Rep Power: 0

So it all started when I had to change my radiator. About a month ago, I took my car to a Valvoline for an oil change, routine simple, no problem. About 2 or 3 days after that I notice I'm losing antifreeze fairly quickly. The next day I'm gushing it so I look and theres a nice hole in my radiator. So I tell valvoline, they say prove it, I say never going there again, and I replace the radiator myself, new antifreeze, flush, great. Car runs great. Then about a week ago I'm driving to work (about a 25-30 min drive on the highway) and as I pull into the parking lot white smoke billows out of my tailpipe, the heat in my car goes to cold air and it feels like my cars about to stop at any second. Quickly find a spot and turn her off. Come back to check the antifreeze and the radiator is empty but the reservoir is mostly full. so I refill the radiator and check my hoses

Pretty quickly I notice that I've got a leak somewhere near the thermostat, check the lower radiator hose and it's very slightly lose, tighten that. Go home for the night and as I'm on the highway, my car immediately overheats. Tow it home and tell my neighbor mechanic to fix whatever's wrong while I'm at work. Come back and he's changed the heater hose and 02 sensor. That was a week ago.

Now today, after having again no problems, I get off the highway going home and right as I'm 5 min away, my car starts to rough idle. Scared I'm overheating I look at the temp and notice that it's actually going down. Book it home and just as I'm parking again white smoke billows out of my tailpipe. I killed the engine but wasn't in a great spot so i waited for a bit and then tried to start her, i got a clunk. Freaked, pushed her into a better position and went under the hood. Checked my tubes, hoses, nothing, but it smelt burnt. Checked spark plugs they're fried. Replaced them.

Also seems to be a massive water spot on my engine but all my fluids are clear and viscous. My radiator is full but my reservoir was pretty low even though i just refilled it 2 days ago. Now when i try to start it theres no sound, no click, no whirring, just a shhhh shhh from under the hood. I don't think head gaskets would cause a no-start problem but could they? and what was the whole temp guage going down thing? I didn't even know that was possible. Any ideas would be great.

95 civic non-vtech automatic trans w/abs

 
Rep Power: 518

Can you wrench the engine over by hand?
Battery good? Starter good?


Head gasket failure (plus maybe a warped head) certainly can let coolant fill cylinders, this is known as "hydrolock"

Pull all 4 spark plugs out and try to crank it.

Keep everyone away from the front of the car though.

 
Rep Power: 0

It was raining today so i didn't try the spark plug thing but i did switch out the starter and now there is a very weak wah wah wah when your turning over so at least moderate improvement. Sorta sounds like a dead battery in the way it's trying to start up but the battery is good. Attached some pictures. Would the starter make the temp guage go down? I'm thinking if the car was losing power maybe that caused everything to go haywire? I'm gonna try the ignition coil where i see the fluid but it definitely sounds electrical. If not what else should i be looking for?

 
Rep Power: 204

Personally I'd try this.

 
Rep Power: 0

should it turn over when i do this? What will this prove/disprove?

 
Rep Power: 518

Scattered thoughts:

If it's been overheated and losing lots of coolant, then the coolant has gotta be going somewhere. You have to figure out where it's going.

Blown head gasket is always suspect when overheated simply because that's one of the first things that suffers major damage during an overheat.

If it's still losing coolant, it's either leaking externally (out, to the ground), or leaking internally and going into the engine (crankcase oil OR cylinders).
Or is it not losing at the moment?


If you got it to crank but it sounds weak, is it spinning too fast or too slow?
Did it lose compression? (flooded)
Are the spark plugs wet? What are they wet with? Fuel? Antifreeze?
What did the compression test numbers tell you?

Does it have spark? Strong spark?

IS the battery dead? Is it any good? Weak/dead/fully charged?



I thought it wouldn't crank at all, like the engine was locked up. That's why I said to pull the plugs.
Pulling the plugs out and cranking it over to see if any of the cylinders had antifreeze in them would prove major problem, blown head gasket letting antifreeze into the cylinder(s)

But you probably should do a compression test and the other normal stuff to figure out why it won't run.
Pressure test the cooling system with the plugs out, see if it is putting coolant into the cylinders.