delliott101

I am helping my stepson with his '95 Civic. It is a California salvage vehicle and looks like it was in a front end accident at one time.

For some reason the coolant drains out of his radiator. For example, he told me that he filled it with water 2 days ago, but when I checked yesterday I had to fill it with about a third of a gallon of water. I ran the engine (idle and a short drive to the gas station) and I am not seeing any leaks. Hoses all look good. Fan runs fine. The gauge is reading on the cool side, almost half way between cold and hot.

I'm not sure if it is a water pump problem or head gasket. Fan works, nothing leaks.. no water found anywhere. The coolant disappears. I have him driving the car right now on his errands and will check everything when he gets home.

Any suggestions as to what else to look for?

lazlong

Sounds like the headgasket.

delliott101

No water in the oil... not that I could find... isn't that a symptom of a blown head gasket?

02civicsi02

It does sound kinda like the head gasket. And if there is bits of stuff on the dipstick that can tell you that its the head gasket. Another way is to check the o2 sensors to see if there is any wear on it from coolant. The o2 sensor will be like white and this could tell you that it is a bad head gasket.

Prodresurgence

White rings on the underside of the oil cap is another clear sign of head gasket issues.

delliott101

Well, here's what I found so far...

I looked at the head area and there was a bolt missing. I'm assuming this was causing coolant to get into the combustion chamber and burning it off. No leaks found and nothing in the oil (thankfully).

I found a bolt to put in (10mm head and I have plenty from my air-cooled VWs). The bolt fit and it's good and snug. I also tightened the other bolts, as they were a little looser than they should have been (not too loose, but not snug either).

I changed the plugs... I'm having my stepson keep an eye on things as he drives it.

Nosepicker

I when I read the title.

Good title!

delliott101

Thanks I wanted to make it stand out a bit!