WKD DRGN

I have a 2000 Honda Civic EX with 226,xxx miles on it. I had the head gasket replaced along with the water pump and timing belt job back in 2011 at 195k miles. I've been doing routine maintenance kinda stuff to it through my mechanic.

Recently replaced:
Struts - front and rear
Both inner tie rods and one outer
Rack and pinion boots
Spark Plugs/Wires
Cap and rotor
Air Filter
Oil change
2 new tires and alignment

My car recently threw an engine code that related to the engine coolant temperature sensor. My dad checked it out and said I was low on coolant in the resovior tank. We replaced the sensor and topped off the fluid and cleared the code. The code hasn't come back but I have to keep topping off the fluid everyday. It keeps losing roughly about 4-5 cups a day? No leaks anywhere. So I took it to a mechanic that I like that only works on Hondas. He said he's pretty sure it's the head gasket again. In addition to the rear main seal is "pouring" oil compared to when he changed the head gasket last. He said the fact that the head gasket blew again that even if I fix it yet again there's no Gurantee it won't blow all over again in 40,000 miles. It's $800 for the head gasket and I'm pretty sure it's all Honda genuine parts. He's a stickler about that. It would be up to $600 to fix the rear main seal. He says that if it gets bad enough it could get oil on the exhaust and catch the car on fire.

The car has been through a lot. Like accidents and such but I don't race it and I take care of it otherwise. The body looks really great and has customized paint meaning it has airbrushing on it. The car is sound other than these two problems. It is my baby and I don't want to part with it. I'm worried if I sell it to the "tuner" crowd and get decent money for it that I won't be able to afford a "new to me" used car that will be reliable enough. I wouldn't know what problems it will have. I want to keep my car since I know it so well. My question is if I keep the car whats the best route to take with its known problems? Should I get the engine rebuilt or buy a reman engine and get that installed? Is it worth all that? I'm really torn up about it. Thanks.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

You have TONS of options. Fix the rear main seal and replace the head with a re-manufactured one.

Buy a replacement engine for it and get it all checked out before install.

Buy a B16 that would increase your power substantially.

None of those options are horribly expensive in the grand scheme of things. It is much more to replace the car in the end. If you still like the car and want to keep it why not fix it?

WKD DRGN

I'm kinda confused about the head gasket part. It seems every time I was checking the coolant, I was checking it by looking at the level in the overflow tank and when the engine was cold. Every time I checked it, the coolant level was near the minimum line. I would fill it back up to max with geniune Honda coolant. I didn't check the actual radiator. I drove it for about a week without checking the levels and got the tie rod end work done then took it to the Honda mechanic to ask about the head gasket. I do not know what the levels were for the coolant before that. I don't know if he added coolant or not. That was Wednesday. I checked the coolant level today in the overflow tank before driving my car to work. The coolant was still at the max line. I checked the coolant Wednesday night and it was at the max line. I turned on the car and tried to see if white smoke came out the exhaust and I could NOT smell coolant coming from the exhaust. Just smelled like exhaust fumes. There is no oil coolant mixture on the dipstick. So essentially there are NO signs of a bad head gasket?? Am I checking the coolant correctly? I will try to remember to check both the overflow tank and radiator levels after I get off work. I also want to try to do a block test. I already have the test fluid from a previous test just need to rent the tester again. Any suggestions?

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

If your losing coolant it's either leaking or burning. Not really anywhere else for it to go. Unless there is air in the system and it's slowly burping out causing you to be topping it up. But this would eventually stop.

WKD DRGN

I checked the coolant in the resvoir and the radiator today after work. The overflow tank was at the max line. The radiator was full almost all the way up to the top of the neck. I rented the block tester and am waiting for the car to cool down again to be able to do the test. Me and my dad replaced the coolant temperature sensor about 2 weeks ago. He said at the time the coolant was at the minumum line in the overflow tank. Not sure about the radiator itself. I topped it off. And it went down again the next day. We did NOT burp the system. But I asked if we should have. I have the OEM Honda manual on a CD-ROM for the computer and my dad said he went over it and didn't see anything about burping the system so we didn't do it. Whatever mystery was happening with the coolant going away seems to have subsided now. I think it may have just been air in the system cause we took all the coolant out to replace the sensor and just poured it back in. We'll see what the block test indicates.

I do plan on trying to get the rear main seal fixed still. I just got to save up $600 to do it. My income is limited at best right now. That's another reason why I can't just go out and get another car or pour thousands of dollars into this one. Thanks for the info so far.

WKD DRGN

The coolant levels have stayed consistent now the last couple of days. I used the engine block tester on it and the testing fluid stayed blue. There seems to be no sign of a blown head gasket...just got to save up that $600 now. Thanks again.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

NP. Hopefully it was just air in the line and away you go. Now fix that seal and you should be set for a long time