Mohallway

I have a 1994 Civic Hatchback Cx as far as I know it's mostly stock, original engine, etc. Recently my car started to burn coolant (The exhaust had a sweet smell and the coolant constantly needed replacing) I'm assuming it is a head gasket problem. It still starts but it idles rough and does not sound the best. Also if I drive it at all no matter the distance and I turn it off and try to start it back up, it won't start unless I let it sit for a couple of hours. I need to get this problem fixed asap as I use it as a commuter car mostly. I was hoping someone would know what was specifically wrong with it. I know very little about cars and when I take it in I don't want to be lied to or tricked into paying more than is necessary. Thank you so much for any help you can give me!

TomCat39

Well first thing is first.... Because you said you know little about vehicles, some basic questions need to be answered before a direction of advise can be chosen and presented.

Mainly, do you have some basic tools such as a socket set that has spark plug sockets and a 6" extension?

If you don't even have a basic tool set, there really is no point in continuing here because there will be tests that require some mild dis-assembly of the engine. Without these basic preliminary tests, there is not really a viable way to confirm anything with your car and it's all the blind leading the blind over the internet.

Simply, you are better off going to the mechanic and let them decipher it for you. As they will do these same basic tests (diagnostics) to confirm before recommending a fix.

So, I will close with asking again, do you have some basic tools like a socket set? If you do, please list off what you have in the way of tools (carpenter tools don't help much for mechanicals).

Are you willing to go get a couple of tools to aid in your diagnostics?

And lastly, have you ever used a recipe to make a dish or bake something? If yes, did you find following the recipe easy or was it challenging? (Believe it or not, this question is pertinent.)

Mohallway

I have all the necessary tools at my disposal and yes, I can follow a recipe easily.

TomCat39

Wonderful.

Since you suspect the head gasket, I would first check the oil. Does it look like coffee with cream in it? Or is it black or see through brown like new oil?

Now with the engine cold (let it sit at least 3 hours but best overnight and then in the morning) pop the spark plugs out, put some grey anti-seize on them and put them back in. Torque them down to 13 ft-lbs.

Now you can warm up the car to operating temperature. Shut the car off once up to temp and let it sit for about 10 minutes if outside and fairly cold out, 15 minutes if in an unheated garage and it's relatively cold out. Pop the spark plugs out, take a peek down into the cylinders with a flashlight and see the condition of the piston tops. If any one or two of them are nice and shiny looking while the other two or three are black or brown looking, then you have a winner.

If not, then you can continue with the compression test. This assumes you have a compression tester, if not you should get one, it's like 30 bucks for a cheap one. Pull fuse 24 from the under the dash fuse panel, this is supposed to keep your fuel and spark from happening. I usually unplug all four fuel injectors and unplug both plugs on the distributor but that's more complicated so I believe fuse 24 should work for you.

With all four spark plugs out, and fuse 24 removed from the fuse panel, you hand tighten the compression tester into cylinder one (the one farthest to the right when looking at the engine from the front of the car). You open the throttle plate to maximum open (Wide Open Throttle [WOT]) and have someone crank the car over about 5 or 6 times. The needle on the gauge will stop rising somewhere around that point. Record the Number on the gauge, that is your PSI rating. Now hand tighten the tester into cylinder two. Once again open the throttle to wide open again, and once again with WOT have someone crank the engine for 5 or 6 revolutions until the needle stops and record the number.

Do this two more times once for cylinder 3 and once more for cylinder 4.

Report back the numbers you get with the warm engine, WOT and all four plugs pulled.

There is a strong chance one or two of the cylinders will have low compression.

There is also a good chance that one or two of the pistons will be pretty free of black/brown carbon deposits while the remaining ones are dark with deposits.

Please report back any and all your findings.

Also if you could take pictures of all four spark plugs, the part that goes into the engine, and post them here that can be helpful too.

After your compression testing, you can put anti-seize on the spark plug threads again and put them back in hand tight. Then torque them down to 13 ft-lbs again. Put the plug wires back on and re-insert fuse 24 into it's slot in the under the dash fuse panel.

So the tools required are the 3/8" ratchet, 6 " extension and the proper size spark plug socket, a compression tester and a good light weight torque wrench. I use an inch pound 3/8" torque wrench when it calls for light torque values. And some grey (aluminum based) Permatex anti-seize. And a camera will be quite helpful too.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I am here to assist as best as I know how.

Good luck.

Former User

Does the engine overheat?

Any CEL codes?

Last ignition system tune up?