mishalah

I bought this 1994 Civic LX for my granddaughter about 4 months ago, and it has been a nightmare. Only 94000 miles, and with recent timing belt and radiator and a spotless interior. 3 weeks in and it was stolen: nice custom wheels and tires gone, gas tank punctured. Outrageous storage and tow fees, new tires, new gas tank, new mirrors, lots of $$$$ later...back on the road. UNTIL....she drove it low on water as far as I can tell.


It overheated, clunked to a halt, and we had it towed home again. Overpressure pushing coolant into the expansion tank tells me it's a head gasket problem. No water in the oil; no steam out the tailpipe. I removed the T-stat to check it, and it works ok. Not going to pay over $1000 for a new head gasket, so I bought some K-seal. Tried to start the car so I could put the K-Seal in, and now it will crank like crazy BUT WILL NOT FIRE UP.


I have not put a new T-stat in, figured I'd just pump out the rest of whatever water/coolant was in there by running it for a few minutes. But will not start. Wires/housing for T-stat still out. Is it a necessary ground strap? What's wrong?

mishalah

Follow up: Put the t-stat back in and connected the small ground wire. Car started and ran smoothly. I let it warm up a bit and then shut it down and prepared the K-Seal and some coolant. I filled the top radiator hose downward into the block, then topped off the radiator. Clamped off the expansion tank hose. Started and ran the engine for at least 20 minutes, mostly with a/c on to help get it hotter. The guage never hit the middle, and the engine seemed barely warmed up.


After if died I had a hard time restarting it...long time cranking and pumping pedal. Ran it another 20 minutes or more. The only time I noticed the rad fan come on was when I shut the engine off. Did this several times. The coolant did push back into the tank after I took the clamps off. Let it sit for a couple of hours, topped off the radiator, restarted it easily.


Then, it died and I couldn't get it started again. It's sitting for now. UGH!

ezone

Yeah, that is the main ground G101 for the ECM and everything electrical it has to control.


I would NOT close off the overflow hose unless you leave the radiator cap off. If the cap is on then it could not vent excess pressure (leaking combustion pressure into the cooling system) and could blow a hose or blow out the tank on the radiator.


Hard start could possibly be wet plugs (water) from the leaking head gasket/warped head, or fuel fouling from running cold/extra fuel.

Compression, fuel, spark must be right to run. Which isn't perfect?


Liquid glass may not work as desired if you don't follow the directions to the letter.

mishalah

Latest update:


I reinstalled the T-stat, ran the car several times, at first it wouldn't reach a very good temp. After getting it to idle smoothly I let it run for about 30 minutes. It got hot....all the way hot. I noticed the rad fan was not working until I shut the engine off. Dunno if that's the fan or the temp sensor. Did that twice, didn't like the look of the top rad hose so I replaced it and tried again. At idle it finally got hot, with coolant pushing back into the tank and boiling. I drove it to the local shop that does my "dirty work" I cannot handle anymore for testing.


They say the rad fan is toast. Ok...even if it did spin fast at high heat, but didn't work at low. Whatever. They also did a test for exhaust gasses in the water (?). They say the engine is "blown". Ummmm....it runs quite well, actually. But the head gasket is probably blown and THE K-SEAL DID NOTHING TO HELP....as far as I can tell.


I don't think I can tackle a head gasket replacement on this OHC engine with the arthritis in my hands. SO...do I replace the rad fan and try again? Try the sealant again? Or, sell the whole car for $5-600?

ezone

So the fan does run after you shut the engine off? If it runs after shutoff why would anyone say the fan motor is bad?

The radiator fan and it's controls are pretty darn simple basic circuits. If the fan does not turn on correctly while the engine is running, it should not be THAT difficult to figure out....and I don't mean wildass guessing either.

If the engine was overheated and run until it quit on its own, the engine is NOT in good health. Transplant is probably the quickest most reliable plan.



If you don't want to dump cash into the car, find a young drooling fast-n-furious wannabe to pay you top dollar for the car.
If it will run decent long enough for a buyer to make a 10 minute test drive, it should sell.