Hi Guys, driving my 06 TL 6mt on the highway at 65 mph, loud bang, then loud exhaust leak, though I split the exhaust, long story short, plug, coil and threads blew out of the head, 180.00 dollars for a tow and 225.0 for the repair ( new coil, heli-coil, plug ) I was on my way. 2 months later in nearly the same exact spot, loud bang, loud exhaust, blown out plug in the same cylinder. Plug, coil, threads gone again. Drove the car to the repair place this time and when I got it there, this time there was oil spalshed out of the plug hole. I feared the worst that the piston had a hole in it and the motor was blown. Mechanic just called and said it's not blown but need a new head. Labor, 1,200, parts 1,500, 2,700 total. I remember seing a complete remanufactured head for this car for around 700.00 but cant seem to locate it again ???? I have always had Hondas and absolutely love my TL, I was planning to keep this care for 300K, cant begin to explain how upset I am right now, not to mention the fact i'm looking at a 2,700 repair bill ... .Any suggestions or comments i'm all ears.

 

Petrillo's in CT has a front and rear head for a MT for $275 each. Purchase it and take it to a machine shop for inspection. You can also place gasoline or the like over the closed valves while the head is inverted to see if any leak.

 

I wonder if this related to the thread about loose plugs ... damn .. can't find it .. but I'm going to check mine

 

You CAN do that but it can not leak gasoline and still leak the 500+psi of combustion pressure past the valves. If it leaks gasoline it's bad. It it doesn't leak gasoline it may or may not be bad.


To the OP, that particular cylinder probably has pre-ignition issues. Have you ever heard pinging? What octane do you use? If you've always used premium, at a minimum have the injectors cleaned and flowed. Once it's running again, monitor it on the scanner for knock retard. If it shows knock retard, get to the bottom of it so you have no more issues.

I don't know what your mileage is but this would be a great time to do the timing belt if you're anywhere close to 105k.

 

Just got done replacing my plugs for the first time (58k)...one of them was very loose, I just had to spin the 6" extension with little effort to get it out . They were bosch platinum 4's in there, I assume the owner before me put them in, those aren't the stock ones, correct? Took about an hour to do, back 3 weren't as bad as I thought they were going to be.

 

Always use 93 octane religisously. never heard any knocking.

Is the head different for a MT than an AT ?

I can get two professionally rebuilt heads for 400.00, I could always try to sell the second head or just replace both of them ?

The other thing I was thinking was that since the head will be off, to have time-serts installed on all the plug threads right off the bat ?

Thanks for the suggestions, appreciate the help.