Hello,

Just bought a 1987 civic 4 door sedan (automatic) It only has 83,000 miles on it...And it is rust free and clean (south carolina)..I bought the car cheap...But I cannot get it running. The previous owner said that they took it to a shop and they indicated that the head gasket was bad.

This does not exactly scare me as I have changed dozens of head gaskets for friends and such... But I was troubled that I could not quite get the car to run. A bad head gasket should still allow the car to run, even if it puffs white smoke and idles like a bag of crap.

Any ideas?

-benevolance

You're right, even with a bad head gasket your car should start. How long has it been sitting? Are you getting gas and spark?

There is fire...And gas.

The car was supposed to be sitting only a month but I suspect that it was more like a year. I am going to get some quick start and give the carb a spray of that.

the battery is so dead it will barely turn over even with a boost. I may have to buy a battery just the get the car to turn over fast enough to start.

-Benevolance

That's exactly what I would have recommended next.

Even with a new battery it has trouble starting. I did a compression test and it is a bit low...I am thinking that it is either a case of stuck valves or a bad head gasket.

I wonder if the head gasket being bad alone would drop the compression enough for me to notice it?

-benevolance

Hmmm...

I'd try fiddlin' with the carb next.

Could be that your needle valve is stuck in the closed position. This sometimes happens when cars sit for a long time and the gas evaporates from the carb.

its probobly waterlocked, you wont get it to turn over. pull a plug and check for water if there is, open the head replace the gasket and evacuate the water from the cylanders