Rep Power: 0

Thanks in advance for your help since I know squat about cars; I'll be concise:
Car: 1998 Honda Civic, approximately 165,000 miles
Background:
Last month, my car overheated badly and was towed to the mechanic. He pressure tested the cooling system and found a leaky heater hose. He replaced the hose, retested and the pressure rose to 22 PSI. A chemical headgasket leak test showed no evidence of a blown gasket. He cautioned me that the car is still not in perfect working order and to be sure that there is always coolant in it. My car ran quite well until it ran out of coolant a week after being filled.
Problem(s):
- Overheats to the point where coolant in the resevoir begins to boil and evaporate into white smoke
- The temperature gauge goes past the red before this happens
- Throughout overheating, the radiator fan does not come on
- After boiling for a minute or so, all the coolant in the resevoir is gone and the temperature gauge instantly goes just below the half-way mark
- There are no visible leaks except:
- There is a slow trickle of oil leaking from the seam of what I suppose is the two halves of the engine block (I can post a video of this if necessary) even before the car overheats and
- Although I didn't see it this time after "testing", usually there is a little bit of coolant settled in the outer grooves of the radiator after all of this happens
Additional Info:
- The abovementioned conditions came about after a 45 minute idle test; when driving the same things occur in about 15 to 20 minutes
- When I "tested" there was no fluid in the radiator and I did not add any
- Radiator replaced once in the past (a few yrs ago) and repaired once after that
- Car would not start up again until mechanic (from last month) replaced ignition coil
- The mechanic also replaced the radiator cap
Question: What is the likelihood that this is not a headgasket issue?
Purpose: To avoid additional diagnostic costs if it is clearly a blown headgasket (at which point, I'm done with the car)

I hope that wasn't too long, as I want to be thorough. Thanks again.

 
Rep Power: 518

Um.....Obviously, your mechanic is broken.
Replace the mechanic.

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Based on what I read above, I would absolutely expect--- at bare minimum--- a warped head with blown head gasket, the great possibility of piston rings collapsed from severe overheating, burned out radiator neck from steam erosion, and failed radiator fan -- for whatever reason.




As is often said on another forum, "Cliff it."

 
Rep Power: 0

Damn. I see. If the gasket weren't blown and it was just a warped head and/or collapsed piston rings, would it be just as if not more expensive to repair?

Thanks.

 
Rep Power: 518

This is impossible. You won't have a (severely) warped cylinder head without a blown head gasket.
(The cast aluminum head will warp if it gets hot enough.)

You can have a blown head gasket without having a warped cylinder head though.

Either situation is still a breach of the sealing abilities of the head gasket.
End of story.


This work would entail a complete teardown of the engine, as in an overhaul.

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The typical economical repair would be to plop in a complete used engine, a new radiator and any damaged hoses if needed, and fix the (apparent) fan issue so this mess doesn't happen again. Or whatever the ROOT CAUSE of this overheating was, find it and fix it.

HTH

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for the info. Do you think it is incontrovertibly the gasket or cylinder head as opposed to a thermostat or water pump?

 
Rep Power: 0

Yes. If you have repeatedly let the engine severely overheat, the head gasket would be blown and you probably warped the head.That may have not been the initial cause of the overheating, but it is definitely bad now.

 
Rep Power: 156

If it's a metal headgasket, they never actually "blow". Either the head studs stretch, lifting the head up, or the head/block gets warped, or broke.

If the metal gasket actually blew, there would be a lot more serious damage

 
Rep Power: 518

Wow. I must have been doing it wrong all these years.
This. OP's "testing" likely only continued damaging the engine further.

Yes.
Easy enough to check and verify if you know what you are doing.

If the condition is bad enough (extreme), this simple check will show it:
Remove the radiator cap
Fill the radiator to the top
Leave the cap off
Crank the engine.
If water spews up like Old Faithful, then you have a very serious problem, the head needs to come off.
(Minor and medium leakage problems won't be found this way, this is for a major problem.)

If you do the job, the thermostat should be replaced no matter what. Overheating can damage them too.

 
Rep Power: 0

UPDATE: So, almost a year later of continued driving, my car has once again badly overheated. Thanks again in advance for putting up with someone who probably should have "cliffed" it a year ago. I have a few more data to add to the equation and new questions about what to do next:
Data:
- After overheating, the check engine light came on and the code read "P0301 - Cylinder # 1 Misfire Detected". This is the second time this particular code was reported. The first time, it happened without the car overheating.
- This time, coolant spewed ALL OVER the inside of my hood, but the reservoir was still about half full when checked afterwards.
- Radiator fan is not coming on even with AC blasting.
- Radiator is currently completely dry.
- Oil is low, brownish, and smells like gasoline.
- I performed a chemical head-gasket test both while the car was at operating temperature and while it was minutes away from the highest extreme on the temp gauge--both were negative for leakage.
- There remain no visible leaks of any kind.
- Overheating is now taking roughly 15-20 mins while idling as opposed to the 45 mins noted in OP.
- There is a noticeable rumbling, struggling sound when running.
- This only happens in hot weather and last November I took it to a mechanic who could not duplicate the overheating after over an hour of idling and about 45 mins of driving. No repairs have been made since my initial posting since, according to two different mechanics, no clear problem could be found.
QUESTIONS:
- Is it worth the time, money, and effort to continue taking the this thing to mechanics or have years of unresolved overheating issues rendered it junk?
- Would my car have been able to continue running relatively problem-free for months (and, since this all started, years), even with the possible head-gasket related damage in question?
- If so, what are the risks of simply replacing the radiator again and continuing to drive with a damaged, albeit no longer overheating engine (or does this possible damage now contribute to the overheating problem itself?) Essentially, would doing so provide any value in terms of running the car to its grave?

Thanks for your time.

 
Rep Power: 518

Just found this one at the bottom of my email list.....

Not trying to be harsh here, but trying to be realistic....with a little humor


You don't see any leak, huh?

I guessed this already.



Absolutely not.
Don't waste time going to whomever you have been giving money to, they can't (or won't) figure out your obvious problems.





On the other hand, if you can find a real technician who knows what the F*** he is doing, it may be worth a professional evaluation since you apparently don't want to heed the advice that has already been given in previous replies.


I know, people in uniforms might all look the same to many people. Trust me, we are not.


Here's a previous reply:

I can think of a few options:
1) Find a professional technician that can actually fix cars
1a) Fix this car, and do it the right way 100%

2) Cliff it and get another car
2a) Pay said professional technician to take care of the next car

3) Learn to care for a car before it craps the bed, basic maintenance is usually more convenient than crisis based repairs

4) Take care of little problems before they turn into huge problems

5) Or..As is often said on another forum....Get a bus pass


The car already had one tire in the junkyard before you posted the first time.