic. i began this job
> > because i had bubbling in my coolant resevoir after driving for a
> > while. i also had some electrical issues, but i don't see those as
> > related to the bubbles. the bubbling was not boiling. some kind of
> > gas was pushing through to the resevoir, and i assumed it was
> > compressed gases of some kind coming from the cyclinders through the
> > head gasket.
> >
> > after removing the head, i took it to the shop. they told me the head
> > had to be machined by 6 thousands to remove the warp, which seems like
> > quite a bit. he also pointed out where the likely breaches of the old
> > gasket were.
> >
> > i cleaned and lapped the surface of the block. there was no apparent
> > cracking or warping (i checked for warp with a quality straight edge in
> > multiple directions).
> >
> > put everything back together to spec.
> >
> > i filled up the cooling system, on an incline with the radiator high.
> > bled the system according to haynes.
> >
> > i've been test driving it for several days, and what happens is a
> > little weird. after a light drive, i get a few minutes of bubbles
> > (again, not boiling - bubbles) and i can hear coolant sucking past the
> > rad cap in pulses. after a heavy drive i get the coolant pulsing, but
> > much more bubbling - like the bubbling i used to get.
> >
> > the only thing i have found that i didn't do was crank on the heater
> > when i was filling the cooling system. is it possible that since i did
> > not do this, there was a chunk of air in the heater core that is now
> > escaping when the car heats up? i ran the car tonight at idle with the
> > heater on full blast after discovering this possibility, but the rad
> > stayed full (again on an incline) even with the bleeder open.
> >
> > it seems there are three or four possibilities:
> > 1 - block is cracked
> > 2 - head is cracked and crack missed by shop
> > 3 - heater core had air bubble and now air is working out
> > 4 - head gasket was installed improperly
> >
> > any thoughts? thanks.
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> Keep this in perspective. When the engine gets hot it will force out
> some air (if there is air in the system). If there's enough coolant in
> the reservoir, (and the rad cap is working correctly), it will suck that
> coolant into the engine when it all cools down. The owner's manual is
> very clear: Whenever you have work done on the cooling system, you have
> to be sure to fill the reservoir to the MAX mark.
>
> Are you keeping the reservoir full enough so the expelled air can get
> replaced with coolant? Once the air is all out, the system works
> 'transparently', but you still have to check it regularly, since some
> coolant can escape thru the water pump weep hole. Service manual says
> it's acceptable.
>
> 'Curly'