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Alrighty. Well, I've posted here a few times. Let's get some history with this car.

I bought it for an amazing price back a year ago. It's a 2005 EX Vtec civic, D17A2. It ran GREAT till this summer. I let it idle for about 25 minutes and I noticed that the heat gage was all the way up when I began to drive out of the parking log. I immediately shut it off and pushed it off the road. It was out of coolant.

I discovered later I have a leak in my radiator and it must have slowly been running out over those 6 months. - WELL, after refilling it it ran fine so I figured since I didn't drive on it hot it must not have hurt the head or gasket. - Well a few weeks later, while going 110, I noticed a smell. my coolant resivoir had overflowed (I kinda overfilled it) and sprayed coolant all over the engine.

I took it to a garage mechanic and he took the cap off the radiator and pulled the throttle while running. - It overflowed coolant out of the radiator cap area. He told me that this means it is the head gasket. - After he changed the head gasket though, he said the old one looked fine. He said it could also be a warped head or a cylinder wall problem. - Aside from the reserve overflowing at extreme speeds, I have NO other noticeable issue with the car though... - Could it really be the cylinder walls? or is it something else?

He claimed that it didn't "spit the coolant back out" after the head gasket change, but as soon as a month later when I checked it, it was doing it again.

Any thoughts on that would be greatly appreciated. I've had too many random ideas from mechanics and I need some real advice.
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So ever since the head gasket change, things have been breaking. I've replaced my valve cover gasket, my alternator, and the O rings on one of my fuel injectors. - Last september my engine light came on for "Fuel efficiency below threshold" issue. I realized later that the car is pouring gasoline 3 out of 5 times you turn it on, right over the engine. It's coming from right behind the valve cover to the right if you're standing in front of the car. It appears to be coming from right under one of the fuel injectors. - I had the O rings changed and that worked for a few days but it's leaking horrible again. My mechanic said if it's not the o rings it's that one injector.

Anyone experience anything close to that or have any thoughts on it? should I just change that one fuel injector and hope that fixes it? - Also, that should be the cause of the fuel efficiency threshold thing right?

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Lastly, to the leaking radiator. - Are those hard to change and replace? Also, does anyone know if it's plastic or metal? I can't seem to get at it...

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The car has been parked since late september since a friend of mine promised to get it into his mechanic shop and do the full head check and fix... if that's what it is...... - but he never came through so I'm on my own now... 4 months later. ANY thoughts would be helpful. Thanks

Vince

 
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Nearly 100 views, and Nobody has any thoughts whatsoever? really?

 
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Overflowing out the reservoir is normal for an overfilled cooling system. IMO, if coolant is overflowing, it naturally equalizing itself to the proper level. Otherwise, it’s not a problem but a good indication there isn’t a leak somewhere in the system. In my experience, if there was a leak such as a failed head gasket, the coolant in the reservoir would slowly be circulated into the system, it wouldn’t start overflowing.

Wait, so the mechanic pulls the radiator cap while the engine is hot? Regardless if the throttle is pulled coolant is going to erupt out of there. I don’t understand his logic…

If gas is leaking out, it can only be one of a couple sources, the injectors, the fuel rail, return system… ect. I’m not entirely sure of the layout of these cars, my suggestion to you would to get a mirror or something where you can see the injector in question, and see for yourself if gas is spewing out of it or something else.

I don’t know if the radiator is metal or plastic, ive never heard of a plastic radiator. Typically those things are pretty easy to replace.

Do you have a Haynes manual? The book will outline the procedure.

 
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I actually do have a haynes manual... somewhere. I bought the new fuel injector and I'm going to put it in this week and see what happens.

As far as the radiator. Yes, he took the cap off the radiator and turned the car on. He reached behind the engine and pulled the throttle cable. It started bubbling coolant. He told me that it's supposed to suck the coolant down into the engine when the throttle was pulled, and that if it's bubbling out like that, there's a problem. Several other mechanics have told me that too. Is it different for hondas or something?

 
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Ah, ok. I guess that makes sense.

I’d start looking closely to where the coolant is going, if it is leaking. Make sure it’s not getting into the crankcase. Check the oil, is there a little “milkshake” on the end of the dipstick? Look for coolant drips around the car.

 
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Well... My coolant has been leaking from the cracked radiator. That couldn't be what is causing it to bubble out like that could it??

 
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that is a blown headgasket.. mILKY OIL OR WHITE SWEET SMEELING SMOKE FROM EXHAUSTS most times. You can also have a slightly blow headgasket where half or a .25 cylander bead is gone. Crank case pressue beeing built up and shoot out from RES tank or boiling is def that.. Throw some ARP'S and a cometic Hg and you will be good to go!!!

 
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Unfortunatly this sounds like it goes deeper than a blown head gasket.

Your mechanic is EPIC FAIL. Reasons being:

Valve cover seal should be replaced during a head gasket replacement, fuel injectors have to be removed. It sounds like he was pretty careless when doing the job. The alternator also comes out if he doesn't know what he is doing or is replacing the timing belt at the same time. Most Importantly:The Head Should Be Inspected For Trueness and Condition during a head gasket replacement. The fact that he offered the information that it may not be true tells me that he did not get it checked properly, if he did the head gasket... he should know for sure. Also, a visual inspection of a blown head gasket is useless because most of the time you won't see where it's leaking!!!

This being said, coolant gushing out of the coolant overflow is a clear sign of exhaust gases being displaced from the cylinder into the cooling system. Overheating is the #1 cause for this so it's obviously what's happened here. I'm going to go ahead and offer that you probably overheated the engine bad enough to cause a warped head. Unfortunatly the only way to check this is to remove the head and get it checked out by a professional machine shop.

Best of luck to you and sorry... I'm getting sick of people posting on here how their mechanic is not doing their job.

OH: The radiator leaking is an easy fix and you can do it yourself, just make sure you bleed to coolant system properly after it's done otherwise you will get random overheating due to air pockets in the system.

 
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I agree with the mechanic crap!!! Sounds like a JA. Anyway coolant comming out of the radiator when the gas is pressed is normal. Probably to much coolant put in. The pressure in the system will cause it. Take it to a honda dealer. In my experience they are just as well priced as most mechanics shacks!!

 
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Well there never was any milky oil or any other signs that the head gasket had a problem except for the overflowing overflow when going over 100

As for the head gasket, it did solve the problem at first. Then it started doing it again.. not sure if that means it's the head. The only reason the mechanic didn't check the head was I didn't have time to wait, I was leaving for tennessee and needed to take the car down to school.

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We're getting it into the school shop later this week. I'm replacing the radiator (if it's cracked in a plastic area, if not I'll just weld it) and the fuel injector. We're going to run a block test and a pressure test. the pressure test is to figure out where it's leaking in the radiator, and apparently the block test will tell me the problem with the head? something like that. That's what they tell me anyway

 
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hey, vcantrell
ok, i went through the same problems few weeks ago, if you car is blowing the coolant everywhere under the hood, 2 things... Rad cap could be bad, but most likely its the pressure created by the gasses being mixed in the radiator=bad headgasket. To save yourself time and troubles get a headgasket test. Then come back, i tried literally everything b4 i went got my headgasket test..