grover1978

I have a 1995 Honda Civic LX 1.5L 4cyl 5spd 16valve SOHC with 187K miles. Background, a month and a half ago I personally replaced oil pan gasket b/c I was losing oil, and my water pump, timing belt, and radiator because of coolant leak. Both fluid losses only happened while driving, no evidence in garage. 2000+ miles after my repairs (with no perceived problems before then) I suddenly have oil leaking in garage, coolant overflowing from reservoir, stalling/hesitation/misfiring feeling at low to idol speeds, and running hot, though the temp gauge doesn't show it. Noticed running hot when I pulled a couple spark plug boots and the rubber seemed very soft. There was also some silvery residue on the end of the spark plug boots when I removed them. Also I can smell burning coolant even though overflowing does not seem to be running down onto anything hot. Not sure if this is all from one cause or multiple. Any ideas?

delsolo95

check your radiator cap for play in the spring or if it is even there. the silver residue is anti seize which should be applied every time a spark plug is threaded

cvcrcr99

Head gasket issue? Have you done a compression check?

94EG8

Blown headgasket. Get a block tester and check for the presence of exhaust gasses in the coolant.

24TEN

iTrader: (2)

^x2

Had same experience, quick verification was with cold engine on and without radiator cap on there was a steady stream of bubbles when the coolant expanded to the top. Further verification through compression tests but by then I already knew what was going on.

grover1978

Radiator is brand new (as is the cap) so I didn't think of that being an issue, but will check. I haven't done a compression test, but good idea. I'll have to get a tester and do that. As far as head gasket, how do I know whether the head gasket problem resulted from a warped head and can I be sure the head isn't cracked instead? I'm up for a head gasket change but don't know how to be sure whether or not the head needs replaced too.

24TEN

iTrader: (2)

There is no way to be 100% certain of what NEEDS to be addressed until you remove the head anyway. Doing the tests will lead you in the right direction for sure, but eventually you will need to remove the head (or the entire engine and replace it if you so choose to) to repair anything so you might as well just get to it if you know how.

94EG8

Btw, speaking from expirence headgasket jobs on D15B7/D15B8 engines rarely last more than 6 months to a year once they blow once no matter what you do. It usually makes more sense to replace the engine.

Texas4door

Is that because of the work done/parts used or because the block/head weren't checked for straightness?
Or just because the motors are so old now?

grover1978

Sorry for the stupid question, but what are "D15B7/D15B8" engines?

24TEN

iTrader: (2)

USDM

92-95 CX = D15B8
92-95 DX/LX = D15B7

grover1978

Am I correct in guessing "USDM" stands for United States Domestic Manufactured? Or am I way off? Does it make a difference that mine was made in Japan? Or is it a risky proposition either way?

94EG8

It has to do with a couple of things, sometimes the block is head and or block is warped. But sometimes everything will be perfectly straight and they still don't last, or they'll start burning oil (when they get hot they're never the same again, the rings tend to loose their spring tension and you'll get oil consumption) especially once you've got near 200k on one. I've known at least 2 people personally that put 5 headgaskets each in these things.

IMO it makes a lot more sense to pick up a nice low mileage JDM engine and throw a water pump and timing belt on it rather than trying to save the original engine. I totally understand the idea of being on a budget and/or being broke, but generally speaking a JDM engine replacement is a do it once, and never have deal with it again deal, where replacing a headgasket is a temp fix that can cost you a lot more in the long run. Also trust me when I say I've personally been in this situation before. I blew about $200 buying a new OEM headgasket and the new updated OEM headbolts from the local dealer a few years back. I had immediate oil consumption, extreme oil consumption, like 3 - 4 quarts a day, the car was enveloped in a cloud of a blue smoke at idle. I asked a few other guys about it and they'd had similar issues on those engines. So I bought a used junkard D15B7 for $400 and got about 2 month out of it before I blew the headgasket on it 2 hours from home. Cost me about $100 to tow it home, pulled head and noticed it had a felpro gasket so it had been done before. At that point I decieded enough was enough and bought a nice low mileage JDM D15B Vtec. It's been in there for 4 or 5 years now and over 100,000 kms (60,000 miles) I put a new water pump and timing belt on it when I got it and other than that it's remained untouched and trouble free since day one. Replacement engine cost? $683 with tax and shipping. That's less than I spent on junk trying to save money and what I probably should have done in the first place. The other nice thing is normally when you get a JDM engine they come with all the accessories like distributor, intake, exhaust, alternator, power steering pump and A/C compressor.

My apologies for the novel, just trying to explain why I make the recommendations I do.

United States Domestic Market. IE where the product was to be sold. Some USDM civics were built in Japan and shipped over, but it doesn't make them JDM. Similarly the '93 - '95 coupes sold in Japan were built in Ontario Canada, but they're still JDM.

grover1978

94EG8, no prob with the novel. I appreciate the detail, because if you haven't gathered already, I'm new at this. I know just barely enough to be dangerous, and I'm cheap enough that I don't want to pay someone else to work on my car. So continuing my admition of ignorance, what is a "JDM" engine? I'm sure I can google it, but I'd hate to go down the wrong path.

grover1978

Nevermind on the "JDM" question, I'm an idiot. I hadn't seen that line below in your previous response until now. Either way I should have figured it out. So the better question is, where did you get yours?

94EG8

A JDM engine, in this sense of the term anyway is a used, low mileage engine from Japan, due to various factors, most Japanese cars don't end up accumulating very many miles, so when the cars are scraped the engines are frequently shipped to North America on a container ship where they're sold by an importer. These normally come with cut hoses and a cut wiring harness. They normally come with a startup warranty and of the several I've installed or helped install I really haven't had any issues with them. One point of note, I would not order from tiger japanese in Toronto, other than that I haven't heard any real complaints from any other importers, I have a heard a ton of tiger horror stories though. Just for reference here's a couple of examples, the second one is basically a direct swap for your car, the first one would require the ECU to be changed along with some minor additional wring:

http://www.jdmsource.ca/products.php...kvovl509ui6uu7

http://www.sunrisejdmmotors.com/engi...86&page=4&F=ME

I got mine from a place called Sunrise JDM in Montreal (second link above) Now, the thing I'll warn you about is I'm really the only guy I know that bought anything from them so I don't know if I just got lucky or if they're normally good (I have heard a few other people recommend though) I know several people that bought engines from JDM source (top link) all had great luck with them. Hmotorsonline probably has the best reputation of any importer, but they also have about the highest prices.

strategy400

Mine (D15B7) has lasted about a year and a half, but the engine was completely rebuilt, and that means the block was decked and the head milled. The tech that did the work says the aluminium block shrinks more than the cylinders over time causing the headgasket problems and can really only be correctly fixed by decking the block. It cost me about ~$1500.

I torture my car daily (a slightly heavier del sol), 80-90mph 190 round trip commute up and down a mountain pass daily revving the crap out of it up the hill, with a portion of it in stop and go. I live in the desert so brutal hot in summer bitter cold in winter. So far so good.

HondaPartsHero

For this reason alone it's better to get just a JDM or junkyard engine. That's 3x the price you'll pay for a warrantied engine.

94EG8

Exactly. It's just not cost effective to rebuild a D-series Honda engine. Junkyard engines I've found are a lot more of a gamble than those from an importer though.

strategy400

The point was the reason for the headgasket failures, not to spark a "you could have turbo-ed an H22 for that much bro" debate. I am well aware of the ups and downs of JDM engines.

strategy400

JDM is a hassle where I live. So with the warranty they'll give you another engine with spun bearings to replace the one you just installed with a cracked block?

HondaPartsHero

Thought you weren't debating? Plus not everyone lives in the People's Republic of California.