2002 civic brown foamy substance
 

i have a 2002 civic theres a brown foamy substance when i open the radiator cap but also no milky oil no milky oil cap theres no white smoke coming from the exhaust and the car doesnt seem to be overheating the guy i bought it from did say it needed a thermostat, my guesses are hes never flushed the cooling system and the car is low on anti freeze..car has 193k miles and it runs strong so im having a hard time maybe it could just need thermostat, flush and new anti freeze or a new head gasket :( also wouldnt there be some type of power loss or noise if head gasket is blown ?

Re: 2002 civic brown foamy substance
 

my guess would be......

the previous owner knew the head gasket was blown, and tried to use one of those "head gasket repair" additives in the cooling system, it didnt work, and thats the reason why they sold the car,

no there would be no power loss with a blown head gasket,

if my guess is correct you have bought yourself a big time money pit




.

Re: 2002 civic brown foamy substance
 

We have a similar problem with our 2003 LX coupe. It was diagnosed with a blown head gasket, but it would run fine for several days, and then it would overheat. We're selling it but of course letting potential buyers know of the problem. I really hope you didn't pay too much for the car.

Re: 2002 civic brown foamy substance
 

And I really hope the seller wasn't a civicforums member!