Jeff-S

I bought a 2005 EX and about a month after I bought it it started to have this problem. It has now been 2 months and I have done everything I can think of and of course the shops say nothing is wrong.

It started off overheating and I noticed a leak, tracked it down and it was in the rad so I changed it. Problem persisted a few days later so I tried a new rad cap. Problem persisted. Burped the system and it still continued. I have now also changed the fan switch and the temp sensor and fans do come on. Still overheat's.

The only thing wrong that I notice is that the coolant bottle is full and does not put coolant back in the system when the car cools so eventually coolant overflows out of the bottle.

I am open to any options because as of now I would like to just get rid of the thing even though I put a ton of money in suspension and other areas as well as cooling system.

I know this has been touched on before but nothing seems to be fixing it and everyone scratches their heads and walks away when I ask them. Thank you for any responses.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

You have a blown head gasket. It's too bad you went and replaced everything around it and now your stuck with that problem too

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Get a new mechanic. More then likely its a bad head gasket like BlueEM2 said.

Get it TOWED to a COMPETENT mechanic. He should be able to tell you its a headgasket in under 5 minutes. Expect an expensive repair bill. Roughly $1,000.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

^ A competent mechanic? I've only seen a couple of those... They are hard to come by. There are a few on this site however.

Jeff-S

I have had the head gasket tested by a mechanic and I have compression tested it myself. There is also no there sign of it being the headgasket. Such as exhaust through the rad, white smoke or moisture out the exhaust, or coolant in the oil. The gague also fluctuates like there is air in the system but it has been burped and does not lose any coolant.

pjb3

Head gaskets can fail in different ways. On the Civic the most common way allows compustion gasses into the cooling system. As the gas displaces the coolant, the coolant is forced into the overflow reservoir. The leak can be small enough that a compression test won't show much of a difference but at the same time will allow gas to build up in the cooling system over time.

I think the first step would be buy one of the kits to test for combustion gas in the cooling system or have a shop do it for you.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

A compression test will not always tell you if the head gasket has failed

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

A combustion test can prove better results.