Rep Power: 0

I've got a tiny leak somewhere in either my radiator or hoses because after about 2 weeks after I top it off my temp guage will start inching up towards the H. I also see a very small puddle after I leave work everday...

When I top it off I always fill the radiator itself because the reservoir is always full which is weird?

Someone suggested I replace my radiator cap.. couldnt hurt right?

 
Rep Power: 312

Reservoir is full to the top, or full to the "Max" line? You should get down and dirty and find out where that leak is coming from. If the reservoir is full to the top you probably have a blown head gasket. Also, you might not be leaking fluid you might be overflowing the reservoir. What happens is exhaust gases get blown past the head gasket and fill the coolant system with exhaust, displacing the coolant and blowing it out of the reservoir. You should not just add coolant to the radiator, you should bleed it when you add.

Make sure the car is cold, remove the rad cap, jack up the front of the car, start the car, turn the heat up full blast and THEN start adding coolant. Let the car get to optimal temperature and watch the coolant, as your adding it will go down. I forgot to add make sure the heat is coming out the front vents, I'm not sure if it makes a difference but it might.

Get those things checked out, make sure you check the head gasket, I bet you it's blown. After the car is at optimal temperature and the radiator is full and the air is out, watch it, you will still see air bubbles which is actually exhaust.

(sorry for the possible bad news)

 
Rep Power: 0

This is exactly what I've been doing for about a month and a half now. (I've done it 3 times) Heat does not come out of the vents when I first turn it on but after topping the coolant off it does blow warm.

Cars can run normally with a blown head gasket?

 
Rep Power: 312

I just went through this. The car ran like brand new, and did not blow white smoke. My reservoir was full to the top and overflowing while driving, and I had a lot of air pockets in the coolant system. The car overheated and it was the head gasket. When I removed the head #3 cylinder was completely white. Go get it checked, they have a device that checks for exhaust in the coolant system, if it's present it's 100% a head gasket.

Get it checked before you start throwing parts at it. You don't want to change 300 dollars worth of stuff and end up having to do the gasket anyway.

 
Rep Power: 0

I am very curious to know what could cause a blown head gasket.. If you look at my older posts you will see I had my transmission replaced 2/15/10 and crankshaft position sensor and top dead center sensor replaced in march.. Totaling almost 3k.. If I've got a blown head gasket than thats another $1k.. this car is draining me

I'm wondering that when the transmission was replaced they goofed some crap up.. I really wish someone would steal this car/hit me in a wreck.

2001 honda civic ex trash btw

 
Rep Power: 312

It's unfortunate. How many miles on the car? There is usually a reason for a head gasket to blow. They don't often go by themselves. I think mine went because my thermostat was leaking a bit and I overheated the car and did not notice. That's why if it is leaking coolant you have to identify where it's leaking from and fix that too.

Overflowing reservoir is almost a dead giveaway of a head gasket issue. I had my doubts too but it was toast, and i only have 80k miles on my car. I fixed it in my driveway and I changed the timing belt/water pump/tensioner/all the seals and gaskets for 700 dollars canadian. The shop wanted around 1800 just for the head gasket. Oh and a few hundred more to get the head checked/machined.

You can have a bad experience in any car, it all depends on how well maintained it was before you bought it, and it sounds like the person before you did not take very good care of it

 
Rep Power: 0

The car has 135k

Does this look good?

 
Rep Power: 312

You can always try changing it. I don't think it will fix your problem though

 
Rep Power: 252

Blown headgaskets are caused by overheating, your headgasket should not have blown at 135k especially on a stock civic with no boost at all. You might have overheated and not noticed. It has happened to me before. Its roughly $1,000 to fix with parts and labor. Most of it is labor though

 
Rep Power: 0

Now i'm confused.. The tiny puddle I found after my car had been parked for about 1 1/2 hours (after 30 min drive to work) was actually oil instead of coolant..... Looked like oil,(light brown when I wiped it with a finger) smelled and felt like oil...

 
Rep Power: 252

Oil mixed with coolant? You really cant mistake oil for coolant or vice versa

 
Rep Power: 0

the entire 7th gen Honda Civic is trash. i used to work with 2 Honda engineers who worked on the 7th gen Civic and they admitted flat out that Honda did some serious Value Engineering on this vehicle (cost cutting). they cut all sorts of corners and made things cheaply, put parts that wouldn't last, and many parts of the vehicle were designed to fail at one point or another such as the auto-transmission

 
Rep Power: 0

It was just oil for sure.

So I replaced the radiator cap the other day and today I went out and checked it and it did something its never done with the old cap on.. I heard a psssssssst like pressure came out and the reservoir emptied itself.

So I'm pretty sure that problem is solved.. Now i've got 2 more problems haha

A small oil leak and now I noticed my power steering fluid is leaking onto my alternator... Should I use some lucas stop leak?

 
Rep Power: 0

I do have the same problem about radiator leak in my car. At first I didn't bother to change it. But sometimes, the performance of the car is acting up like overheating and sometimes it needed to be jump-started due to some technical difficulties that I didn't know first. Try to research around about your radiator's needs and see if things will work out well. I also learned in forums, that's why I join here.