sean2012

Hello. I recently had some heating issues with my 2004 civic lx so I replaced the thermostat which seemed to fix the problem. A couple weeks later my car overheated so I replaced the radiator cap. Didn't fix the problem. So I have flushed the system, replaced the thermostat, and replaced the radiator cap. The next thing I can think of is the water pump. I don't see any leaks from the pump. Is there any specific spots I should check for leaking? Also is there anything else I should check instead of the water pump? I'd rather not have to drop $700 to replace it if its not the problem. Thanks

clinton_hedrick

Sadly enough, most likely a head gasket. Are you losing any coolant?

ezone

This.
Plus possible damage to the head casting from overheating.
And it doesn't really HAVE to lose coolant, it could just push it out to the reservoir.

clinton_hedrick

Right, it doesn't have to lose coolant, that just helps confirm a blown hg

sean2012

Well I didn't see any coolant leaking and yeah I do not know about the casting. I just dropped it off at Honda. Hopefully they can figure something out. Thanks for the responses.

sean2012

Yeah turned out to be a leaky head gasket :/ $2300 bummer.

Matt_75

Wow, that is a bummer. That's seems kind of pricey for just an HG job. Are you having other work done as well?

sean2012

Yeah they are going to basically rebuild the top end. I'm at 150k miles and figured it'd be cheaper to just get it all done now. So they are replacing the water pump, valve adjustments and all that good stuff.

Update: so I have a question. The coolant was leaking into cylinder 2. How much damage to the cylinder or bottom half would that cause? It's been doing it for maybe a month or two I believe. It may have not been doing it every time but its been doing it for a while.

Matt_75

I wouldn't think a whole of damage occurred or any at all unless some got past the rings and into the oil. Coolant in the oil can tear up all kinds of stuff. The coating where's off the HG at the firing ring area and causes the leaks mostly between coolant ports and the cylinder.

I just did my HG a of couple months ago. It was leaking into cylinder #3. I didn't see any evidence of coolant in the oil. So I just took everything apart cleaned everything up, put a new head, intake and exhaust gasket on. I had done the timing belt and water pump a year earlier so I didn't bother replacing them. I adjusted the valves. I changed the oil and filter twice just to be safe. I did a compression test and I had 210 psi across all four cylinders and she's been running like a top ever since.

ezone

Did you ever start the engine and have it misfire for a little while before clearing out and running ok again?
If no, then it probably wasn't putting coolant into a cylinder.
The most common head gasket breach is pushing combustion pressure into the cooling system.
It does not have to leak in both directions.

sean2012

Okay I didn't see any coolant in the oil or it didnt appear to be any coolant in the oil. So hopefully it's okay.
And ezone it did start up with a misfire every once in a while and I could never figure out why but I know now.

ezone

Ok, so it probably was getting the spark plug wet with antifreeze...maybe after it sat overnight?
Probably won't be any big deal, most live just fine after the head gasket job.

The ones that usually have problems are the ones that were guzzling coolant through a cylinder, and the ones that overheated badly.
Billowing clouds of steam from the tailpipe that are visible for a mile, and traffic behind you can't see at all. THAT'S guzzling.
Upon teardown, if the cylinder in question looks like it just got steam cleaned, that might indicate guzzling coolant.

I doubt yours was anywhere near that bad.

sean2012

Awesome well that makes me feel better about the situation! I'll post back here the results. Thanks for all the information.

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Exactly what happened to my car. It would misfire only on overnight cold start, it was coolant in the cylinder.

One head gasket and almost 80k miles later and its still ok.

sean2012

So Honda gave me a call today and said that the exhaust manifold was cracked. I would have never noticed it because it was always covered by the heat shield, but he asked if I ever heard any ticking and I said yes and he said that was probably the reason. Do you think the manifold was really cracked? or is he squeezing some more money out of me and would that be the cause of the ticking? The car has 150k miles.

Matt_75

It's very possible it was cracked. A ticking sound in the exhaust area, AFAIK, can be attributed to a cracked manifold.

If you're that concerned about it, I would have them show you the crack. It's been mentioned about welding cracks here, but IMHO, I'd replace it. Just personal preference.

ezone

They aren't lying.

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Cracked manifold?

I thought the car was overheating, I guess you have two problems?

sean2012

Okay yeah I had them replace it. Thanks

Got the car back today and so fad everything is running smoothly!