Honda Prelude Forum - PreludeDriver.com

hi

recently purchased a Lude' and when taking it to get inspected I failed because of emmissions. got a new head, and now have idle problems. mostly when she sits at tollbooths. Had bluish/white smoke which is oil, but when took to Honda dealer they said a bad cylinder (#1). now got low compression, and dealer told me it 4 grand to do an engine swap. Well last time i looked at my "endless" wallet i dont have 4 grand so need some insite as how to fix it GOTTA get inspected. any ideas? greatly appreciate

Because of the smoke and compression issues, I think you probably have issues with your head gasket. Did you put a new one on when you swapped the head?

well my friend got one out of jyard off a car that had only 96k miles on it and put that on. just went to dmv today and they said still low compression, the idles are now too high and low. and when coming home from there check engine came on and had no readings for how fast was going plus the S3 was on. so pulled over shut car off and started again and it had no problems after that.

You should get a brand new head gasket on there. Gaskets are designed to squish when new to match the shape of the block/head. A used one won't give you the seal you need.

hi, thanks goofy question where can i find a new head for the car? and what kinda price am i lookin at? I live in the US so Canada and and prices here will be different.
problem getting worse instead of getting better. what a good company to buy header from? thanks again

i would get the head pressure tested before buying another one. it was $175, when i had it done. Take it to a garage/machine shop.

thanks, i was going to do that with this one and my friend who put it on said there should be nothing wrong with it. well it got a bad valve. If i take this one off can they fix the bad valve? I dont know where to start with the Lude and want it fixed right. thank ya

they should be able to locate the problem for you with the head.

Hey,

Thank ya for the advice. Just got my Lude in March of this year it sat for quite sometime. Had on O8 inspection sticker on it. Went from it smokin to gettn what i thought was new head, which in turn went to a valve seal. Honda dealer telln me to see bout new engine, but dont have that kinda money. did find one off craiglist but it a lil different than mine. It's an automatic, like mine b2.0 (dont quote me). He said that shud just fit, what do you think.

if you look at the post by me, "Engine swap B21a to jdm b20a", you can see what all i went through with my jdm b20a swap and the prices that it cost me. I could have saved alot of money doing it myself, but i work pretty much full time. I have a 5speed and the only problem i had is that my clutch wasnt a perfect match up. US engines (B21a1, B20a5) The JDM engines are a little more expensive.

here is a pic of my lude dont know why it wouldt come up on here. besides my two kids this car is it. what a life _ not really. but had a chevy berretta but have fallen in love with my lude. My friend wants my car too. told him before I'd take his truck but now that got the Lude, was looking for the perfect car and didnt want a mom mobile (Mini van, station wagon too young for that). The funny thing is my ex-husband thinks I spent alot of money on my "fancy" car. ha ha She needs a fresher paint job but other than tha engine she is a GREAT CAR.

thank ya again and will check out tha article. Southener in a foreign land ( tha North) ya'll have a great day[attachment