Rep Power: 0

car was totally fine until last saturday, drove from my house in yucaipa to anaheim, and back home. distance is about 60 miles i guess. drove a consistent 60-70 mph until about 5 miles from home where i hit 0-10mph traffic, the needle peaked to hot. i cranked the heater and the needle dropped. made it home. checked coolant level and it was above max.. i drained it to mid level. it was good for exactly 6 days for around town driving. saturday night it was driven by my girlfriend from yucaipa to huntington beach, on the way home, it peaked again. it sat for two days and i checked the level again, NO water in the resi, and about 12 oz low in the radiator. coolant all over the header and near by components. came from the lid of the overflow. so i filled the radiator, brought the resi to a lil under mid level and drove it for about 20 miles. it ran cool like normal (lil under half) until i stopped in front of my house to pull it in, immediately it started to peak, i pulled it in and killed the engine. sitting since. ideas on what it could be. the fans seem to only come on when its boiling unless the AC is activated. seems to only get hot @ low speed or sitting. no coolant is dripping from vehicle, runs great and MPG is same, no CE light or anything either. thanks for the help.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thats not normal but you could try replacing thermostat. or getting a lower temp thermostat to open up at lower temps. I had this problem with my integra before but replaced thermostat with lower temp and its fine. Just be sure to not drive it when its peaking at HOT or else your head is going to crack.

 
Rep Power: 0

yeah from what ive heard its most likely going to be the thermostat. ive made an appt. for the car tomarrow morning @ honda to get it looked at. hopefully its the thermostat because its a 9.00 part from kragen that i can replace in 20 minutes... im assuming that if it was a blown headgasket it would run weird and blow water and stuff, am i right? again, thanks for the help.
-Ryan

 
Rep Power: 0

could be your fan not coming on

 
Rep Power: 0

very true, but it does come on, but it seems that it comes on far too late to do much about it. the only time i know it comes on is when i turn the AC on or its neer full hot.

 
Rep Power: 284

This is the major tell tale sign of a blown head gasket.

 
Rep Power: 0

He said it came from the lid of the overflow tank. Also if his fans arent coming on can also be thermostat because thermostat opens up and when that happens fans blow. Fan usually go on also when you are at a stop until you start driving again.

 
Rep Power: 284

But when it comes from the lid of the overflow, SOMETHING has to be pushing it out.

That force is most likely combustion pressure seeping through the head gasket, into the water jacket. That will not happen from a bad thermostat. A bad thermostat will not cause the cooling system to build up enough pressure to blow coolant out of the overflow with enough force to cover other parts of the engine bay.

I have blown the head gasket on my civic before. Ive been there when another 7thgen member blew his. And ive worked on another 7thgen that blew theirs. That was the one thing they all had in common besides overheating problems.

 
Rep Power: 0

temperature alone will cause coolant to expand and thus overflow out of the reservoir, thats why the coolant level in the bottle is higher when the engine is hot.

 
Rep Power: 284

it will not overflow with enough force to spray out. It will leak, but not spray and cover things as far away as the header.

also, air bubbles caused by combustion gasses in the coolant passages would cause the fans to fail to come on. The temp sensor is built to measure water temperature, not the temperature of a gas. So it will not come on unless it is surrounded with a liquid.

That is another sign that it is the head gasket.

 
Rep Power: 0

not sure about that then, but keep in mind, with the needle near the red zone, the coolant is likely going to be boiling and coming out of the overflow pipe rapidly

 
Rep Power: 284

What would have caused it to overheat in the first place? If it were something as simple as the fan relay failing, he would have to sit in one place for an awfully long time for the car to overheat.

I timed in on my car. It took 9 minutes of my car idling after driving at normal operating temperaturein order to overheat without the fans coming on. I was testing if my fans came on when the turbo timer keeps my car running. The answer was no.

 
Rep Power: 0

oh well, all i want to say is that the head gasket is PROBABLY ok, dont quote me on that though. Overheating can still warp them.

 
Rep Power: 0

just throw the carr awayyyyyyyyyyyyyy


today it overheats and tomarrow your tranny will blow

 
Rep Power: 0

yeah my ranger sometimes blows coolant out of the resi when i smash it real hard, and i know its not the head gasket. but all cars are different. its @ honda right now, ill let you all know what they say... wouldnt it run crappy if it was a head gasket?

honda says it doesnt overheat. they say everything works fine.. what are these jokers talking about!!?? the last 2 times its been in for service (steering rack and not starting/immobilizer) they said nothing was wrong aswell. I had to drive the tech around and thats then he heard the rack clunk... and they still cant find out why it doesnt start sometimes.this is getting extremely irritating. i told them im not picking it up until they check the headgasket and get back to me. what do i do!? im about to just start throwing parts at it until it stops overheating (assuming its not the head gasket which they might know tomarrow if they get their game together).. if i choose to do that, im going to go with the thermostat first/check the radiator for flow, then water pump, and lastly the headgasket. any suggestions would be great. it seems to be eating water and the radiator pushes bubbles, it sounds like a gasket, but we will see.

 
Rep Power: 284

dont be scared of doing a head gasket. It only costs about $30 to fix.

If you have an engine hoist, it will take you less than 2 hours to fix it.

The fastest way to do a head gasket it this.....

Drain out the coolant, take the valve cover off, Zip tie (very tightly) the timing belt to the Cam gear in 2 places, un-bolt the cam gear, un-bolt the head bolts, unbolt the alternator and bracket, un-bolt the header, then hook the engine hoist to the head and lift it up enough to swap gaskets. Then put it all back together.

 
Rep Power: 0

well assuming its not still warrantied and honda doesnt want an arm and a leg to do it, ill definitely give it a shot. its not my car, its my girls. im mechanically inclined and have done most of the fabrication and mechanical stuff on my ranger. i even swapped the trans and engine a few times. i just didnt want to void any warranties by fooling with the car before the deal was up ya know? how heavy is the head if i cant get the hoist here? also, should i mark the cam gear and splines or is it machined to where it only goes on one way?? thanks for your help guys, its been a big help.

 
Rep Power: 0

yes indeed, it was the head gasket. honda care is covering it so i dont have to end up doing it myself after all. i called earilier today and the head was in the machine shop. hope to have it by monday. good call on "turboengnr's" part, but what would make the gasket fail? bad waterpump, or maybe even a fan switch or thermostat? i told the advisor to make sure to check the ENTIRE cooling system for faults, because he said it wasnt overheating until i told them to check the headgasket. do some places just not give a rip if its a warranty job or what??? thanks for all the help again guys!

 
Rep Power: 811

it could just be bad radiator cap...

 
Rep Power: 369

lol^^^ Gearbox read the post right above yours.... it was the headgasket.

 
Rep Power: 811

haha oops. well how many miles did you have on that head? i put on a ported head and it only lasted 20k miles before blowing and had to get a stock one swapped in.

and i really hope the mechanic knows how to check for a busted head gasket. your problem could be a faulty radiator cap. Just make sure because it would suck to swap the entire head 6hrs+ job ripping the whole engine bay apart if it was something simple. did you happen to check the oil and notice any coolant mixed giving it a milky appearance? did they do a compression check or coolant pressure check? or are they guessing cause you told em what it is. honda mechanics can be really stupid sometimes.

 
Rep Power: 0

they did the coolant check, said it was positive, thats why it currenty has no head. in the above post i mentioned that i told the advisor to check the entire system, so hopefully he does. car had neer 84,000 when the head gasket went. no milkshake at all, not even a little condensation on the cap. i hope these jokers get it ironed out before this gets out of hand, the warranty isnt up till 89,000 or sept so if it grenades again these genius' have to deal with it.. thanks again guys!

 
Rep Power: 294

I definitely popped mine, where are you getting a HeadGasket that cheap?

 
Rep Power: 811

honda

 
Rep Power: 294

the cheapest i found is $130 at majestichonda's website.

EDIT: Found one, AT majestics website, just not under the correct heading, thanks guys!

 
Rep Power: 254

im having the same problem.. in low gears in traffic my car seems to be over heating.. as soon as i can get back into high gears like 3-4 it cools right back down to middle.. Im i gonna have to change my head to and how much would i be looking at for the total job including labour.. thanks

 
Rep Power: 811

around $500 labor, $1k for everything but you can try and find parts here or cheap elsewhere. you need 3 gaskets head intake exhaust and oil, coolant then new head unless the old one is still good but usually its warped with overheating. oh and new head bolts 10 of em. and if you want new timing belt and water pump, crank pulley etc since its all coming out anyway.

 
Rep Power: 254

i dont think i need all that.. i dont ave anything leaking.. i just need the head gasket.. would anybody happen the part name and number please