winnipegjetsfan

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum and wish I had found this earlier. I have a 98 civic si w/auto tranny w/about 160K. The last year an a half has been a major headache with the car. About 6 mths ago, my car wouldn't start and I had to bring it to a mechanic where he had to clean my engine and chang the spark plugs and said that there was gas and carbon build up in the engine. The thing is that I have had to have this done two times before this in the previous 2 years. Anyways, everytime I start up my car and sometimes when I accelerate, I hear this gurgling sound coming from the right side of the car (i can only hear this sound when I'm in the car). Also, the car keeps overheating and the reservoir runs dry every few days. In addition to all these problems, the check engine light turns on sometimes and then turns off in a couple of days and it actually started blinking one time. I can't help but think that all the above mentioned problems are somehow related but I've been to 3 mechanics and none of them have been able to solve my problems. Any info that can help solve or understand my problem will be greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance and sorry for the long post.

winninpegjetsfan

PS BTW I've also recently failed an emissions test but one of the mechanics was able to tweak it so that it passed the second time

Da1lyDr1ver

iTrader: (6)

the gurgling noise you hear from the right side of your car is most likely your heater core (its located behind the glovebox somewhere. the reason it gurgles is because you have air bubbles in your coolant system. however, judging from you're saying, its probably related to whats making your car burn the coolant (or otherwise). its not normal for your car to use up coolant like you described (obviously). i dont know if you brought the car used or not, but you may have a blown head gasket. if this happens, one of the symptoms is coolant getting into the cylinders and hence burning coolant. i'm not quite sure how you can check if you have a blown head gasket other than a compression test. also, does your exhause blow out white smoke when you step on the accelerator? this is also a sign of burning coolant.

there are just some pointers to get you started at looking at the right places...

streetglower

iTrader: (13)

first thing I would do is check and see where the coolant is going. Check for external leaks, then do a pressure test. If there are no external leaks, possibly a cylinder leak down test and compression test may help isolate any problem. Also diagnose the check engione light.

tinman

Hmmm... the 90's hondas have several very small heater bypass hoses around and UNDER the intake manifold. They can be a PAIN to locate, and even worse to change. They are about the size of your pinkie. If all hoses check out, (under pressure) then I'd look at the head gasket. Not that unlikely at that mileage.

winnipegjetsfan

Many thanks to those who have replied. I have done some more reading on the forums and it does seem like it might be the HG. However, I do think think that the mechanic did a pressure test on the radiator. I''m not sure what the test entails, but it looked like he used a pump of some sort with some kind of guage. Would this be the pressure test you were talking about? Also, I was told it may be a number of other things ie. water pump or thermostat in water pump. About the white smoke, my exhaust does blow out some white smoke when I'm idling as well. In addition, the when I start up the car in the morning and even during the day, the car idles very rough. It looks like it struggles to reach 1K rpm with the car shaking and then it slowly gets to about 1500- 2K. at that point, it then slowly comes down. Also forgot to mention that the car was in an accident about 4 years ago and the radiator had to be replaced (non-Honda). Again, thanks for all the info.

winnipegjetsfan

Da1lyDr1ver

iTrader: (6)

from what you're describing, it sounds as if your mechanic has done a radiator pressure test.

i think your problem is the head gasket, but be sure before you do it, because its a pretty expensive job in shops. ask for a engine compression test. on the otherhand, i highly doubt it has to do with the thermostat or waterpump; problems with these parts wont cause the problem you're describing.

tinman

A bad headgasket is not always obvious when the engine is cold. It will leak HOT, however. So a pressure test won't always give you the right answer.
The white smoke is a good clue. That's coolant. If the car has ever overheated, you can pretty much bet that the head is warped.

winnipegjetsfan

Thanks to everyone who posted a response. Initially, the mechanic didn't think it was the headgasket but when he checked one of the spark plugs, he had problems taking it out so he explained to me that it was either I haven't change my plugs in a while (which couldn't have been b/c i changed it there about 6 mths ago) or that coolant was getting into that plug. So he opened up the HG and found that the gasket was a little warped and had to send it out to get cleaned and resurfaced? anyways, after about $1K later I'm still hearing some gurgling. However, it seems now that I'm getting very poor gas milage (approx. 200-250kms per tank) although I wasn't getting much better before that (approx 300-330km per tank). I was also told by a mechanic about a year ago that there seemed to be a large amount of fuel in the engine when he was doing an engine flush. Don't know if that would make any sense to anybody. But, any ideas what the problem might be? Again, the water sound only happens when I accelerate and the engine hasn't overheated, at least not yet (knock on wood). Thanks in advance.

tinman

The cooling system wasn't bled properly, and you might want to get your O2 sensors checked. They might not throw a code, but you could still get really bad mileage if one is not reading properly. The O2 sensor could have been poisoned if you had coolant in the exhaust, which you likely did. And 1K is high for a head job. Find another mechanic. Or buy a whole motor for half that.

winnipegjetsfan

Hey Tinman,

Thanks for all the help. I thought 1K was also a little much but I felt like I was stuck as I had already had my car there and he prob would've charged me to put the head back on and so on and so forth. I will definitely try to bring it to another mechanic but if he bled it incorrectly, shouldn't he re-do it for free? hmm... might have to ask. Also, how much does an O2 sensor usually run and is it quite easy to change? If so, I've got a couple of mechanically inclined friends that may be able to do it. Again, thanks for all the input.


jetsfan

Da1lyDr1ver

iTrader: (6)

i think after you've paid $1000 for him to change your head gasket, you should be able to take it back to the mechanic and let him bleed the coolant system for free. besides, bleeding the system isnt hard, so they shouldnt really complain.

O2 sensors arent cheap. they can run about $90 a piece, and i think we have 2 of them. its not hard to change either. you'll need to get an O2 sensor socket. its basically looks like a long socket but with a cutout in the front for the O2 wires. Simply twist it off and twist the new one on.