Hondaphile13

so i gotta lotta miles and not alot of money and i have this leak from my distributor thats been getting worse and worse and now theres a little bit of water/coolant getting in my oil and im scared!

I replaced the o-ring in the distributor, still leaks, not it. i did a compression test today and its about 150-160 all across so im pretty sure its not the head gasket, plus it runs fine, just idles way too high when its cold; about 1500+ depending on how cold it is and when its really cold (like the chilly spring mornings in socal), it idles high, then when it starts to warm up, fluctuates (like im steadily revving but im not)

also, there doesnt really seem to be much if any oil in the coolant but the reservoir drys up way faster than it should (its probly going into the oil) but the radiator seems to have plenty fluid, in fact yesterday i opened it when it was warm and it overflowed?

I think i know what it is, but i dont know WHAT it is. in otherwards i dont know what its called or where it is exactly or how to get to it, but i think its an internal seal or something between the distributor and the camshaft (SOHC).

can somebody give me some advice on this? anybody know what seal im talking about? how do i get to it? what do i need to know about fixing it? what other cheap easy tests/fixes can i do before taking the head or valvecover off? this is my daily driver so i cant afford for it to have days of downtime while i try to find the problem.

much appreciated

Hondaphile13

oh btw i have some really crappy phone video of the idling problem if that would be of any help to anyone...

jooky5

the dizy has a 5 cent o-ring. It keeps the oil from coming out. Quick 10 minute fix to slap in a new o ring.
If coolant is leaking then you have a blown head gasket.

Deetz

Head gasket for sure!!!

vtecrasr

yep blown head gasket. is what you have.. and just for future reference your car is supposed to idle around 1500 rpm's when its cold. and around 6 or 8 hundred when warmed up.. and the "womp womps" reving up and down at idle is cause by having an air bubble in your coolant system.. either on the front upper radiator housing, or behind the head itself is a bleed valve.. make sure to bleed your coolant system out whenever you mess with hoses, or whatever involves adding more coolant...

B18C5-EH2

A few things to note:

- Your distributor absolutely cannot leak coolant - period

- Your distributor has an internal oil seal built into it that is completely different from the o-ring that's on the shaft

Your best bet is to pull off the distributor cap and check for oil inside the distributor housing itself, and if it's there buy a new Distributor King/Richporter Technologies distributor

- You need to pressure test your cooling system and check for an external leak

If you have any external leaks you need to fix them FIRST before any of this head gasket talk even begins. I'd also take a really good look at the heater hose that runs from the heater control valve on your firewall up to the cylinder head just under your leaking-oil distributor. Chances are the oil has compromised the hose and it might be your "coolant leak from distributor" you are talking about.

- A compression test will not diagnose a blown head gasket

I've seen Hondas with blown head gaskets that the engine still ran fine, had good compression, and did not have the "milkshake" looking oil/coolant mixture.

- After fixing all external leaks you need to check the head gasket condition

This can be done by a combination of tests. One simple check is to buy a Block Tester kit from your local parts store consisting of a turkey-basting-looking cylinder and some blue fluid that you suck up into it.



You must get an air sample from the top tank in the radiator while the engine is running up to temp, and if the fluid in the tester turns green at all you have a blown head gasket. I'm sure step by step and even YouTube video how-tos can be found for this procedure.

Another test requires the use of a coolant funnel that screws onto your radiator where the cap goes (pic isn't of exact Honda specific one)



Put the funnel on, fill radiator with coolant and fill the funnel 1/3 up while it's attached. Crank the car, let it run until the fans cycle (if they don't you've got another issue ) and if you see big bubbles coming up through the funnel even after the fans have cylcled a few times then congrats! You've got a blown head gasket!

B18C5-EH2

BTW:

Idle issue?

First and most obvious thing that can cause an idle fluctuation is low engine coolant. If you take care of that and it still idles funny then the first thing I'd look into is the fast idle valve, or fast idle thermo valve seen here - #13:



The FITV is bolted to the underside of your throttle body. There is a plastic disc inside of the FITV that becomes backed out over time, causing a bad idle fluctuation. You can access this disc by removing the end plate (to the left of #2 in the pic) and then taking a big flat head screw driver and screwing the plastic disc all the way in, then back it off slightly. I dab a touch of Hondabond in the threads so that it doesn't back out again.

Check this and see what you find.

Hondaphile13

thanks, B18C5-EH2, that helps alot. This is what I was looking for; a better way to tell if the head gasket is blown, and a way to get other issues out of the way first, so I dont end up replacing the head gasket in vain.

Ill post the results after each test/fix

Nikki Riggs

So I'm having a similar issue. I'm going through o rings like crazy! Why would it keep blowing out?