Fishon1213

Hello all. My oldest stepson was gifted a Honda today, he will be starting driver's Ed soon. The car was free but definitely gonna need some repairs, tires, struts, engine work, but it was free so there's that.

It's a 2002 Civic ex, 1.7, auto, 251k. Decent body and interior.

I am fairly capable in the garage but have never dealt with a Honda, mostly into Toyota 4x4 stuff. He will be helping me get this thing roadworthy and I suppose we will both learn some things in the process.

Here she is, just hoping to make a safe, reliable driver for him at this point.

Fishon1213

So first thing is determine what all the car needs and make sure it's worth it, I believe it is at this point. It will definitely need front tires, alignment, and probably struts.

The biggest question mark is the engine. I was told it had been overheating and blew the cap off the overflow. I went to pick the car up with a new thermostat/coolant in hand. Changed the thermostat and started filling with coolant with the temp sensor pulled to burp the system. Once coolant started coming out from there it looked like Coca-Cola, no bueno. Also the rad cap had some sticky black gunk around it, however the oil looked fine. What the heck, so I drove it home. Only about a 10 minute drive, not only did it get hot but also had fog coming from the vents like from a bad heater core. I wasn't expecting that, but I made it home.

So I believe a head gasket is in order. Not sure how that would cause fog from the vents though. I'll do a compression/leakdown test and see what that tells me. Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

NDNV

Absolutely check the HG with those symptoms. Unfortunately, this is a common problem with these engines. I have gone through it personally.
Once you determine that it needs a HG job, you should consider the timing belt, water pump, pulleys, tensioner and Acc belts too. Cam seal, crank seal, thermostat, coolant as well.
Then you can assess, if you are going to proceed, what other maintenance items you should tackle...

Fishon1213

Today I did a compression test and got about 160 on each cylinder, I suppose that's good news. I left the tester on each cylinder for a few minutes and didn't get any noticable drop.
I elevated the front a bit and attempted again to fill the cooling system. The fans never kicked on so I pulled the plug from the sensor and jumped it to make them run constant. With the cooling system full I began to get heat from the vents and no fog, good deal. Let her idle for about 20 minutes and temp remained normal. Took it for a 15 minute drive and it never over heated, but I did loose heat a few minutes in, and once home had steam coming from the rad cap.
So is this an exhaust blow? I'm guessing the exhaust displaces the coolant? How would I determine if that's exactly what's happening?

Thank you Honda community.
​​

thisguyaves

Check head gasket compression at operating temps.

sumdewd

Get it checked at the dealer for the airbag recall. It's around the correct model year.

I'm still honestly leaning toward a full-on blown headgasket. It's super common to lose heat after a few minutes of driving because the HG pushes coolant out of the core, which renders it useless. The fog concerns me--- do you smell coolant from the vents? You also need to figure out why the fans aren't coming on. This could be why the HG is likely blown.

X2 on the timing belt stuff, etc. Going through the same HG crap right now with my buddy's 2002 EX. Weigh your options on rebuilding VS swapping. I can get a full engine with accessories down here for around 400-450, and the machine shop wanted just about that to do a full rebuild. They also refused to just plane the block and head.

257k miles? Has the transmission been replaced? There's a reason you got this car for free. The 01-03 Civics were notorious for clogging the internal filters and losing drive after a few minutes. Already replaced the tranny twice in my buddy's car.

Another common thing on the 7th gen that can mess up is the alternator mounting bolts loosening, which can cause erratic grounding and can fry the ECU. Make sure those surfaces are clean and the bolts are torqued to spec.

Edit: You mentioned steam from the radiator cap itself? Is it sealing? This can also contribute to overheating if it's bad.

Fishon1213

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.

I believe the fog from the vents was just a temporary ordeal due to having coolant all over the engine when I first drove it home. Hasn't happened since on two quick test drives.

I'm thinking a failed fan switch was the initial problem with this car, causing it to over heat.

The rad cap does have a bunch of unidentifiable gunk on it and probably isn't sealing. I'll replace that and the fan switch for now just to see what happens.

Thanks for the advice on the alternator and air bag recall, I'll check into that.

The trans fluid looks decent and haven't had any issues, seems to shift fine.

I have thought about getting a complete engine. I'll call some local machine shops to see if machining the head is even an option and also shop around for an engine.