94Nickk

So, yesterday I was making a trip across town and about 15 miles out on the freeway when my Temperature gauge started rising fairly quickly and after about 2 more miles or so the gauge was all the way to the top. I pulled off the freeway into this gas station and popped the hood and the coolant reservoir was bubbling and a little bit of white smoke was coming from the engine and the middle the second from the left spark plug had popped out and there was what looked like a splat of oil that had popped out with the plugs. I waited till engine cooled down a bit and then started to try and drive it back home but i had to keep stopping because temperature gauge kept going really high and when i would stop and check the spark plugs kept popping out. I noticed though that the car would only overheat when the spark plugs came out. I'm not quite sure whats wrong with it. I was looking around on here and i was thinking that maybe I blew a head gasket but I checked the oil cap like some people said to do and it didn't look milky or anything. I was also thinking maybe the fuel pump maybe? I am not sure.

Sorry for the lengthy post I just wanted to provide as much info as I could. Thank you for the help i'm in need to get this car up and running again being its my daily driver.

Lost Again

Thermostats are cheap and need to be replaced every now and then, worth a try before digging into deeper things (head gasket, ect) - I like the OE ones but that is me.

I'm assuming that the coolant is full (no leaks) and there wasn't any recent work done to the car that might be related to this issue.

94Nickk

Alright ill look into it, but no, when i pulled off to check the engine the radiator cap had melted/ broke off and i had to pull the cap off radiator which looked like coolant was also coming out from somewhere possibly the reservoir. But i had to fill radiator with water in order to make it home and it took the gallon i put in.

tim73

Did you recently have the coolant system worked on? You can feel both coolant hoses, when engine is running they should both be hot. If one is cool...then Id say your tstat is sticking. If both hot, then i would do a compression test..see what you come up with. Also, another quick test, whent he engine is cold, take off radiator car, start car..if coolant shoots out, will tell you that you have exhaust leaking into your coolant.

seawie

I am concerned as to why the spark plug would keep coming out. If they are snugged down they shouldn't come out. Most likely damaged threads that will need to be checked with a flash light. This could be an associated problem or a complication of the overheat issue.

If my Honda's are running low on fluid, the temp will climb but not shoot up rapidly. Since the spark plugs are coming out, check to see if they look cleaned off. The steam from a blown head gasket will clean the soot off.

Pull the engine oil dip stick and check for an increase oil level or milky color. this would indicate water in the oil. However this doesn't really show up because the engine burns off the coolant long before the coolant seeps down into the pan. You can get water in the oil faster if the water jacket has access to the internal parts of the engine.

If you are concerned that the thermostat is not opening, turn the heater temp to high and turn the fan. This will help dissipate heat from the engine (and make it really warm in the car) and keep the temp at a run-able temp.

Based on the age of the car and symptoms i would assume that you have a blown head gasket. They deteriorate over time and engine usage. This can be checked with a block tester which checks for combustion gasses in the coolant system.

holmesnmanny

OP, do you mean the spark plug wires kept popping out or do you really mean the spark plugs ?

I would compression test it now. Sounds like your head gasket went bad when it overheat and the head/block warped.