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Hell folks,

I've had my car about a month and there has been noticing a very slight amount of burn hydrocarbon smell and a little bit of coolant spray around my coolant overflow reservoir.

Today I went on an hour-long drive (longest continuous drive yet) and noted quite a bit of coolant in and around my fan and on my radiator shroud, and all over the place. I noted the coolant reservoir was actually overflowing out of some tiny holes where the cap screws in. Probably what was causing the "spray" when it hit the incoming air through the grill.

I've tried squeezing the large hoses that are most likely the intake and outtake into the radiator, the bottom one feels like there might be some air in it cause it's way easier to squeeze.

I've let it sit 2 hours and the level in the reservior level hasn't gone down. It's right to the brim and totally over the "max" line.

Tried letting it idle for a bit. Still no change in the levels. Today I had the a/c cranked. I was doing some research and read something about a heater-core issue may cause this.

Please advise. The temp gauge stayed constant and right in the middle without looking like it was overheating.





every2002 Civic Si Veloz (D17A2)

 
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Checked out the oil today and it looks fine (like thre's no indication the head is compromised).

I also noted that only the top hose is hot to the touch, the bottom one wasn't even warm really.

I've attached a pic of a sensor... any clue what it is?

I'm debating just pulling out the thermostat and running without it (using liquid gasket) caue it's summer to see it the issue resolves. Will this cause an engine code?

 
Rep Power: 199

Yes, that is the fan switch. Are your fans kicking on? To answer your question, yes it will set a code. I believe its a P0128, engine temp below threshold.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds like you have head gasket issues possibly... Don't jump yet though, lets diagnose it...

fans working? The first goto is to fill it back up, at the radiator, not the overflow. Let it cool and take the radiator cap off, turn the hot/cold heater control to hot, then fill it up. Then start it with the cap off and keep topping up the coolant till the fans kick on, then shut it off and make sure it stays full. That fill method ensures that you are getting it full and the air out..

 
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first replace the thermostat with a honda oem part. then see if the lower hose gets hot.

 
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Threw a OEM thermostat in and took it for a drive. Bottom hose is hot and it seems like its circulating better.

The heater has remained working fine through the whole ordeal. The radiator has always been full to the brim the whole time too.

The bad news is that I threw the old thermostat into a pot of boiling water and the sucker opened up just fine.

When its heated up and running it looks like it's purging air through the radiator to reservoir, but the lower hose seems like its got less air in it and it's way harder to squeeze now. It feels like the top one, when before it didn't.

 
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Reservoir level has dropped dramatically and I think my problem is solved. Everything seems to be working fine thank goodness.

Haven't had the heater or a/c on yet. I'll test that out tomorrow. Cross your fingers that everything stays stable.

 
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Needs a head gasket job

 
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Did you confirm presence of hydrocarbons in the coolant with a block tester?

 
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hydrocarbons in the exhaust.

 
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99.9 % sure it's the intake manifold gasket... Your description match perfectly what you should expect from this specific issue :

- Low but steady coolant consumption
- Almost nothing noticeable in driveability
- Thick oil residue in the cooloant expension reservoir

Juste beside the intake port of cylinder 4 there is a coolant passage. Now aluminium engine are great in many ways but they react not so good to temperature variation. Long short story, the studs and bolts came loose and... A mix of oil fume and gasoline find their way to your cooling system. I had the exact same issue on my 99 EX (D16Y7). I bought a gasket at Honda for $27 and did the job in 1.5 hours with a long nose plier, a 10mm & 12mm sockets and ratchet and of course a torque wrench.

So if you're not doing it you can expect to have it repaired for $200...

 
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FMichaud-can you post a picture of the bolts that came loose? I'm having a similar problem with a Y7 and want to check it out.

 
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Somebody knock this guy down a few experience points. I said it was a head gasket. It's fixed after the gasket was replaced.

The D16 is a completely different engine than the D17, this is the 7th gen forum.

 
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You can know him down experience points yourself

 
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Done. LOL.

 
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D16 and D17s are similar, the coolant passages are identical I believe, the suggestion wasn't bad.

 
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Nice job MarkoPollo, you ask a question, people try to help you, and you blast their suggestions.

 
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when hydrocarbons in the exaust suggest a leaky intake manifold... that suggestion needs to get blasted.

also, if you read it you'd see that there was no coolant consumption, it was spewing out the reservoir, there was no mention of oil in the coolant, and I stated that the head gasket job fixed the issue.

when a suggestion has nothing to do with the initial question, it needs to get blasted.

 
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Hi fellow civic owners. My civic overheated on a 51mi drive. I saw the reservoir was full and looks like it came out of the reservoir a bit. There is little black gummy sticky things stuck on the nozzle. Like a black tarry really thick hair. I have a low idle in warm start up. Any ideas? Oil looks good, oil cap looks good no white residue. Both radiator hoses are hot. I had a 30mi drive and everything was fine.

 
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Blown head gasket

 
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how can i confirm this? Could it be something else?

 
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If you have coolant spraying from your overflow, then your head gasket is blown. There's really no need to try and confirm it as this is confirmation enough.

 
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why lower hose should get Hot? the coolant doesn't flow from upper hose to radiator and from lower hose to back to engine?

 
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[IQUOTE=Matt_75;4644390]If you have coolant spraying from your overflow, then your head gasket is blown. There's really no need to try and confirm it as this is confirmation enough.[/QUOTE]

I thought if there's a blown head gasket u ssue there would be either a black or a grey smoke coming from the tail pipe..
is that not true??

 
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not with these cars....
go read:

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...reference.html

 
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question . Or like confirmation:; when water runs low do you only fill radiator ??
not the over flow??

 
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If they're both empty you fill both of them.
Fill the rad and then fill the overflow halfway between the two marks on the bottle.
Then you have to bleed the system.
But if your headgasket is blown this isn't going to really help you, you need to get that fixed.

 
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[QUOTE=johndeerebones;4542448]Yes, that is the fan switch. Are your fans kicking on? To answer your question, yes it will set a code. I believe its a P0128, engine temp below threshold.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds like you have head gasket issues possibly... Don't jump yet though, lets diagnose it...

fans working? The first goto is to fill it back up, at the radiator, not the overflow. Let it cool and take the radiator cap off, turn the hot/cold heater control to hot, then fill it up. Then start it with the cap off and keep topping up the coolant till the fans kick on, then shut it off and make sure it stays full. That fill method ensures that you are getting it full and the air out..[
i did this and it got air out and i know it has started leaking coolant in shorter time that it was cranked even cranked it baxk up to see exactly where the coolant was coming from and nothing not one drip on the frame or anything so idk if it is the head gasket or what i bougjt a lemon