acivicneedshelp

Hello men and women of Honda-Tech.com,

My car has been overheating for the past 1,400 miles from the Denver area all the way to the East Coast. Since beginning this drive, it was diagnosed with having a blown head gasket by Honda Fisher. I am not 100% certain if this is the issue because the woman on the phone claimed they knew because "there was a smell of engine combustion in your coolant, and the mechanics just know that smell." Due to some of the clearly incorrect information given by this woman over the phone such as the claim that coolant was leaking into my cylinders (which their own mechanic refuted in front of her, saying that's not what happens, the opposite occurs due to the combustion pressure coming out of the cylinders into the coolant bay), etc, I would like a second opinion

I drove the car all the way across the mid-west by letting it cool when it went to 80% or so, and it had a lot of difficulty in the mountains of West Virginia. Since then my father took a look at the oil level and it seems it was all the way empty (something that Honda Fisher mechanics did not notice). A friend of a friend also looked at the oil level right after stopping the car at his house, but according to my father he did not look at it correctly because you're supposed to let the engine cool, wipe off the stick, and then dip it to get an accurate reading.

After filling up the oil and testing the car, running about 40 minutes one way with the AC blasting and 40 minutes back with the AC blasting as well, I have not had overheating issues again. The overheating across the country was so bad that we had to keep the windows open and run the heat to keep the engine at a consistent temperature.

Not sure how I should proceed?

The oil is not a creamy color on the dip stick. I also opened the radiator cap and ran the car to 3,000 RPM and the coolant did not splash out. I want to know if there is something I can test on my own, if I should replace the temperature sensor, etc. I am a n00b when it comes to cars and would greatly benefit from your opinion of what you would do if you were in my shoes and/or car :D

Overview of my engine.
Due to my images being very high resolution, the forums doesn't want me uploading them. Please refer to Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet for additional images.

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I'd first start by making sure the coolant system is free of all air and is up to correct fluid levels. Then check again for coolant contamination in the oil, bubbles in the radiator/overflowing radiator, a water gurgling sound behind the dashboard, the heater not working when the car is warm, or coolant leaking into the cylinders.
If the coolant is at its top level and the car can be started when cold with the radiator cap off, and no bubbles appear and cause the fluid to overflow, then the head gasket is probably not leaking into the coolant passages. But I would double check that it's filled to capacity.

Head gasket failure is common on this generation of Civics. A head gasket failure can cause them to overheat on long trips, but not overheat for short trips or city driving. I'm not sure if 40 minutes counts as long enough - but some other people may have an opinion on that.
You say there is no sign of coolant on the oil dipstick. That's good. But I would double check that there is no coolant on the inside of the oil filler cap either, and that it has been a reasonable amount of time - couple hundred miles at least - since the last oil change or oil top-off to check it for contamination. Sometimes it's hard to see on the dipstick and easier to see on the black plastic on the inside of the filler cap if the leak isn't too bad yet.

A problem with low oil - low enough that it does not show on the dipstick is unlikely to be head gasket related in my opinion. You could have an external leak onto the ground, or the engine may be burning oil because of an internal problem like a bad valve stem seal(s) or piston ring(s) etc. Or maybe the oil level reading was not read properly for some reason.
It's perfectly okay to check the oil level when the engine is at operating temperature. The reading will be close to the same as if the engine had been sitting and was cold. You will have to remove the dipstick, clean it, then insert and check again as oil splashes all over it while the car is running.
I would be more diligent in monitoring the oil level to see how quickly it is being lost. Check it every time you refuel the car and see how many miles it takes to lose a quart. Which is usually the top dot, to the bottom dot, on the stick. On a healthy engine you should not lose a quart between oil changes, but some is okay.

If you want to check for presence of coolant in the cylinders you can do this easily when the engine is cold.
You need to remove the plastic Honda VTEC cover on the engine, the 4 black ignition coils that each have a single 10mm acorn nut holding them in, unplug them from the harness, remove the spark plugs, then shine a flash light down into the cylinders where the spark plugs were. You should be able to see the tops of the pistons when the engine is turned to the correct orientation. The pistons should look black and non reflective and not wet looking. If it's very clean and shiny on the top of the piston, then that is a sign water/coolant is getting into the cylinder and is actually cleaning out the carbon in that cylinder. Which means the head gasket is leaking. If they are wet looking that is probably a sign of oil leaking into the cylinder. You will have to rotate the crankshaft by hand to see the top of the pistons, you would need to put the car into neutral, and rotate the crankshaft pulley with a 19mm socket in a counter clockwise rotation. That pulley is accessible from the driver side behind the front wheel, through the plastic splash shield (if that is still on the car).

Hope this helps.