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Hey pro's,

What's up? I'm happy to see this forum, truly. I just bought a 1994 Civic LX from a private party, and it's been having issues, less than two weeks after I bought it. It overheated on the highway, and smoke billowed out of the radiator cap (which was a radiator purchased in august, 2010, so should have held up), and the reserve tank. I got the radiator welded with epoxy, so it's not smoldering like it did then. I heard a clicking about a week ago, when I parked it, that sounded like the wheel of fortune wheel, or a rat wheel, but loud. I've heard that's a head gasket symptom. So, after fixing the radiator, the heat gauge still jumps, but there's less smoke. Still scary. I took it to a guy who seems knowledgable and trustworthy, and everything he said seemed like he was already convinced that the the pressure placed on the radiator was from engine heat leaking through, exhaust whatever, and that that was probably a head gasket. he placed a funnel on the radiator passage, which had just been welded up up, and dumped coolant in it. I started the car and the antifreeze shot out of the coolant shot out of the funnel like a volcano. He said "usually, we just look for bubbles in the coolant...but this is blown bad." Is this appraisal accurate, or is he just trying to scam me into getting work done with him? In other words, does that explosion always happen before you can actually look for bubbles that indicate engine fumes in the coolant? thank you for your responses and opinions.

 
Rep Power: 234

Blown headgasket, although it's rare for them to be that bad.

If you didn't warp the head bad enough to need a new one it's usually $300-500 to fix. Half that if you do it yourself, although you don't sound ready for that.

 
Rep Power: 366

you kidding, right?
you saw the result and asks if he is trying to scam you?

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for the grammatical, un-sarcastic response (like other guy here). I was just asking if the shooting coolant was just a normal function of turning the engine on with the radiator cap off.

Is the 300 to 500 typical of a Civic HG repair, or any given HG? I was quoted around 900 bucks today. I would probably pay 300 for the right person.

I didn't neglect this car that badly, for the record. I just bought it off the wrong person who did.

I would totally try to fix it, providing I everything prepared (tools, fluids, space, etc, prepared in advance). Can you point me in the direction of the best manual for doing an older Civic HG repair? It looks hard, but not impossible. And, finally, can you tell me the list of tools I would need, just so I know if barrowing these is even initially conceivable? Thanks boss!

 
Rep Power: 234

$900 is cheap but, possible if they had to get a re-man head for it cause it was too warped. $300-500 is typical price for single-head engine (4-cyl) which are half the price of double-head engines (v-6's and v-8's) on HG repairs.

Try to find pdf manual you can download from this site or http://www.honda-tech.com/

or for a paper one go here: http://www.helminc.com/helm/product2...302&itemtype=N (Worth every single penny.)