Tysnet

Ok so I had oil leaking into my spark plugs last week and figured it must be the lower tube seals since I've replaced the rest of the upper seals a year or so ago. I replaced them this week and put everything back together. Go to start the car and it has a hard time going. Takes me numerous tries to get it started as it inches closer and closer with every try. Finally it starts like normal and I let it idle thinking it was just because it's kinda low on fuel. Everything seems fine until I try to drive it. In gear it'll move maybe 5 miles per hour, reverse it'll just stall out and this is with the gas all the way. After I noticed a puddle of water or radiator fluid under the driver side of the engine. I tested it again. It leaks from the driver side of the engine and overheats only while accelerating. I can't imagine why this would happen right after taking the head cover and rocker arm assembley off. Anything would be helpful.

CRX Toad

You took the valve cover off? It sounds to me like your water pump just went out. It is on the drivers side. It has nothing to do with your valve cover being removed. However if you drive it that way it will be trash and you'll need a new motor.

jasonrd74

As for the leaking water; did you look where it was coming from? When I took off my valve cover I discovered there is a hose that runs across the cover and goes in the driver side base of the carburator. It had sprung a leak from me moving everything around. Honda charged me under 5 for the actual piece that broke for me. As for the over heating there is a sensor near where the tranny fill is that goes out and will cause the fans not to work(less than 20 at auto parts store). Also a note. With this car turning the A/C on is an override for the fans. I know I thought this was backwards. Loss of engine power I would check for vacuum leaks since you took all those hoses off to get to the cover. Beware not to run the car while its overheated since it can cause more damage. If you dont think the worst there is a chance they are easy fixes. When I had similiar issues a mechanic tried telling me the worst had happened. I took my time, researched the issues and found the answers here. Good luck with it.

singlecamsaint

are you smoking white if so blown head gasket or it may have jumped time on you if your smoking white thats where you coolants going also check to see if the oil is milky..and to the post above i dont believe there were usdm 88-91 carburated civic's and crx's at least i havent seen any i think your refering to the dpfi system, its throttle body fuel injection

Tysnet

Ya it's fuel injected so I didn't need to take any hoses off to take the cover off. I checked to see if the fan is coming on and it is. I also don't have a/c so that doesn't apply. I checked the oil and it's not milky nor is there any white smoke coming out of the tail pipe. I tried to drive it in my drive way again today and it actually seems to be driving normal except for the leaking water and overheating. It looks like it's coming from the right end of a hose that goes directly across the back of the engine from the left back side to the right back side. So maybe there's a hair line crack where it's connecting to the engine. It's a really hard hose so I can tell it's probably never been replaced. It doesn't even flex like a normal hose would. I'll replace that tomorrow hopefully and test drive it to see if the engine has it's power again.

Tysnet

Ok. So I figured out that the water tube running along the back of the engine was rusted out and must have come loose while I was working on the engine last time. Replaced it, filled and bleed the radiator system. Now it's not overheating and drive's, but it stumbles when under 2000rpm and has to be over 2500rpm, or sometimes even 3000rpm, in order to go up hills. So I'm thinking it's probably a compression problem but could it be a timing problem instead?