Mojo20032004

Like title says, over flow tank gets full after driving in heavy traffic(1.5hrs to drive 20miles) and eventually spills coolant out onto the engine. Headgasket? Idk tho. Car does not over heat, all fans come on properly, can sit at idle for 45-1hr never over heats, fan turns on when needed, brand new Honda t stat, Honda rad cap, brand new thermo switch, no loss of heat ever, no smoke on tail pipe, no milky oil,after car cools down, coolant is sucked back into the radiator causing the overflow tank to go from full to slightly above max level, and finally just did a combustion leak test on radiator and liquid never turned yellow after almost 5mins of pumping that stupid ball.

Car is a 05 civic ex special edition with 153k. I'm leaning on either the system wasn't bled properly or radiator is overfilled after t stat was replaced even tho I thought it was bled properly. And when I did do the bleeding, the overflow tank was completely empty...

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ezone

That's a good sign so far....make sure the radiator is staying completely full though

First, you can hope maybe the Reservoir was just overfilled---start about halfway between low and max lines with engine cold


Then see if it continues barfing out the reservoir

Mojo20032004

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Thank you for your reply, I'm assuming you mean by start is when I empty out the reservoir and radiator, to fill the reservoir between low/max then proceed with filling radiator and bleed procedure

ezone

Radiator must be completely full and system burped of trapped air...I assume this was already done?

Radiator is full and stays full?

Just lower the level in the reservoir. (radiator must be full and engine cool first)

There must be room in the reservoir for the liquid level to rise as the engine warms up, and after the engine cools off the level in the reservoir should always return to its starting point
If the reservoir slowly rises again AND the radiator level drops (it may only drop by less than a quart and stop, but it will drop), that's probably a blown head gasket. If the breach is very small, it could take a long time before the leakage displaces enough liquid to make a problem known....some people don't learn there's a problem until they take a very long highway trip

Slumpertcivic

ezone

Oh hell I thought I read the radiator got replaced.
I can't read.

Mojo20032004

Radiator has not been replaced, just the cap was. Alot cheaper to buy that than do the headgasket.any brand specific you guys recommend I'm assuming oem is pricy?

Colin42

buy the oem headgasket or you may regret it

Mojo20032004

Yes time comes to replace it yes, don't want to do this job twice. Car runs so damn smooth its crazy. Sometimes I have to look down at the rpms to make sure it's still idling

Slumpertcivic

Mojo20032004

Yes I have a auto. And finger test? Assuming dip finger into coolant and smell it? If so yes I did, smells like coolant.

Also the oem radiator has 2 bottom nipples that connect to the trans and the denso unit I found has the same nipples as well. If I'm looking at that right those are the transmission cooler lines correct

ezone

No no no. Feel the inner sealing surfaces where the rubber gaskets on the radiator cap must seal pressure.



Factory radiator can be expensive. I usually have no issues with aftermarket other than some use a different cap or the cap doesn't fit all that good.
Many aftermarket radiator suppliers only offer one version of a radiator these days. WITH a trans cooler. If you have a manual trans you just ignore the cooler.

Mojo20032004

Ah I was not aware of that finger test.i will get that checked out shortly. i guess it would be a good time to install a trans cooler to keep the transmission happier as well since knock on wood hasn't started to slip yet.

Mojo20032004

So stuck my finger in the hole (Giggity ) and it felt smooth but my finger turned black. I didn't feel anything other than the longer the turned it the blacker my finger got.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

first post have a video to test the gasket. Also an explanation

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...reference.html

the video:

Mojo20032004

A little update :4-10-18

So ended up replacing the radiator, upper and lower coolant pipes and also added a external transmission cooler, and replaced the hose that goes to the overflow tank. Bled the system per ronj thread. Filled overflow to middle between max and min, filled radiator to full,put cap on lightly and turned car on. Ran a good 45min before fan kicked on (30* in garage) turned car off opened cap and coolant dropped, and over flow tank was under the minimum, filled both up and everything was fine..
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Fast forward to Tuesday morning, heat is delayed now, and overflow tank filling back up again, but as soon as I open the cap slowely the tank empties out and falls back down to normal levels

Looks like that Damn head gasket is a must now at 156k huh. I'm hoping the head is fine as the car never overheated or came anywhere close to the H Mark.

Colin42

get the head checked anyways, but you may get lucky

Mojo20032004

Yea just gotta find some machine shop that isn't to busy. Everyone and there mom is building a car this year lol

Slumpertcivic

Mojo20032004

This is my daily,so would it be necessary to remove the pistons to clean the rings? I don't want to throw to much money into this car if I don't have too. Doing the headgasket and timing belt is fine as those need to be done, but any extra work really would payoff for me
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ezone

This sounds like the cap isn't allowing liquid to pull in from the reservoir when the radiator is cooled and under slight vacuum. Try another radiator cap? It's cheap enough.

Slumpertcivic

In my case, poor quality oil and even worse oil change intervals resulted in excessive oil consumption, clogging up my catalytic converter to the point it grenaded into my muffler.

Pulled apart a much lower mileage and better oil changed replacement motor and found the oil control rings were pretty gummed up in that one already too.

If you not have any oil consumption issues, maybe well enought to leave the pistons alone, but if your already burning more than 1/2 quart per 3000 miles it might be something to consider. Rust free, in my driveway after having the heads off and oil drained it would be less than 30 minutes to take off the oil pan and remove the pistons.
But then I would say might as well replace the oil pump seal...

Mojo20032004

Looks like I will have to make a dealer visit,unless I should try the local parts store

ezone

Parts store.


Still can't rule out worse problems yet though.

Mojo20032004

Well bought a brand new cap, 10 bucks. Seems like it fit little tighter and sits straighter where the other one was slightly off.might be me tho.we shall find out.

Mojo20032004

Mojo20032004

Parts came in. All honda parts. Timing belt, head gasket, vc gasket, water pump, tensioner, exhaust manifold gasket. Intake manifold gasket i forgot to purchase(fd up) so il get one from the local parts store. I have a Honda belt in the trunk. Now just need to find time to get this all replaced.

Slumpertcivic

Mojo20032004

Started the headgasket and timing belt replacement. Have about 4hrs in and it's almost out. One thing I think I messed up but not sure, I spun the crank pulley clockwise to get it to TDC instead of counter clock wise, will that matter? Belt is not off yet and was able to align everything to TDC (all marks aligned)
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ezone

As long as it didn't jump time it's fine. Try to avoid it though.