Rep Power: 812

haha yea i'm ready to drive it off a cliff (without me in it). mechanic doesn't have a clue. but from what i can figure, its a small coolant leak into the cylinder. which would explain where all the coolant went and why i keep gettin air bubbles when i just fixed the problem. oh boy why would it do that after 20k miles. i don't even drive hard. if warranty doesn't cover a gasket swap, oh boy i'm gonna be busy in the freezing weather taking the entire car apart. its easy to swap a head gasket right? right? lol

 
Rep Power: 812

i'm almost sure its the head gasket. i just spent another 30 mins bleeding the bubbles out (twice today), but they keep coming out and i still hear water rushing noises inside. lost cause.

 
Rep Power: 0

Bad news. Have you try to run out the oil from the engine and see if there is any coolant on it, or reverse, check the coolant if has or no oil on it.

 
Rep Power: 812

no i will check oil tomorrow. it was too dark to see. coolant doesn't smell like gas... also the idle from a cold start has become rough like you can feel the engine kicking as it idles even when everything is okay.

 
Rep Power: 319

You may be luck though, I had that problem on my last chevy truck, it was only a small leak and never got any in the oil. Ended up it was an intake manifold gasket, which of course are FAR easier to replace. Hopefully you get lucky and that's all it is.

 
Rep Power: 812

hmm well i'm dropping it off for a few days to see what they find out. he says its most likely the head gasket since coolant is being lost from radiator and constant air bubbles.

 
Rep Power: 303

Gearbox, this used to be a common problem with Honda heads. Milling was NOT recomended because of the thin cooling passages in the head, and increased warpage. It's likely a very small leak, not near an oil passage. You'd know if it got in the oil... It could also be in the intake manifold, though. Since it's heated, see the throttle body heater, etc. Maybe check there first.
But if it keeps bubbling with the engine running..... musty be the head letting some combustion pressure into the coolant passages. My god, was that a common problem with early rotary engines.... I drove one for a few years like that. Fill up in the morning, drive to work. Add a half gallon of water in the evening, drive home. Eh.... it got me by until I rebuilt the engine..

You MIGHT try a different head gasket as well, Gearbox. There is also a spray coating that we used on both sides of a gasket that helps seal very tiny imperfections.

And the saga continues....

WILL Gearbox ever get his car fixed?
WILL we ever hear the end of this? LOL!

Find out next week on as the civic burns!!

 
Rep Power: 319

Yeah, maybe a copper gasket....

 
Rep Power: 812

hmm and i had plans to turbo next year too i'm starting to realize i bought the wrong car as much as it looks nice. I didn't even mod it that much, i mean IHE pnp head thats it! a normal car should be able to handle that. well its all up to the shop now. hopefully it wont cost alot to fix. and if it is the head gasket, i should tell him to make sure the head isn't warped or out of spec. then maybe i'll get a stock head out of it and have it working. time to milk the extended warranty.

 
Rep Power: 0

Nice! You have extended warranty
You have only 20000 mi on it? I missing something?
I brought honda because they have reputation of building long lasting engines (+ fuel economy) or is just reputation and the true is different?

 
Rep Power: 812

its mostly reputation. our auto tranny is junk. and look at all the problems other members have. my car has 44k miles but the headgasket and head only have 22k miles.

 
Rep Power: 319

This is just my personal opinion and many will argue about this, but I think ever since Honda has started making cars in the US they have gone down hill. I've had 2 7thgen civics now (an '03 and an '04), the '03 is Canadian and is okay so far, it has 40k something miles on it (I gave it to my dad when his Accord with 220k mile died). The '04 was returned on the lemon law, I got an '06 after that, and I bought it on the condition that it was made in Japan, I would only buy another Honda if it was made in Japan. Nobody seemed to agree that Japan cars are simply better made.

Now, if you look at the new civics, you'll notice they have a recall on the gas pedal and an oil leak problem. Both of these problems where because of bad manufacturing, and the Japan car are not effected, they problems are only with the American made Honda's. Now don't get me wrong, I like to see jobs in America and all, but when I'm spending my buck, I want to get the best I can get, and to me it seems to be Honda's made in Japan.

Like I said it's just my 2 cents

 
Rep Power: 303

Regardless of what others may say, I totally agree with you on that. My next Honda HAS to come from Japan. I am sorry, but American work ethics and pride just cannot touch the Japanese. They simply make a better product.
The body panels on my 02 coupe are a good example. My coupe was made in Ohio, and the fender gaps and door gaps are uneven. If I werent sure the car was NOT in an accident, I'd think it was. This is "Good enough" in America. In Japan, the workers mindset is different. They would make sure everything fit properly. Just look at any Honda from Japan. Anyway, my next car will be an older Accord or Prelude. The new ones are just not as good. I have not had any real problems with my 02 yet, but it drives different everytime, is somewhat temperamental, the gearbox never acts the same from day to day, and the car is just plain FRAGILE. I have never been completely happy with it. It's hard to describe. My old Accords, (77 and 82) were solid and reliable. They were not fickle at all, and the paint didn't chip when a leaf brushed against it. The cars lasted: 77 Accord 5spd. 327,000 miles, more or less. 82 Accord Auto 187,000 or so. Still running perfectly today with original motor and tranny. I gave it to my friend because I was stupid enough to be lured by the "NEW" car bug, and thought I'd buy a technologically BETTER car.
For what it is, the 7th gen is a fine car. But I seriously doubt It'll last like the older ones, in particular without needing major repairs.
Seriously, I love it's looks and all, but at the first major problem I think I'll go back to an older H and restore it. I'll have a much better car.

 
Rep Power: 319

Yeah, I personally drive a '94 GS-R, which is also Japan, but for the finace, I wanted something a little more reilable, so she gets the '06. The '03 I spoke of (which was my first new car and now bwlongs to my dad) I noticed is very simliar to what you said. The drivetrian was always good (it being a manual), but the day I brought it home, I noticed the hood was not perfectly aligned, it worked and functioned okay, but the gap and alignment was just not what I was used to from my older Hondas. At first I thought it was just mine, then I got curious and went to the dealer at night (when they where closed) at started looking around and noticed almost all the civics (in '03) had a bad gap and alingment. Of course I'm only comparing new Hondas to old Hondas, even the new Honda's are far better than my Ford truck.

When I bought this '06 civic, they had a j-vin sedan next to an American coupe, I was actually **** enough to bring a small caliper from work and measure the gaps between the two cars. The American cars had an average gap of 4mm with a standard deviation of 1.5mm!!! while the j-vin sedan had an average of 2mm and a standard of deviation of 0.2mm. Huge difference. I know these are only body panel and what not and really mean nothing, but I can infer that the same precision was taken in manufacturing of the engine and the rest of compents of the car. I must really looked like a freak setting out there measuring the gaps in a car

Anyway, I have no solid proof the J-vin cars are better in any way other than body panels, but I have my opinions.

End of my rant

 
Rep Power: 0

Huh. I agree whit you guys.
Japanese work is related to historical roots. Anyway.
My 01 Civic is built in Canada. When I bought the car the dealer told me that the one made in Canada are better than the American ones because they are making it for longer time, so they have much more experience. I don't know to believe or not, but I have almost 68000 on it and running fine and no oil consumption (except when you change it .

 
Rep Power: 319

Yeah, I think the Canaian ones are better than the American, but not quite as good as the Japan one, womewhere in the middle.

Gearbox, any word from the shop yet?

 
Rep Power: 812

nope they still haven't gotten to it.

 
Rep Power: 303

I tend to agree. My Mom has a Canadian 01 sedan. It has been FLAWLESS in 63,000 miles so far. Not a rattle, nothing. And the body panels fit much better than my Ohio 02 coupe.

 
Rep Power: 0

The auto technicians are like medics. They not always know what is happening. The bad is that the engine is million times simpler then human body => most of the auto technicians are matures. The professional ones are hard to find and pay.
The dealer’s usually do the repair using the service manual. If the technician is old, has a lot of experience then maybe you are lucky.
I usually trust my hands and mind. Sometime I have to consider service by some shop (lack of right tools, time). I had 3 services at a shop and only one service was good. One was replacement of break pads and rectify the disk (disk worn by the used pad). After a period I noticed that they didn’t polish the disk. The other one incident, they changed the timing belt and after that I had a rattling noise at certain speed. Went back to the shop to complain but they say nothing is wrong. After a long period, I decided to wash the engine and I discovered that when they replaced the timing belt they broken a fixture for one of the hose, which made the rattling. I fix it in 10 min. I can’t call these gays professionals.
This is just about auto technicians here in USA. I have worse stories from Europe.

 
Rep Power: 319

It's worse in Europe? That's interseting, I would have thoght they would have been better and more expensive. But that would only be a guess as I have never had a car serviced in Europe.

 
Rep Power: 812

ya i called yesterday and all he did was a coolant pressure check. somehow he thinks its not the injectors (just a hunch?) and he is acting very lazy like he doesn't wanna fix it if its the headgasket. He keeps telling me its a small gasket leak but he can't be sure. I'm thinking well are you gonna fix the problem or not? cause its pretty obvious to me that if there are constantly air bubbles in the coolant, and I have to replace 1 cup every week, the coolant is burning in the engine and causing the misfire after letting the car sit and coolant fills the combustion chamber. I'm pretty mad right now and doesn't look like it will be fixed.

 
Rep Power: 303

Good luck.

I literally became a mechanic because if you want it done, and done right, you have to do it yourself. (And I was strapped for cash ) I got out of the business as I got older, but I still work on my own cars for everything except warranty stuff.

Come on, Gearbox... You can pull that head and fix it yourself
Isn't this guy getting paid for the work? If he is, find a better mechanic or your car will NEVER run right.

 
Rep Power: 319

Same here...

 
Rep Power: 812

um yea i have to go pay him today for doing and finding out nothing.

 
Rep Power: 0

If he charge you ask him to give a report so you can claim back you money if the problem will be different.

 
Rep Power: 0

Any news?

 
Rep Power: 812

Yea I paid $80 and picked up the car. He says he's sure its a slow coolant leak but he can't prove it and doesn't wanna do the work of changing the gasket. In other words, hes an idiot. All they did was check for combustion gas in the coolant and did a pressure test. He said the pressure was slowly dropping over a few hours but blames it on the instrument being innaccurate. (where is that smiley with the BS flag). So it looks like I'm on my own to fix it. They also said it never misfired when they started it, yet as soon as I got in to drive home it did it. I think they're too lazy or just don't know what to do. They didn't even check anything that the service book says. He "thinks" the injectors are fine without doing any kind of test. btw this retard had my plugs torqued to 30ft/lbs!

So far after getting it back, it was doing it 50% of the time. I tried a few more things yesterday like re-torquing the head bolts and putting on my new greddy radiator cap I also filled the overflow tank almost to the top (way past max) like it used to be before. It has started up fine every time but the problem is I'm still getting coolant bubbles and can hear them in the heater core. I think if I got the coolant to stop burning, next is to try jacking up the front of the car this time (need a jack first) and bleeding it that way.

 
Rep Power: 812

I bled it again with the front jacked up for almost an hour. still you can hear bubbles in the core and my overflow container is full to the top.

 
Rep Power: 812

compression test all cylinders 200-210psi and white smoke coming from the spark plug holes, coolant overflowing from reservoir. wtf...its over

 
Rep Power: 0

Did you check other shops around if they do the job?