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Ok Civic experts. The head gasket is leaking in my 2000 DX coupe. Where's the best place to spend the least money to get the highest quality parts? Should I get new bolts too? Any Civic-specific pointers I need to know? Feel free to shower me with your knowledge.

The car is worth about $600, so I don't want to go completely crazy on it, but it gets me point A to point B reliably and I think it deserves to be fixed. Are the eBay gasket/bolt sets any good? This eBay set is only $53, anyone ever use it? I would be happy to get 50,000 more miles out of this car.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/96-00-Honda-...689880&vxp=mtr

 
Rep Power: 518

That's probably TOO cheap. How soon do you want to do it all over again, or have to buy an engine because cheap crap failed catastrophically?

If you want it to last, spend the money it takes to do it right the first time.
JMHO.



I'd get a dealer head gasket, but that's me ($31 for JUST the head gasket at Majestic). I wouldn't get their whole complete gasket kit unless it's getting a valve job.
I'd pick out the rest of the gaskets and seals I want as needed.

and send the head to a GOOD machine shop to be checked for flatness and machined if necessary

Head bolts do not need replaced on this. Save that money.

Do the timing belt while apart?




Find the root cause of the failure so it (hopefully) doesn't happen again.


Worth is not relevant when it comes to keeping it running (most of the time).

Almost anything that runs and drives is probably worth a grand minimum these days.


If it doesn't run at all, it's a paperweight. No matter what you spend to make it run again, it's still only worth what someone will pay for it.

 
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Thanks Ezone. What do you think the root cause could be? I drive the car pretty softly, however I have no idea where it was before I inherited it 6,000 miles ago. I've given it a pretty good life so far, take good care of it. It has been EXTREMELY cold here lately. Could that have anything to do with it? Seems odd that it would.

Timing belt was just done 6,000 miles ago. I don't think the valves need any attention (they don't blow any smoke at start-up or anything). Good to know that I can keep the old bolts. I'd really like to see this car go as far as possible, and I can turn my own wrenches, but I'm also pretty much flat broke and trying to get back on my feet right now, so penny pinching on this job is a thing.

 
Rep Power: 518

Ok let's start somewhere:
What's leaking?
What symptoms do you see that makes you say it needs a head gasket?
What proof do you have?


6k is nothing, and as you said you don't know anything about the past history of the car.
If you aren't seeing -40*, the Canadians will laugh at you as they have cookouts and go skinny dipping

Millions of other cars have little trouble in the cold.

Although if your antifreeze protection level isn't sufficient for your lowest of low temperatures, you might be screwed in a big way.

 
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Yeah, I was just grasping when I mentioned the cold. It's hasn't been below -30 one time this year I don't think.

The reason I think the head gasket is leaking is that there appears to be too much exhaust, which I had noted, but chalked up to the outside air temp, (I'll just wait until spring/warm day to see if as much exhaust is still present).

But then I noticed my heat stopped pumping quite as hot until I got going. Low coolant level, have to top it off. Where else would coolant go? I don't see any leaks or steam from under the hood anywhere. I just assumed HG.

Oh, also, thin coat of coffee-colored slime under the oil filler cap.

 
Rep Power: 518

If you mean steam from the exhaust, you will see that as long as it's cold and the engine is not warmed up. Look around in traffic, everyone else has a ton of visible steam coming out the tailpipe too. Steam lessens as the exhaust pipes get hot all the way to the rear of the car, and in winter that can take a looooong time.


Steam from water and condensation dissipates quickly in the air. Steam from coolant will hang in the air for a much longer time and smell/taste sweet.
Cold will do that, it takes much longer to get the engine to operating temps when it's cold outside.

I drive 5.6 miles one way to work, my car does not get fully warmed up in that short trip when it's really cold (below about 10*F it's really noticeable) . I have to drive double that in order to get it warmed up and get good heater output, and my heater output really sucks if I'm sitting still even after warmup. I might see 150 degrees driving around for a half hour with the fan on full blast, then if I stop and idle for a long time the vent temp can drop whole lot if I keep the fan on full blast.

Why yes, I do have a digital thermometer stuck in my dash vent.

Top off the radiator -- or the reservoir?
Is the radiator getting low, while the reservoir is getting overfilled? Keep an eye on this, this is a common telltale of the head gasket failing.

How quick is this loss of coolant happening?
Loss can usually be found and proven with testing.

Have you been under the car to inspect for leak evidence? (Might be hard to see if everything is covered in snow/ice/salt residues.)
Sometimes leakage only happens while the car is moving down the road, makes it hard to find the evidence.

Condensation of oil and combustion vapors in the crankcase.
Also normal, especially in winter, combined with short trips that doesn't get the engine good and hot for long periods of time to bake that condensation out.

Mine has it right now too.

 
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Ok, you've got me feeling a little easier. I still say that the heater is acting abnormal, but I'll just monitor things and keep you posted. I'm going to drive it 60 miles tonight and about 100 tomorrow night. We'll see what happens, will advise. Thanks!

 
Rep Power: 518

Fill the radiator and burp it now. Fill reservoir to the MAX LINE and note carefully where your liquid level is, as that will change with engine temperature. Let the engine cool off again and note the reservoir level, fill to the MAX line again. Mark it with a Sharpie to make it easy LOL.

(Hopefully it's completely burped by this time, but it may not.)

When you get to the destination, see where the reservoir level is (it will probably have raised a bit due to expansion).
Then see where it is after the engine cools off. It should drop back to the level you saw it before the trip.


Long trips is when the small leaks from the cylinder(s) into the water jacket shows up, as it displaces liquid out of the radiator into the reservoir, then it can't suck liquid back into the radiator.


Air pockets in the heater system do block liquid flow and cause lack of heat.