Nacirema

my dad is well above avg car guy and we both are having slighty the same problems with our cars.

i have a 1993 honda civic dx with a 1.5L motor.

my dad has a 1989 acura integra LS 1.5L VTEC rebuilt motor with about 20k miles on it.

we are pretty sure on my dads car its either a blown headgasket or a cracked head.

but we are lost when it comes to my car. my car has 161k miles on it and we bought it with 120k 5 years ago. to our knowledge the water pump hasnt been replaced. but out of nowhere my car jumped from avg temp to the H within in 10 sec. i was getting on the ramp to a high way from town to head home. i was only in my car for about 15 min total. my car has never had overheating problems til that moment.

i set there let the gage get to normal lvl "also i live in ohio it was 15degree's"
start to gain speed and after i passed 40mph my gage jumped again. so i turned my flashers on and stayed at 40pmh and the temp lvl'd out at mid way. it takes me 3 min highway travel to get back on 35mph streets. i get to my house and let my car sit overnight.

the next day we start the car i drive it not overheating. but my dad isnt pleased with the results so we start checking things. we decide to start with the thermostat, we change that bleed the system "my year has bleeder valve right in open " we got the air outta the system to our knowledge. i go for a drive car never got hot ran normal. get it home pop the hood and the overflow tank bubbling. so another friend of ours tells us that we should also change the radiator cap cause without proper pressure the boiling temp lowers. change that go for a drive temp normal and overflow tank bubbling once again.

now i read another thread and the guy had a blown headgasket. but my dad is almost sure his acura has a blown headgasket it shows all signs, his gets center lvl in town and now also having idling problems which causes him to have trouble starting his car. my car shows none of those.

but im praying its not a headgasket. but we think it may be a bad water pump cause the blades wear down on those and if 1 has not been replaced i am well over due for one.

but with the overflow tank filling and bubbling could very well be headgasket.

let me know what you guys think. and if you need anymore info Mantel_177@yahoo.com. id really appreciate your input.

maddog20

Pretty sure its the HG Home-Skillet!

Go get ya an OEM HG gasket a NEW set of OEM head bolts better yet buy some ARP headstuds...why not cheap insurance?

Since you got the timing belt loose replace the water pump.

you can try a compression test..But I have ran across blown headgaskets with even compression results.

Do you have any gunk in the overflow or on the bottom of you oil cap?

saywhat

Wat?

Check your oil and see if there is any coolant in it, major sign of HG failure, also white smoke coming from the exhaust is a telltale sign of HG failure. Usually if your water pump is going bad it will start to leak. If you are loosing coolant in your driveway it is probably your water pump, if it is just disappearing then it is more likely your HG. You might want to double check and make sure you got all the air out of the cooling system, if a bubble gets trapped at the water pump it won't circulate. hope that helps

maddog20

woops double post


you can try having the cap pressure and cooling system pressure tested

krucial7integra

yeh, if your coolant is milky then its a def. blown hg.

But when you said that you only drove the car for 15min and then it went up to hot, its possible that your cooling fan didn't kick on.

Nacirema

my exhaust isnt white smoking the oil isnt milky nor does it have bubbles in it. and my dad said to ask if the water pump blades are worn down "not completly worn off" if it would leave air in the motor and not work it out due to not cycling the coolant properly.

and also no leaking apparent on the water pump seal.

cause after changing the thermostat it no longer pulls the coolant from the overflow tank. and it bubbles inside there.


Modified by Nacirema at 3:58 PM 1/16/2008

maddog20

when you car gets hot does it fill your overflow?

and when it cools off does it draw back into the radiator?

austinkli

yes it could, your dad is right, but i doubt that is the problem. I just had almost the same exact problem. and i'm pretty sure if you got bubbles in the overflow that's most likely a h/g. I just blew a head gasket, and didn't realize it til it got bad. couldn't figure out where my coolant was going. it was so small or in just the right place though that i actually couldn't see milky oil, or bubbles, or any signs. not til it got really bad. Everyone on honda tech will tell you what i did was a bad idea, but i threw in a can of something called alumoseal, my mechanic said it was safe and wouldn't hurt the motor. it worked great, haven't had a problem since. Also bluedevil works. I'm not condoning throwing cans or gunk into your radiator and letting it circulate through your engine. I'm just sayin that it worked really well. But go ahead and replace your water pump anyway. if it has never been changed it's definately time. good luck.

Nacirema

thats the thing it doesnt get hot anymore after that night. just the filling of the overflow. also the coolant isnt really hot at all. when my dad was bleeding the system he couldnt figure out why the coolant hitting hit arm when it would blow out wasnt "hot" cause the car was at normal temp.

austinkli: my dad actually has a can of that stuff and said it wont hurt anything to try it out and we will see if that works. thanks alot for all your input how do i become a member here id like to share my knowledge with honda and acura's so people dont have to pay local dealers top dollar for simple fixes.

also he said that when using that you need to find the cylinder that is leaking and "temp seal it" so that it has a chance to fill in or the leak will not allow it to do so.

austinkli

your dad seems to know his stuff. you will automatically become a member after a short while. If it doesn't get hot anymore the only thing I can think of is maybe you had a hell of an air bubble due to your jacked up water pump. Change the water pump, bleed the system, throw in the can of alumoseal, and call a doctor in the morning. Hopefully that should solve your problem man. As for your dad's ls, if it's a real blon head, not just like the gasket, don't use that alumoseal, actually get the head shaved and replace the gasket.

Nacirema

yeah thats what hes planning on doing. we have a jet heater and 2 car garage. but he doesnt want to lock in on tearing a brandnew motor apart when its really cold out like this weekend 6degrees :/

and he is going to check his block # and stuff cause hes thinking he got screwed by a guy that put in the rebuilt motor he ordered. threw the dealer. cause the water pump has chalk writing on it which means its from a junk yard and it took 3 weeks to put the motor back together which my dad could have done in a week after work.

be sure and check all parts after putting in shop 4 grand on a rebuilt motor and my dad may have a shaved block and used water pump and timing belt from a junk yard

austinkli

that's not good at all. If he already has a shaved head that means he probably won't be able to shave it again. which means buying a whole new head which is never fun. I never trust shops. they are always out to get you because they think nobody knows anything about cars. One guy actually told me my car wasn't running because my cat was broken. I asked him if he was sure it was actually broken, and he said oh yes, absolutely, he looked at it himself. That was when I informed he that he was a dumbass and I wasn't driving with a cat currently. I promptly retrieved my car and did all the work myself. Good luck to you and your dad though man. and as far as something like the head, stay away from junkyards, somethings are worth buying new.

Nacirema

yeah it actually was umm Ohio engine exchange. and my dad requested a certified rebuilt motor if you will a new water pump radiator hoses timingbelt. the car had about 250k miles when it cracked the head and if im not mistaken it also threw a "rod" about 11k miles after getting it back it started overheating on the highway to work, threw town and it should have never had these problems unless used parts were put on the car.

but after that experiance we do all our own work. so when i figure out what it is ill be sure and let you guys know. alot of helpfully people on this forum. by far most active and helpful.

cant make any more post so ill just respond in this post.

no it hasnt over heated since that night. my car that is. my dads overheats alot. reason we cant figureout what it wrong with my car cause its not doing anything like a car we know either has a bad HG or cracked head.


Modified by Nacirema at 6:15 PM 1/16/2008

95dxsir2

so it hasn't overheated since?

Historyg

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by austinkli &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that's not good at all. If he already has a shaved head that means he probably won't be able to shave it again. which means buying a whole new head which is never fun. I never trust shops. they are always out to get you because they think nobody knows anything about cars. One guy actually told me my car wasn't running because my cat was broken. I asked him if he was sure it was actually broken, and he said oh yes, absolutely, he looked at it himself. That was when I informed he that he was a dumbass and I wasn't driving with a cat currently. I promptly retrieved my car and did all the work myself. Good luck to you and your dad though man. and as far as something like the head, stay away from junkyards, somethings are worth buying new.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea man some mechanics will try and f you in the butt, because they think you are stupid, the last time i went to some random mechanics, was with my dad's caddy that i did not want to fix my self, because i had too much work to do, he said that the starter was blown, and it would take three days to fix, meanwhile i have taken the starter out on the car and it takes 2 hours max i took my car and went away,


anyways sorry i off tracked, but you might as well do your waterpump,
because you are well in for it, seems like you will enjoy yourself here at H-t let us know what happens

95dxsir2

hey op where the expletive are you, if you don't respond, whats the use in trying to help?

Nacirema

sorry. been working on it alot lately trying to figure out if its the hg or not. have the water pump and timing belt OEM parts from dealer took forever to get for some reason.

going to put on this weekend and see if that fixes my car. will update shortly. thanks for your post

Nacirema

little update on my progress, we went ahead and started on my dads acura cause we finally accepted his head was screwed and might as well start with his car 1st. well we were wrong, it was the head gasket and not the head thank god, but Ohio engine exchange screwed my dad hardcore, when going to remove the head we found some very hard evidence that these guys are some real con-artist's. not only was it my dads original motor "and shaved Head" they broke a bolt off and stripped another, reason for the car to overheat because when the head would get hot and expand it eventually broke what seal was on the HG and eventually not sealing at all. so atm we are filling law suit with them but the car runs like a champ and will get a good chunk of change out of this ordeal

now for my car replaced the water pump and timing belt, no overheating problems but its not been a week yet so im not saying it fixed my problem, if not im going straight to the HG and replacing it now that we are confident in our ability to do so. also replacing the hoses tomorrow after work "should've done those when we put pump on" but they still look new-ish

cabdoctor

Thanks for all the info on this, my car just started having the same problem. Guess I'll be doing a gasket on friday

musclehead954

did you check the radiator? my 95 dx had the same problem, twice. had to replace headgasket, and the 2nd time get a new radiator.

Nacirema

well i put about $700 in parts on mine all new belts radiator hoses plugs and wires header cold air intake, all that good stuff, btw ive noticed no1 has mentioned the crank pulley bolt lol, that was a bitch to get off a 17 gallon air compressor with a decent gun took it off after i beat the hell out of it

btw the bolt is reverse thread.