bamhm182

So back in December I bought a 1993 Honda Del Sol from a guy for $1000. I knew it was going to be a project car, but I really didn't know what I was getting into at the time. Since then I've spent just about $3000 more fixing things. Here's a list of most things that I've done, I'm know I missed a few small things here and there, but it should give you a good idea.

Google Drive

So as you can tell, there was a lot of constantly working on it from January to March, then it finally stayed running, legal, etc. for 2 months. Then just the other day, the radiator had a small crack at the top, no big deal. Swapped in a new radiator, filled her back up, got an oil change the next day and everything ran more or less fine since then. That is, until 01JUL. I went to the gym, which is about 10 - 15 minutes away. Everything was going fine. Was in the gym for a little over an hour. Plenty of time for the car to cool off.

Drove to the shop about 3 minutes away from the the gym, ran inside for a few minutes, then started to head back home. About 5 minutes down the road, the car is at 100% hot. I pull over, rig the radiator fan so it's on in auxiliary, then sit around and wait for the car to cool down with the hood open before refilling the radiator and driving home with the fan rigged and the heater on. I made it back without it getting TOO hot and let it sit for the night.

The next day I check the radiator again and the antifreeze isn't at the top. I decided to fill it back up and burp it again. Did that, no problems. Drove it around for 10 minutes and it's at 100% hot. When I pulled over, I noticed that the fan wasn't coming on, even though it seems like it definitely should have, so I was thinking maybe the temp sensor was shot. I replaced that and boiled the thermostat that I just replaced a few months ago (it opened) and the car still overheated in about 10 minutes with the fan rigged and heater on full blast. I took a look at the oil, and it looked fine, but it was WAY over the full dot, so I drained some and let it sit overnight. The next morning I checked it again and it was back to being WAY over the full dot and there was no more antifreeze in the radiator.

This leads me to believe that the antifreeze is getting into the oil. Now my question to anyone who bothered to read all this is what would you do? I don't really have the resources to swap an engine if it turns out that the block is cracked, so I'm trying to decide if I should just sell the car for whatever I can get for it, or try to do something about this myself.

I've had it suggested to me that I should try and replace the head gasket, but there was no smoke coming from the exhaust, so I don't know if that could still be the problem.

If you do think I should sell it, what do you think I could get for it? Aside from all this, the car doesn't really have many problems. I've got another tab on the google spreadsheet that has a list of issues I can think of, but they're really all pretty minor, aside from this current issue. I've been uploading pictures of my car on photobucket while fixing things, and just added a few more today to give you an idea of what kind of condition the car is in.

1993 Honda Del Sol on Photobucket

tl;dr: I've been fixing problem after problem on this car since December. I've spent about $4000 in total on it. Now antifreeze is getting into the oil, while no smoke is coming from the exhaust. I have access to a car hobby shop on an Air Force base, so I have most the tools I would need to fix most things, but I don't have any way to transport an engine anywhere, nor the funds to buy one ATM, so an engine swap isn't really something I could realistically do at the moment. What would you do? Click the links above for pictures of the car, a list of everything I've fixed, and the problems I can think of that the car still has.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Do a compression test. You can fix a blown headgasket yourself if you can following directions and have the tools. But if the car has been repeatedly overheated, as has been reported by many people lately, then you most likely have warped the head/block and your problems can't be fixed by a mere new headgasket.

Otherwise you've come to the wrong forum to ask what YOU should do with YOUR car.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

How many good replacement, low mileage engines could $4k have bought?

slogfilet

iTrader: (1)

A head gasket is a relatively easy job. Are there any other symptoms that indicate a HG failure (white smoke, etc.)? As it's overheated at least a time or two, it would be critical to check the head and block for flatness (and have the machine work done as needed), and replace with a high-quality head gasket.

You've spent a good chunk of change on other parts of the car... a bit more diagnosing is needed to know if this is a minor issue or a fubar'd engine.

CivicSmith

An engine for the those cars is about $500 to $700 used at a scrap yard.

CivicSmith

Head and block included.

tony_2018

I think, in my opinion, to save time and money, I would've bought another engine and replaced all the seals that you can't get to on a regular basis and call it a day. It would've been at least 700-900 for a motor, maybe another 500 in oem replacement parts, no oe spec parts. Fluids are a given because you're gonna have to replace it anyways.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Not everywhere it's not.

slogfilet

iTrader: (1)

If you look at the list of parts he has replaced, a great deal of it is in suspension and other non-engine areas. An engine swap would be a significant cost increase to the project if it's not actually necessary. It's not like he's dumped $3000 into a crap engine and is just now looking at a head gasket job.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

I've spent more than 3 grand on this car since I've owned it. Always better than a car payment or another used car with unknown issues. This is what happens when you buy someone else's mess.

tony_2018

Can't really say for sure....we're on the web.

edit: wow 3.50 for a wheel bearing replacement. Judging by what was replaced it looks like this car had some suspension issues so previous owner must've hit someting pretty bad to have all that fucked up. Does show that he did timing belt job.

94 accord typeR

the car is nice even with no engine/swap req'd. sell it and buy a new project or keep it and do the swap/HG

bamhm182

Alright, so quite a few responses. Thanks for the input. I was talking to my dad about this earlier, and he come to the idea that because the car isn't smoking, that the oil/antifreeze mixture might not be reaching the combustion chambers. Any thoughts on that?

@grumble, I'll do a compression test ASAP and get back to you on that. The car did get really hot 3 or 4 times, but hopefully not enough to warp anything. I would shut it off immediately and rig the radiator fan with the hood open as soon as I would see it was overheating.

@B serious, it wasn't 4k in engines, aside from all the belts, the water pump, and the timing belt tensioner, I haven't really done much work to the engine itself.

@slog, there is no white smoke from the exhaust, but when I was burping the cooling system, there was some white steam coming off the antifreeze that wasn't there the last time I burped it.

@Civic/Tony. This would be great if I had a truck to move an engine, and a house/garage to work on the engine, but I live in an apartment and this is my only car, so like I said, I don't really have access to all that. There is a hobby shop that is on base and I would be able to work on everything there, but this sounds like a project for a few days. Maybe I could somehow figure out how to get the engine there, then take a week of leave off to work on it.

@grumble, that is a pretty good point. I mean, even if I just spent $2,500 or something and replaced the tranny and engine, it's still cheaper than a new project that I'd have to start over on would be...

@tony, the wheel bearing replacement was a bit of an oddity since I had a spare trailing arm with a good wheel bearing. All I had to do was drive it into the hobby shop, swap the wheel bearings, and drive off. Took maybe 20 minutes. The hobby shop is about $4 an hour. The last owner was an IDIOT. The gas tank is pretty dented, so I want to say he took it off a sweet jump. As far as the suspension goes, he ricer dropped it, so all the suspension work was just returning it to stock. The rear trailing arm on the passenger side was bent so I couldn't get a good alignment on it for a while, so something probably did hit it. The body is straight though.

@94, I'm thinking for now I'm going to continue trying to get this car to cooperate with me. In the meantime though, I might just get a cheap little street-legal moped or something to get me to work, the gym, and the store. Haha

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

I said this earlier in another thread. Absence of smoking from the tailpipe and mixing of fluids doesn't mean there is not a head gasket issue. I know that because I'm dealing with a blown head gasket right now and all it's doing is burning coolant.

bamhm182

The whole absence of evidence is not evidence of absence thing. Haha. I think right now my plan is as follows. I have a few weeks where I'll be out of town. When I'm on leave, I'm going to get everything that I need to do a head gasket replacement sent to my current place. Then once I come back, I have a 4 day weekend lined up that I'm going to use to do a head gasket replacement. Part of that will include taking the head into a shop to have it resurfaced and tested.

What signs do you have that you're burning coolant?

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Um. Having to refill it it often?

bamhm182

Oh, I thought you meant it was literally being combusted.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

That's what I'm saying.

MrMugottu

here.
open up the radiator cap.
turn the car on.
If the fluid inside moves violently than bam. pressure is getting inside the coolant and you have a leak at the head gasket.

Fnix

iTrader: (1)

You havent put much money into the car.

shotoutacc0rd

http://www.nationaltoolwarehouse.com...o0VhoCT9Hw_wcB



OP, if you dont have one of these you should invest in one. You can put an extra 1/2 gallon of coolant mix into it. This makes it way easier to tell if you have pressure leaking from the combustion chamber into the cooling system. Makes filling it up and burping easier.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

d15b7= head gasket eater. ask me how i know. (replaced ~15 of them). sometimes the heads are ok after an overheat, usually not. go on car-part.com and find yourself a good used head, a new gasket and you're in business.

tony_2018

How you know?

tony_2018

Umm....whats wrong with just filling it up to the top of the radiator, leave the cap off and run the car to check for any combustion bubbles? I don't need this to fill up a radiator, just a funnel or a a simple trick of pouring the gallon of honda coolant a different way.

tony_2018

This is true. Had similar issues with a b18b1, kepted topping off with fluid until it got to the point where I was topping off every 15 minutes. 80% possibility that its a head gasket leak.