2005 Honda Civic VP (LX)
115k miles
1.7 D17A
Automatic
I've never done this before... I'm not a mechanic.
I suspected a head gasket leak being the cause of an overheat. I didn't let it get hotter than 95% of the white range on the temp gauge but it never got to full red. (a narrow band at the top). Car ran fine the whole time except that when it got the hottest, I did smell something overheated (plastic?). In any case, I took the head off and found what appears to be a blown head gasket. The port-side piston (#1?) has more oil gunk on it. I didn't see any 'mayonaise' anywhere... just charred oil. Besides the overheating, the only other clue was slight bubbling from the radiator and a slightly dirty coolant overflight reservoir interior. Oil all looked good.
blown gasket? 
I found a few areas of the head where I could slide a .0015 in / .038 mm feeler while using an expensive straightedge. In a few areas, Iwas able to PARTIALLY slide .002in/.051mm feeler but never all the way through to the other side of the straightedge. Does the head need resurfacing?
Also, the 4 pistons appear to have dents only at the sides farthest from the front of the car. The dents appear to be aligned with the valves, but I'm not sure. Is this bad? Could I have caused this by cranking it by hand clockwise a few degrees? (I might have bumped it a few degrees the wrong way) I moved it counterclockwise trying to find TDC.
Pics of the piston grooves: (click on pics if they don't fully load or to view them full size)
That babies and Rob Shay but definitely overheated or something those valves do not look good. I would assume the bottom out of the engine is probably worn too I mean if I were you I would just put the thing together and sell it unless you want to put a ton into totally doing the engine over
