pui1987

hey guys
my 95 civic started blowing white smoke from the back a few days ago, at least that's when i noticed it.

the smoke wasn't thick at all, almost look like in winter when you start up the car, it blows white smoke/steam. it came out probably about 1 second and then stopped.

I saw it the first time about 3-4 days ago, it happened twice on a 40 minutes back and forth drive.
And then yesterday after I filled it up, I saw it one more time.

I am not a car person at all.... so I have done some research, this seems like blown head gasket...... but i am not sure!

No test was done to diagnose...
Mileage dropped a little bit, and acceleration seems to be slower than ever... just a feeling, if that means anything.

my friend told me to stop driving because it could ruin the engine. so I will stop driving it for now... he also offers me to fix it for me if i pay him $500 just for labor to change the head gasket. But it will take him 2-3 days...

I can't do it myself if it really is blown hg.... I wish I could... but I just want some info, any info would help.

thanks for all the replies!

obuhmyuh

have him do a compression test on it... is your car overheating, or did it overheat?

turboteg90

changin the head is not that hard.i've done headswaps in about 2 hours all you gota do is disconnect stuff and put it back,lol

pui1987

Maybe? it has been mid 80's here this week. How do I know if it is overheated?
If it was overheat, wouldn't the smoke come out from the front instead of the back?

I'll ask my friend to do a compression test. He told me there's probably a small leak, that's why the smoke isn't thick and isn't too much coming out. He's pretty much the only friend I know who does car things and he has been doing some simple work on my car, so I guess I trust him. But he hasn't looked at my car yet.

turboteg90

does your temp gauge work?

pui1987

yeah... but i just got my license last december... i even have trouble keeping myself away from the mailboxes hahaha so you can figure how much I know about cars...

turboteg90

your profile says your 21,,,whatever
but did your gauge ever go all the way to the red zone

pui1987

oh.. i suppose that's how you check it.
but i didn't pay attention to that.
are you saying if it was overheat, the white smoke would be nothing to worry about? should I drive around and look at the temp gauge? but it's raining right now... would that matter?

Because I planned a road trip from MI to WA on this week. But my friend told me not to drive the car, so now I have to cancel my trip...


[oh... just realize there's a 5 posts per day for me...... maybe i will reply them here]


Modified by pui1987 at 4:43 PM 7/7/2008

turboteg90

your about to run out of post,so just go back an edit your old ones,
if it overheated probably your head warped and you will need a new one.you can keep drivin it around but its just gona smoke,just keep your eyes on the temp gauge

pui1987

so if the gauge isn't on red when it blows smoke, it would probably be blown gas gauge?

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[I meant blown head gasket... typo]

[how much am I looking at for a cheap JDM engine? the labor you are looking at is about $600 though, is that enough for another engine? but the labor to put an engine in, you probably didn't count that, did you?? ]

[also, I was thinking just to sell it... and get a new car since I do not know anything about cars and do not have tools or knowledge to fix it.
It is a 1995 4dr civic EX. 151K. 1.5L 4cycl. Just had new brakes, exhaust, tires less than a year. A few rust spot, and a hand full of minor problems. I paid $1800 or 1900 for it last october, would it be reasonable to sell it to someone who knows how to fix it for $1500? ]

thanks for all the repliessss!!
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sorry, what's resurfaced?

Modified by pui1987 at 5:29 PM 7/7/2008


Modified by pui1987 at 5:45 PM 7/7/2008


Modified by pui1987 at 5:46 PM 7/7/2008


Modified by pui1987 at 7:05 PM 7/7/2008

94EG8

keep an eye on your temperature gauge, basically it should come up to just under halfway, to as high as halfway once the car warms up, after that it shouldn't move. if it starts going up higher than that you've got an overheating problem, and if your blowing white smoke then you more than likely looking at a blown headgasket. You can try to put a head gasket in, but if its been overheated you've probably already done some serious damage to that engine, if you got coolant in the block your looking at a whole host of other problems. If it was me i'd check the temp gauge as stated above and check the coolant level in the rad and the resorvoir. If you do find that you have a blown headgasket i would seriously look at buy a replacement low mileage JDM engine rather than putting in a new headgasket. labour should be pretty similar and your getting something thats only got about 50,000 kms on it, plus you usually get a lot of spare parts with it. Sorry for the long post, good luck

turboteg90

the engine will blow smoke no matter what now,but you can keep drivin it as long as the gauge stays in the middle,and the gas gauge has nothing to do with this

92egvx

ima not going to ly..if ur friend charges u 500.00 just for labor ur getting ripped off u should just do it ur self...its pretty easy...just get to know people with civics and they will show u how easy it is...the only reason its problably going to take u like 2-3 days is because u should send it out to be resurfaced it should cost like 50-70 bucks...well good luck

HondaGuy951

iTrader: (2)

white smoke almost always == blown head gasket

EJ1 LS guy

One more way to know if its a blown head gasket is to look at the oil dipstick and once you pull it out look at the oil.....if it drips faster than usual or looks like oil and water mixed.....the head gaskets blown...

D16SiHatch

oil drips faster? what the hell. If coolant is being mixed in the crank case your oil will turn a chocolate milkshake color. Sometimes blown headgaskets blow white smoke and thats it. In some cases your car will over heat and you'll see coolant disappearing. Keep an eye on your coolant levels, and see if there is any kind of nasty residue built up on the underside of the radiator cap. any of these things are strong signs of a blown head gasket

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by D16SiHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">oil drips faster? what the hell. If coolant is being mixed in the crank case your oil will turn a chocolate milkshake color. Sometimes blown headgaskets blow white smoke and thats it. In some cases your car will over heat and you'll see coolant disappearing. Keep an eye on your coolant levels, and see if there is any kind of nasty residue built up on the underside of the radiator cap. any of these things are strong signs of a blown head gasket</TD></TR></TABLE>

This guy knows what he's talking about, all of the above are signs of a blown headgasket. The only other thing i can think off the top of my head is i've seen cases where a blown head gasket will blow coolant out from around the resorvior cap. and/or if you warm up the engine, shut the engine off, remove rad cap, be carefull and use a rag, its under pressure, with the cap off crank the engine, if it has a blown headgasket coolant will sometimes spray out the top of the rad.

slvrcvc93

Listen here an easy way other than just the smoke Antifreeze when being burned has a sweet smell 2 it so not only by seeing the smoke is bad but also smelling it is also a sign.
Now that doesn't mean put your nose to the exhaust but stand back and smell it that is buy far a big indicator its the head gasket.

pui1987

so from what you are saying, I should still drive it? Drive it, check coolant level, radiator cap, and see if I smell anything?

And I just got an oil change a week ago, so I should also look at the oil color?


Modified by pui1987 at 7:45 PM 7/8/2008

16yroldekownr

check your oil after everytime you take a longer drive then normal. see if it gets real low. could be your piston rings, thats whats going on with my boys LS motor

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 16yroldekownr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check your oil after everytime you take a longer drive then normal. see if it gets real low. could be your piston rings, thats whats going on with my boys LS motor</TD></TR></TABLE>

Uhh, I think you might be off the mark on this one. By the sounds of things he's got a blown headgasket, bad rings will cause oil consumption and by extension blue smoke. What this guy has is white smoke, very symptomatic of a blown headgasket. I would check the oil, but more to see if coolant is mixing with it than it being low. It could also be a cracked block or head, but its pretty uncommon on these engines if not downright unheard of.

pui1987

ok so I have taken it for a 4 miles drive. Before that, I opened the hood and checked, and that's what I saw:

(1) Oil was changed last week, and it appears to be greenish/brownish golden (not chocolate milkshake color). My roommate says it is pretty fresh oil.

(2) I opened the radiator cap and check the coolant, they are full to the top. And the bottom of the cap is very clean. *but I do not know how to check the coolant level, if it is full to the top, that means it is full, right?

Taking the drive,

(3) the temp gauge is working just fine, and it is not even close to the red zone.

(4) I didn't see any white smoke coming out from the back. I have only seen it totally 3 times, 1 second each.

Right after the drive,

(5) I checked the oil again, it is still the greenish golden color (not close to chocolate color also). ( But The coolant is green, is what I am seeing the color of coolant mixing the oil??)

(6) The oil level seems to drop a LOT since last week the oil change. It took 4Q to go up to the 2nd dot. And I just checked it, it already dropped to the 1st dot. Now when my friend who changed the oil for me (also is the one who wants to charge me $500 for changing head gasket) told me there might be a small leak, that's why my car burns more oil than usual. But it seems a little bit abnormal that it drops that much in 1 week, isn't it?

(7) I opened the radiator cap again, and when I twisted it, the coolant shoots off everywhere. And it did it again when I picked up the cap. And the green liquid (coolant?) is still filled to the top. Is this normal that it shoots off everywhere right after driving? Or is it what 94EG8 mentioned earlier today?


thanks for all replies





Modified by pui1987 at 8:11 PM 7/8/2008

16yroldekownr

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94EG8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Uhh, I think you might be off the mark on this one. By the sounds of things he's got a blown headgasket, bad rings will cause oil consumption and by extension blue smoke. What this guy has is white smoke, very symptomatic of a blown headgasket. I would check the oil, but more to see if coolant is mixing with it than it being low. It could also be a cracked block or head, but its pretty uncommon on these engines if not downright unheard of.</TD></TR></TABLE>

your right, my bad.

team_exceed

lol. i feel bad for ya man. your friend really is taking advantage of you. this is what i do... go buy some coolant and start pouring it right into the radiator (unscrew the cap first obviously) and when it starts to overflow, see if a bunch of oil starts to come out along with coolant. you cant miss it really.. report back after you do that!

pui1987

what is the purpose of that?