finster

This morning I went to start up my car and there was a crunching sound on start up. The temperature last night dipped into the teens so I thought that a hose may have gotten some ice in it. It runs fine but as the temp guage raises there is a lack of heat from the blowers. There is also an erratic idle so i pull it closer to my house and start pouring water into the radiator. This is when I notice the first really bad omen. The radiator neer really fills up. I'm not sure why this is but I get it close to full close the hood and start out for work. I thought it might have just been an airpocket before this but now I'm worried it's a much larger problem.

I get about a half mile down the road stuck in traffic when I notice the temp guage rising . I can't do much besides turn off my car on the side of the road every few minutes and let it cool down a bit. I finally get to the first exit and pull off to get some antifreeze. I start filling it up, but as soon as I get a bit in I notice coolant leaking from the firewall drivers side of my engine. It seemed to be coming from right under the alternator or really close to it. I call in to work tell them what happened and curse to myself about how I should have put some antifreeze in before this cold snap came. So my car is a 1995 civic ex. I am guessing it is either a cracked block or a freeze plug but I can't find a listing for a freeze plug for my engine anywhere. I just wanted to know what it would be called by honda and if you hae to buy an engine rebuild kit in order to get it. Also if anyone knows anything about this egnine that could be causing this please let me know. I am guessing that the best case scenario is pulling the engine and replacing a freeze plug with the worst case being a new block.


Modified by finster at 12:16 PM 11/29/2006

Marauder

The water pump is on that side of the block too.....but it would just be best to take a look and find out where its coming from. Could be a water pump, freeze plug, water cross-over tube.....etc

instructor74

It could even be water valve for the heater core.

finster

well it doesnt seem to be coming from the firewall. It is coming out somewhere between the oil filter and the front edge of the timing belt cover. I'm gonna guess by the looks of a replacement water pump that the pump resides under the timing belt cover. Only time I went under the timing belt cover was to change out the motor mount Is the heater core water valve located on the firewall?? or on the engine block somehwere? BTW thanks a ton for the help I know I'm gonna have to pull my engine this weekend which isnt a big deal I just want to get an idea of what I'm looking at before I get into and realize I need a new block. The best place around here to get blocks and engines from isnt open on the weekend so if I need a block I would like to get it prior to this weekend if it is possible to diagnose the leak prior to then.

instructor74

Here is what it looks like it will be in the middle of the fire wall. Remember water can be seen one place but start somewhere on the other side of the car
http://www.hondaautomotivepart...VALVE

hondamark35

yeah, the heater valve is going to be on the passenger side so that's probly not the leak.

it sounds like a water pump to me. there is a weep hole on the back of the water pump that points toward the firewall which may be your leak. you will also want to look at the metal pipe which runs along the back of the block under the intake manifold from the water pump to the thermostat housing (behind the distributor, where the lower rad. hose fits.)

if it was my car and it had more than 150,000 miles on it i would replace all of the coolant hoses along with the water pump. those are the most likely to bust or leak without warning. as for the freeze plugs, i know of them but i've lived in SC all my life and never had experience with them popping.

if nothing else you def. have a leak from the freeze. just a matter of narrowing down exactly where its coming from.

finster

cool ty man I thought the heater valve was on the passenger side. I was tracing hoses there and couldnt see how the heater hoses went to the drivers side. Thanks for the info....the engine and most of the hoses only have 70k miles on them...supposedly lol. I'm thinking its the water pump at this point from what I've seen of the leak. So am I correct that the water pump is inside the timing belt housing? Like I said I only went in there once to change out engine mounts when I first threw this engine in. I was pretty sure I used the "newer" hoses at the time but then again who knows how long those hoses sat in the junkyard. Thanks again for the info. If I don't figure out what it is before this weekend and I have to pull the whole engine I'll let you guys know what it is.

deviant13

Sounds like your water pump to me too. Pumps are made to purposfully spring a substantial leak when they go bad.

EG MikE

You need to dry it best as possible and start car and search for leak and follow it up. I would check all your lines first and also the black metal line from the thermostat to the block! Try to narrow everything down other than water pump.. if it was the water pump it would deff be on driver side since it is located on the side of the motor.

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