Tudm91

So as the title says, I've been having issues with my civic overheating.

When I first had this problem it was a water pump failure, I had taken it to a mechanic and he had replaced the following items: timing belt, water pump, and installed a bigger radiator.

About 3 months later now, it has started overheating again. Every time I drive the coolant keeps pushing its way into the reservoir. Decided to replace the thermostat and that still didn't fix the issue.

To sum it up: Coolant pushes its way into reservoir
Recently had water pump replaced
Radiator fan works properly
Radiator cap recently replace(a week ago)

I know it might be a bad head, but I looked up the symptoms and the only one my car has is the coolant pushing into the reservoir, no milky oil or white smoke coming out of the exhaust on a cold start.

Any ideas on what might it be? Or perhaps confirmation that it is a bad head?
Thanks a lot for the input.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Headgasket. Common problem with these Civics being this old.

redm3turbo

time for a new mechanic....why'd he sell you a "bigger radiator"? lol

$20 for a new headgasket.... and about 4 hours labor, or you do it yourself

Tudm91

yeah, I just need to find a place to do the repair, pretty sure I can do it myself. Just need the tools.
Yeah, he sold me that one because the one that I had was seriously messed up. He was trying to tell me it was a bad head, and to correct myself I meant headgasket lol.
After that he told me a new head because mine was messed up and that's when I started doing my own research again. Very thankful I have a resource like the internet haha.

Alright well appreciate the input, I'll be sure to get the headgasket replaced asap. Thanks again I'll post in here with an update on the situation once i get the work done.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

If your headgasket blew due to overheating then you might have a warped head as well.

Tudm91

I bought the radiator because mine was seriously messed up, it looked like it was used for target practice lol.
I'll be sure to try and find someone willing to lend me the space and tools to do the repairs.
Pretty confident I can do it myself.
Again thanks for the input and I'll update this post with the results after. Hopefully it's good results haha.

EDIT:
Grumblemarc I never let the temperature go over a little above the middle point, what might be the probability that I might actually have a warped head?

redm3turbo

theres no way to tell without checking.....pull the head, and check the head to see if its warped.
Ive seen people redline the temp gauge and be fine, and others never overheat and have a warped head...the more you redline that temp though, the chances go thru the roof

Tudm91

Alright thanks I'll be sure to check it out.

redm3turbo

Tudm-- Id suggest taking the head to a shop and letting them check it out with their straight edge. I took mine in to a machine shop, they took it apart, cleaned her up, checked everything out, and they charged me 60 bucks

Last time I checked a quality straight edge was 90-100 bucks. Dont use a random edge that you believe to be straight. Were talking about small numbers. If I recall correctly, your looking for a difference of 0.0004 inches (0.010 mm) from end to end. Anything out of those parameters is warped.

Those are some small differences.

Tudm91

Okay, I'll be sure to have them check it out. Also, any suggestions on how much I should pay for this kind of repair? A mechanic I know said he would charge me 500 for the job all together, not sure if that's a good price. I'm not ready to do an advanced repair like this to be honest, much rather not ruin the engine myself.

Texas4door

Oh come on, it's not THAT hard of a job, just time-consuming is all
^^;
Hell, I had little experience beyond changing fluids and brakes in cars before I did my first headgasket job
I did it with the help and info from the folks here on this forum

You only need a few specific tools beyond a basic ratchet and socket set:
---Torque Wrench (honestly, if you're not gonna do much work beyond this to warrant investing in a good one, just rent one from an autoparts store and return it for your money back)
...actually I think that's the ONLY really specific tool you'll need beyond ratchets and wrenches, honestly..

The hardest part of pulling the head off is breaking the nearly decades-old head bolts loose, IMO and taking the timing belt off the cam sprocket.

The only new parts you'll need: headgasket, valve cover gasket kit coolant, oil and filter, and new OEM headbolts. DO NOT re-use the factory head bolts because they WILL have stretched over time.
All of that can be had for well under $100

You COULD spend that extra $400 saved on other stuff...but if you're cool with paying your mechanic that much ($500 is up there but I've heard worse) then go for it as long as he'll cover the amount you paid by some sort of warranty (cuz paying twice for something like that sucks!)

And as long as the head is straight, you won't have to pay for it to be milled/rebuilt
(although if you're gonna shell out $500, might as well have the head taken apart and cleaned, have new valve seals put in, have the valves lapped, maybe have a valve grind done while they're at it.)
Keep ya from burning oil in the future for sure ^^;

The choice is yours!
(lol why did that sound like an info-mmercial/cartoon?
XD;

redm3turbo

500 sounds high to me. I dont know where OP lives, but pretty sure headgasket on a civic is right around 3.5 hr book time. I know I did mine in 4 and change and I was in no rush, and I was using hand tools, not air...

anyhow lets just say it takes 5 hours, thats 100/hr. I know the dealers here charge well over that, however the mom and pop joints for me are 75-85...in that area. at 75/hr they are charging you for 7 hours labor.

That or they are raping you on parts, and charging 3 hrs of labor. Dont let them push you since its a HG job. It sounds alot more daunting then it is. Its a gasket....theres tons of them in the engine, changing them isn't rocket science.

NVturbo

I've had that problem before...and in my case, it was the radiator. Upgraded to an aluminum KOYO radiator and all was good.

Tudm91

NVturbo I did upgrade to an aluminum radiator, at the same time I had the water pump and timing belt replaced.
Like they said it's probably a blown head gasket. I'm going to multiple mechanics to see how much this repair would cost. Hopefully nothing absurd. Also going to get it checked for warping.

Tudm91

Alright after a long while of not posting on this, I'm giving an update:
After a diagnosis it was a blown head gasket, had HG replaced, head machined(it was slightly warped), water pump replaced(previous one was already leaking), t-stat replaced, lower and upper radiator hoses changed, cooling system flush was done, and I replaced the radiator cap too!

Now for the best part:
The car is still overheating! Though I have my radiator fan hooked up to a switch, it still does hit the 3/4's temperate range on my temp gauge from time to time. It will sometimes do a drastic(and I mean within half a second) drop down to, or below, the halfway range when up at those temperatures.

Any ideas on what the problem(s) might be? I'm looking to invest the money since I've already put a lot in this car.

94EG8

Was the cooling system bled?

As far as the waterpump goes, I've seen a ton of aftermarket waterpumps leak very early on. I only use OEM honda for that reason.

Tudm91

I was pretty sure when I bled right once I replaced the upper and lower hoses. The Waterpump replacement was not done by me, and I know he didn't use oem so that might also be a problem.

What seems to baffle me though is I let the car idle to let it get to operating temp just now. But it idles right below the middle of the temp gauge and my fan doesn't kick on, and has been like this for some time. Not sure what would cause this besides the t-stat... but the one I got was a 170 temp(oe spec) thermostat. Should I get a higher temp t-stat?(180 possibly?)

94EG8

Park it on a hill with the front end elevated. Remove the rad cap (if the car has been running be aware coolant is under pressure and can scald you), put the climate control on hot, start the car and let it idle until the fan cycles at least once. You shouldn't have any more bubbles in the coolant at this point.

Rad fan thermo switch that screws into the thermostat housing might be bad. Or the new thermostat might be bad, or maybe there's just air in the cooling system. I really, really recommend an OEM Honda thermostat.

Tudm91

Last time I lifted it on jacks and I'm pretty sure this method works the same, but I'll be sure to do it again according to your instructions.


Yeah I replaced both of these items already. I'll be sure to get some oem parts and hopefully that solves my issue.

I'll post an update on my findings after bleeding.

Tudm91

Update: Bled my cooling system as told. Half-way through the day with no overheating, rolled down my windows leaving working and noticed the smell of burning coolant!
Was waiting for my brother to get out of class and my car started rising in temp. Never went past a little over the middle of the temp gauge but once again the problem had re-surfaced.

I'll be getting a new thermostat asap(oem honda as recommended). Once the replacement and bleeding has been completed I'll update with the results. I hope the HG isn't messed up again.

bosnian boii

Its for sure the head gasket. Ill tell you right now, in that motor its honestly no work lol... Take your valve covor off, than the head bolts. Than send the head to get remachined roughly costs 100 bucks. Than remove / install the gasket. Its about 2-3 hours of labor if you know what you're doing but if you dont it takes like 5 with googles help! if you do do it, dont forget your torque specss!!!!!!!!!

Tudm91

Welp, no coolant in the oil, it doesn't bog down on start-up(like when it had actually blown the HG before) I'm seriously hoping that's not the case! But if needed I can do the work myself...
Gah I'm gonna make sure that thermostat was in right before weeping over this pos d16z6(yeah it's an ex not a dx...) and setting it on fire lol.

delsolintegra

The block may have a hairline crack in it. Sometimes it's better to swap a known running engine with new parts. Keep the old engine till you have time to check the block and do a total rebuild. Playing with old hondas it helps to have a spare engine laying around.

Tudm91

I ran the engine with that blown HG for a while(shame on me I know). Heard of that happening sometimes when an HG goes out and you overheat.

Appreciate the advice and I'm getting the money to get a swap going.