civicrookie

Hello everyone, this is the first time posting here and I'm in need of some tips and advice.
Here is the story: My Civic started bubbling in radiator reservoir but it never over heated. Recently I was driving it and noticed the temperature gauge on the highest point of HOT. I pulled over, let it cool down, added water to radiator and drove it home. It hasn't overheated again but the radiator loses water through the reservoir. After reading through threads, I believe it does need the head gasket. The radiator bubbles while the car is on, if I drive the car for more than 20 mins the reservoir starts bubbling. Plus there is an orange looking gunk in the reservoir, it looks like rust. Anyways, today I did a cylinder compression test. By mistake, I first did the test without warming up the the engine. The results were 120 on 1st, 120 on 2nd, 210 on 3rd. I couldn't test the fourth cylinder because the spark plug is stuck. When I put the socket wrench in to get the spark plug out, the wrench doesn't grip the spark plug at all. It seems like the metal case of the spark plug just vanished or maybe it melted when the car overheated??? Anyhow, I put everything back together, started the car to warm it up. I wanted to do the compression test, even if I could only do it on the three cylinders. I went inside the house while the car was warming up, I go back outside and the car is off. I tried starting it, and it just turns over (I didn't forget to hook up the ignition system from the distributor) but it doesn't start. I still did the compression test and it was more or less 120 on all three of them. Almost forgot, the spark plug wires and spark plugs had motor oil. Would this be a result of a bad head gasket or just a bad valve cover gasket? What do you guys think? Is it worth trying to fix this car? What does it mean to have that spark plug stuck in there? Would I be able to get it out by taking out the head? Why do you guys think all of a sudden the car just turns over but it doesn't start? Thanks is advance for your answers with advice, tips, and opinions.

Wdpfreak145

Sounds like you have a lot of issues. Oil on spark plug boots and plugs themselves is INCREDIBLY bad. Better not hope that 4th cylinder sparkplug isn't cross threaded as well. Check oil level, color, consistency.

delsolintegra

The oil on the spark plug boots is probably just bad valve cover seals around the plugs no big deal. Since you have to pull the head anyway just do it. You can get that spark plug out once the head is removed by working on a bench or have a shop do it. Follow procedure removing the head bolts you don't want to warp the head. One quarter turns breaking the bolts free in the correct pattern. Have the head and block checked for trueness before you reassemble.

judgementday

The oil could mean a few different things, bad seal, bad rings, etc. Ya with that spark plug, if it isn't moving at all or your not getting any grip your more then likely gonna wanna take the head off have the plug removed. The question if it's worth the money, depends on what it's worth to you. Head gasket could cause alot of it.

civicrookie

Thanks everyone. At this point my main worry was knowing if I would be able to access that fourth spark plug once I took off the head. I really don't have much to lose, the car itself is not worth much at this point. I might as well play with it. Can you guys point me in the right the direction in reference to why the car wouldn't start all of a sudden??

frankenghia

Did you do the comp test with the distributor plugged in? If so you may have fried the coil or the ignition module. Its very easy to do when you have your spark plugs disconnected and you crank the motor over. At the very worst you may just need a head if you cant seem to get the last plug out. The oil in the spark plug holes is just a bad gasket. Get the gasket kit for the valve cover and it should contain all of the ones you need.

civicrookie

That's probably what happened. There are two connectors that hook up to the distributor and I only disconnected one. Thanks for the heads up... atleast I know what It might be when I try to start it again. I just took off the head and it looks dirty. I'm not too sure if it's still in good working condition. Here are some pics...
https://picasaweb.google.com/1154808...eat=directlink
Some of the valves are slightly open.. on one of the cylinder 2 valves are open way more than the others.. is this normal? what you guys think?

SlayANT

Something is definitely going on with cylinder #4. Was the head gasket cracked? If it wasn't then you may have a warped/cracked cylinder head. Its normal to have some valves partially open and close since they're in different stages of the engine combustion cycle.

civicrookie

Do you mean the one pictured on photo 1? It doest look different than the other three. I believe that the headgasket was cracked around that cylinder, you can see it on picture #6. There seems to be a crack there at the top. I will double check it tomorrow morning.

civicrookie

Thanks to all of you for your imput... I finished replacing the headgasket, timing belt, seals, adjusted valves.... my car is driving way better and it sounds really good. The car didn't start because I did indeed fried the ingnition coil... I replaced it and it started right way.