Ok, here's the sitch,

My Setup: '94 Civic Ex 8-9 psi on stock motor

The Scenario: So I'm taking a road trip to Vegas, and after about 300 miles at a gas station I notice that the coolant temperature rises a little bit while I'm not moving. 50 miles later I notice the same thing at another gas station so I check and find that the coolant level has risen in the overflow. By the time I get to Mesquite I'm having to use the heater to keep the car from overheating, but luckly I'm staying there for the night.
Ok, so the next day I add coolant to the radiator and try to just watch the temp. guage. It stays steady until I decide to give it one hard run with boost. When I stop the car I find that the overflow has shot out coolant. Well after the car cools and I add coolant, I disconnect the charge pipe from the TB and manage to finish my trip by watching the coolant level and taking it easy.
So when I get home, and my car seems like it has been running good at least for the last 300 miles or so I do a leak down test:
CYL #1- 8% leakage
CYL #2- 12%
CYL #3- 15%
CYL #4- 10%
There are absolutely no bubbles coming from the radiator, so I think everything is great and reconnect my charge pipe. I give it one hard run only to find out I'm still pushing coolant into the overflow.
Is this just a minor blown headgasket, or could it be a clogged radiator or broken radiator cap? Sorry to make this so long, but hopefully this is all useful info to help diagnose the problem.
Thanks



Modified by Ibiza at 5:08 PM 1/13/2004

 

Are you mainly overflowing the reservoir while under heavy load? Does it overheat when the car is parked because the fans are not turning on? This could be due to a turbo timer wired incorrectly, but most likely not since you are blowing coolant out of the reservoir.

I had the same problem 2 years ago. When you are blowing coolant out of the overflow reservoir 9 times out of 10 you have a blown headgasket. I highly recommend NOT boosting the car anymore and replacing it ASAP.

Cylinder leakdown tests can sometimes be misleading, and in your case I believe it is. Anyways, replace the headgasket asap. Basically you are getting coolant in your combustion chamber which is NOT good. This will usually cause you to run lean on the intake side of the piston and promote detonation. The last thing you want is a melted piston so like i said before... yank the head, check your pistons/cylinder walls, check the deck of the head/block to make sure no warpage occured by the water jackets, and slap on a new headgasket.

 

do u have any white smoke coming out of ur exhaust?.

 

I had a cheap radiator cap cause that. No bubbles but coolant would overflow then car would overheat. If you replace the cap make sure to use an oem one!!!

 

Ok, so I haven't seen any white smoke as of yet, which at first led me to beleive that it wasn't a blown head gasket, especially after the leak down test (however, this was done while it was 10 degrees outside--I don't know if that makes a difference.) For the last 300 miles I didn't get any overflow into the resevoir until I put my charge pipe back on, so it definately is coming while under a heavy load. This again led me to beleive it was a head gasket, although I thought that maybe if the radiator was clogged, that under a heavy load I could just be forcing a lot of coolant out into the resevoir.

 

What do oem D series head gaskets go for anyways?

 

The oem d16y8 one is only about 30 bucks here.

 

head gasket

 

TTT for some afternoon viewage!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by omahaturbocivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The oem d16y8 one is only about 30 bucks here.</TD></TR></TABLE>

also good idea to get new head bolts. i have reused mine but i would never use it more than twice.

edit: i just noticed your from farmington......i just moved from utah this past july. i was there for about 3 years.

 

if you gonna pull the head, replaced the bolts with some arps and up the boost

 

TTT for a little evening people help

 

Your gasket is done, it has a small leak, and it is elevated by the increased cylinder pressures from the boost causing it to leak excessively.

If you were able to install a boot guage on your coolant system, you'd find that it's probably raising above the cap pressure probably almost all the time, but even more under boost.

I've seen it several times...

Brad

 

Its your headgasket buddy! Well i just had to fix mine too... Good luck fixing your car!!!