c2heat

'04 1.7L civic. My car is messed up. Pls help. Here it goes, my car overheated once last summer. I drive about 16hrs round trip every wkend. I do all the regular checks... Etc. My coolant is always either low or full. Top it off every other trip. I smell the coolant pretty much after driving. Put sum bars leak in and went straight to the reservoir. And sprayed out. Looked up every possible prob. Doesn't overheat, no leaks, and only comes out from the reservoir. When I check the radiator cap it has sum dirt like little rocks. Changed the cap, thermostat, flushed. Haven't taken it in yet to get looked at. What other checks can I do before I drop cash for it

johndeerebones

Pull the cap off the radiator and start it up, see if there is any bubbles in the coolant in the radiator. Japanese cars are kinda notorious for head gasket problems. Did you for sure get all the air out when you did all those repairs? If it is going down you may have a phantom leak that is drying from heat before it hits the ground.

c2heat

I have ran it w/o cap and it rose to the top right away. I've sprayed the motor down a few times. Anti freeze goes straight out the reservoir after driving my trip. Took it to a reliable radiator shop, he ran for about 2 hrs under pressure he said no leakage what soever.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

if it is coming from the reservoir, you know where the leak is... there was no need for a sum bars leak...
sounds like a blown head gasket, from the "very" little i understood o' ur description...

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Head Gasket.

c2heat

Thats what I guessed. Just didn't want to say it. What would b a good brand to use? They sell felpro at advance by the house. Anybody got an idea as to y there would b sum debris around the radiator cap when I check it? Thanks for the input guys

Gold Ghost

im thinking head gasket as well. i have a random over heating issuemy self i have 137k miles on the civic. for no reason the heat starts to blow cold air which is on cuz i have no a/c, an then the temp gauge shoots up. after bout 10 min of heat on full blast it returns to normal. both heat an temp that is. im doin my head gastket when the weather warms up a bit.good luck dude.

john222

Definitely head gasket. The 7th gem civic has head gasket problems around 100k. Very common. Combustion gasses areleaking into the cooling system and pushing the coolant out the expansion tank. Just had mine replaced a month ago. Same symptoms..

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Use OEM head gasket from the honda dealership.

Mano and Kim

My 04 Si is doing the same thing. Not overheating at all though. I.m told head gasket by everyone on here too. I'll wait for warmer weather. A couple days ago I noticed that the temp guage won't even go to C most of the time. Warm air comes out, but not hot. Funny thing this gasket problem. If I top up the rad, a few ounces end up in the overflow, but if I leave it alone, it stays in the rad and doesn't lose any more. So much for Honda reliability. This is the first car I have ever owned which may need a head gasket. Not even my lowly Ford Tempo, with 300K needed this type of repair. The Japs are quickly losing their once bulletproof reputation. Going back to Ford. A new Stang will look good in my driveway.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Every car company has had their issues. Nobody is bulletproof and has never been. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. It does not matter what brand you own.

Mano and Kim

That might be true, but I hear an awful lot of head gasket issues on here with this car. Maybe recall volumes, which Honda probably will never address. So it's not just me bro, it's a lot of guys. The part that makes me think that this is a serious build issue is that everyones gasket seems to fail at a meager 100,000km. That shouldn't happen, period, to any modern car. I've religiously defended Honda products for the last 20 years, but sorry, the sun is falling on this Japanese giant, just like Toyota. Their bikes are still the best, but not their cars.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

I'm not totally disagreeing with you that there isn't a widespread problem. My head gasket failed at 80k miles.. But it was due to negligence not part failure. I wonder how many people have underlying problems that cause their head gaskets to fail? I know some fail because of poor manufacturing. Mine went because i overheated the car due to a thermostat failure. Most people that post on here have overheated their cars as well. In any car that overheats, head gasket is the first thing to blow.

It's a crapshoot no matter what you buy. I have a Ford Edge and they are having MAJOR issues with the power transfer unit leaking. (Not just mine, all the AWD versions). In the end if I have to replace the PTU it will cost MUCH more than replacing a head gasket on the civic So far, I've only had to replace the gasket so heres hoping. The sad thing is that Ford hasnt even informed people of the problem, so most people are driving around with a leaking PTU that will eventually self destruct and cost them upwards of 2000 dollars.

Your right on another note too. I don't think Honda quality is what it used to be, but I still take it over GM, Chrystler, Ford, or even Toyota. For now... Ford has stepped it up a lot though, IMO. But their newer cars arent old enough yet to know if there will be major problems down the road. Just because they look cool doesnt mean they are built well.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

isn't the ford tempo a low compression engine?

john222

That would be a head gasket. You getting exhaust gas in the cooling system.

rodburner

I am having a similar problem as heat is, over flowing into the reservoir and not all of it returns to the radiator when it cools but it seems i am not loosing coolant i pump it out of the res. put it back in the radiator and its full again if i wait to long it will start spilling out of the res. i have a new water pump.thermastat,hoses,coolant and cap but yes i did overheat it after changing the pump and timming belt forgot to put the damed cap back on when i went for a test drive any help would be great

Mano and Kim

I hear all you guys and the post above is exactly how I have been dealing with it. The one main difference between me and all other examples is that my car never overheated. I think my thermostat has stopped functioning too, but in the opposite way.My engine temp guage swows cold, so I'm guessing instead of it semi-seizing closed (causing overheating), it has semi-seized open,keeping the engine cold. What else can it be? But how does this scenario blow a head gasket? Hey, I have no choice but to fix it. I bought the car brand new in 2004. It cost me 27K, so I'm not tossing it, but I would like to understand this. I think Honda has a serious problem with these motors and gaskets and they are just not talking about it. My dealer says it's not a Honda issue. He acted like I was the 1st case he ever heard of it. BS!! One only has to look on this 1 forum to see that it is happening to a lot of us..way too many of us.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

No, cold engine temps will not cause a failed head gasket. Are you 100% sure it never overheated? I wasnt aware of the overheating issue until after my head gasket was blown. There is no chime to say the car is overheating so it could have done so without you even noticing. You may have had a leak in your cooling system ( through say.. the thermostat ) that caused it. I don't watch my gauges 100% of the time because im focusing on the road, and I'm sure everyone here can agree to that statement. (No offense intended) but I dont want people to get the wrong impression that these cars are junk because they aren't. There have been people on here that have put 300, 000 miles on these cars before they finally gave up on them. People that come on forums are people that have generally had problems, so it may seem worse than it actually is.

johndeerebones

Like I said in the second post, likely candidate head gasket, head, etc....
Go to napa and get a hydro carbon sniffer. If you have hydro carbons in the coolant resevoir something is arey. The coolant should under no normal surcimstances have any contact with any combustion gases...

rodburner

My issue is it keeps over filling the overflow tank i drained the coolant yesterday i had slightly over 1 gal of coolant that means i am not loosing any i checked the plugs they look good, no coolant in the oil,no oil in the coolant no coolant on the ground,when i flushed it without the thermastat in it the new waterpump had a stong flow it has a new honda cap and thermastat, just for insurance i put some K&W head gasket and block repair i used a block test kit to see if any gasses were present, it draws air into a tube with a liquid that changes color if ex. gasses are present (our napa do's not loan tools)and do's not have that sniffer tool WHAT NEXT ??? could it be trapped air the system was empted at one point and how do you get it out there is no releif valve on this car

tonytejera

THE FIX IS CHANGE THE RADIATOR FOR A NEW ONE ! as rare as it might seems its the rad neck that deforms under heath and pressure and allows coolant to escape to overflow tank,engine loses coolant,creating a not full engine block and heater core at idle,(thats why heath at idle its bad and as you rever up the engine it comes on ) ok folks,hope i can help as many honda owners in this frigid weather! god bless