NoBottleJustThrottle

Having issues, dont know what the problem is.
Here are the symptoms:

I was driving from Sacramento to Santa Cruz today. Everything was wonderful. Engine, car was just fine. I got to Hwy17 and thats when the stop and go traffic hit. I was just starting to climb "the hill" and I glace down at my temperature gauge that was near the red! I was really shocked.
I noticed that the temp gauge would climb really high (nearly to the red), then drop back down to the normal temperature. It did this a 2-3 times before I got to Old San Jose road. I wanted to get out of the stop and go traffic. While cruising on Old San Jose it was back at the normal temp the whole way.
I eventually get to my dads house in Santa Cruz. I open my hood and start an inspection. I look for leaks. Nothing. Then I spotted a bit of oil right by the head gasket right under the distributer area. This could of just been run off, but kind of interesting that I didnt notice it before. Anyway, I also notice that my overflow resivoir for my radiator was below the minimum line. I go and get some water, and fill that resivoir to between the min and the max line. I see the hose blowing bubbles in the water that I just poured into the resivoir, then before I no it, all the water was gone. I fill it again, and again the hose in the resivoir blows some bubbles and sucks up the water.
At this time I had to drive to my bands practice. I go there with still very very minimal water in the over flow, and the car is just fine. Temp gauge is right where it should be. At the end of practice I put more water in, and get on my way back to my dads side of town. Once I get over to my dads area, I go to the gas station. I check the overflow, and much to my suprise, there is some water in there. Great.
I start to head home, back over Hwy17 to Sacramento. On the downside of the hill, I notice my temp gauge is now going BELOW where it should be. This is only like that for maybe 30-45 seconds, then it goes back up to normal...and is normal all the way home.
Thats my story.

Anyone have any idea what is going on? Its a 1992 Civic Si hatch, with a JDM B16A. I am thinking about dumping my oil to see if there is any water in there, and maybe doing a compression test.
Any help would be fantastic.
Sorry about the long post.
TIA

sohctodohc

usually by pulling the dipstick you can see if there is any antifreeze\water on it should be a milky color

SicilianSpeed42

whens the last time you replaced your thermostat?

99CivicSiBrian

yah, or is there oil when you remove the radiator cap?

And don't forget to get all the air bubbles out of the coolant system when re-filling it. Hopefully you just have a leak somewhere and not a headgasket, but if so may as well upgrade- but don't skip having the head checked by a machine shop.
B

NoBottleJustThrottle

Great info from everyone! Thanks so much guys
I will check for all of those things today. I will keep you all updated as to what I find.

pumpkyn

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 99CivicSiBrian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yah, or is there oil when you remove the radiator cap?

And don't forget to get all the air bubbles out of the coolant system when re-filling it. Hopefully you just have a leak somewhere and not a headgasket, but if so may as well upgrade- but don't skip having the head checked by a machine shop.
B</TD></TR></TABLE>

Great my radiator looks like Valdez crashed in it. And today it was bubbling in my overflow and Ive had teh same probs as you. IT warms up all the way to red then goes back down and runs fine then going downhill it chills down to almost C. And sometimes water is missing in my overflow then other times it is perfect level. Im going to replace my gasket soon. BTW my engine has 198.5k on it, I may try to see if I can hit 200k before putting a gasket on.

99CivicSiBrian

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pumpkyn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Great my radiator looks like Valdez crashed in it. And today it was bubbling in my overflow and Ive had teh same probs as you. IT warms up all the way to red then goes back down and runs fine then going downhill it chills down to almost C. And sometimes water is missing in my overflow then other times it is perfect level. Im going to replace my gasket soon. BTW my engine has 198.5k on it, I may try to see if I can hit 200k before putting a gasket on. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd say head gasket, and hopefully thats it.

Just drive with the heat on. If the heat goes cold, your coolant level is waaay too low to cool the engine at all, and you need to shut down.
B

NesaiTuner

Sounds familiar. Change thermostat. May have gotten stuck. Check to see if fan still kicks on, If not change your thermoswitch( water temp switch ) As for the blown head gasket, Look around where the gasket is, Check if theres any oil leakin out around that area. Also pop off your radiator cap, If there is a foamy brown substance then that's a giveaway, it's your head gasket. If it is...have fun changing that. i Just got done doin that the other day on my gsr....NOT FUN. carefull torqueing the head bolts. anyways, good luck with it.

BoostJockey

Have you added coolant recently? maybe you had to water it down. How are the fans running? If you have oil in your radiatior than call the shop of your choice and ask if they can test for HydroCarbon in your Coolant Vapors. If they know what your talking about than pay them to fix your car.

gSIr

its a pretty common thing for b-series to leak oil by the dizzy. As for the heating, i think ur thermosat might be stuck, thus causing ur coolant to boil and overflow out of ur resivoir. Then when it cools back down, when it unsticks, it sux the remaing out of resivoir, then it gets hot again cuz there is air in the system. A good way to test for a blown head gasket is to look for coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant. Another way is to start the car with the radiator cap off, if the coolant sprays like old faithful, ur head gasket is blown, the compression from starting the car forces it out in a hurry. give that a try and see how it goes.

pumpkyn

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 99CivicSiBrian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I'd say head gasket, and hopefully thats it.

Just drive with the heat on. If the heat goes cold, your coolant level is waaay too low to cool the engine at all, and you need to shut down.
B</TD></TR></TABLE>

My heater is blowing hot air like no tomorrow still. But my coolant looks like I just poured used oil in there. the over flow is completely sludgy. But im not burning anything out my exhaust and heater works great. I may just replace the gasket next week. And rent a compression tester from AutoZone tomorrow

biggnutz123

probly the thermistat. if theres no antifreez in the oil

NoBottleJustThrottle

Stuck the finger in the radiator car area. It was clean.
Still drinking coolant though. I am going to do a compression test soon see if I can find anything there. I can see it might be a thermostat issue.