walka1234

My girlfriend has a 1995 honda civic EX completely stock with 190,800 miles on it(NOW). Two years ago her check engine light came( car had about 180,000 miles on it at the time) on we took it to honda dealer and they said it was her head gasket. But we met this mechanic who said he would use his code reader and see what he got and see if he could fix anything. He told us his code reader said nothing about a head gasket and told us he thought it was the radiator and told us to drive it, despite it overheating once an a while. It would overheat more on the city streets then on the highway. On the highway the temp gauge would rise and fall alot. He finally fixed the radiator 5 months later. But the temp gauge would still rise but not to the point of having to pull over and let it cool down. After about 5 months the car would have trouble starting. Sometimes it would start right away other times it would take 6 times to start. One day the car took a half an hour to start. We took it back to the same mechanic and he had it for five weeks. To make a long story short, after trying many different things he changed the timing belt because he claimed that it was put in poorly and thought it would solve the problem. Then 2 days later after getting the car back, the car wouldn't start.. We jumped it and it started. Then that night the battery was charged. After charging the battery it still would sometimes take two or three times to start. After dealing with all theses trouble her dad started working on the car him self. During all this(the two years) the check engine light would go on about 99 percent of the time and stay on. He put and new PCV value on and tomorrow we are going to diagnose the check engine light (just brought a code reader). And yes I did see the sticky thread on how to check your check engine light without a code reader thanks. (Oh also the car never had white exhaust symptom)

My question is would a honda dealer would lie about a gasket problem? And is driving two years with a head gasket problem possible? Any other suggestions or thoughts on what could be causing the problem would be helpful! Thanks

civiclx1988

first off all dealers in general do what they can to make money.. you saying the car is overheating and driving it like that blows the head gasket so were they untruthful yes and no probally wasn't blown at the time but im sure you weren't helping the situation any.. and did you fix the problem yet if not check the thermostat, rad cap.. all these plus your head gasket can cause overheating and head warpage.

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

put a block tester on the radiator and test it. if you got exhaust gasses in the coolant you have a blown head gasket or cracked block. (its most likely not the block thats cracked). you could try a compression test as well but this could be a bad valve too. and you can try a coolant pressure test. if all that checks out, replace the radiator cap, thermostat and gasket, fan switch, and coolant. and bleed the coolant system. its possible its something simple like this. but the hard starting is a good sign that you got a blown head gasket.

walka1234

Ok thanks for the input guys. And know we haven't fixed the problem yet Later hopefully i'll get the chance to test the check engine light. I failed to mention in the first post that her dad does add anti freeze once an a while. But I don't remember it they have had any trouble with anti freeze getting into the oil i'll get back to you guys on that.

walka1234

Ok so there never was any anti freeze in the oil. But anti freeze still needs to be added every once an a while.

nothing_shocking

I don't see how a code reader would be able to tell you if the HG is bad or not... That mechanic kind of sounds like the one my friend's mom took her car too. He told her since her car was overheating she needed a new fuel pump.....

96hb

Your mechanic sounds like a freaking dumbass. Changing the timing belt? Did he ever check the thermostat? It could be the headgasket, but I don't see how that would throw a code.

itsnotfast

x2

It very well could be a head gasket. It doesn't have to be blowing a **** ton of white smoke. If all you have is a pin hole crack in the gasket, it would do exactly what your talking about. I changed a head gasket for a friend who had driven his car for a year with a bad head gasket and put almost 30,000 miles on it until the leak god bad enough that the rad hoses were swelling terribly and had trouble starting. Take your rad cap off and look at your coolant do you see air bubbles in it not just bubbles but actual air coming up or does you upper hose swell up real bad after the car gets to normal temperature. If so, then it is a bad head gasket.

I bet your car runs perfect with the exception of the occasional over heat once it runs for a few minutes.

RICKSAUTOMOTIVE

i have a broke *** friend that drives his integra with a blown head gasket this **** looks so funny..when he parks his car he opens the hood and releases the coolant pressure by flipping the little pressure relieve lever on the radiator cap so he can start it again a bit easier. i give him crap all the time LOL oh and i would help him out but i'm not gonna do a **** poor job and use cheap head gaskets....his timing belt probably needs to be changed too with the water pump andi will only use acura dealer parts such as the head gasket and timing belt. but the parts and the valve job with valve guide replacement is like 460 bucks and that would be with free labor. but him releasing the coolant pressure is pretty funny for the time being LOL

walka1234

And yes the mechanic did change the thermostat. Also he changed the fuel pump, fuel filter, spark plugs, distributor, and radiator. Finally when he changed the timing belt it worked better. The car has been running better and starts almost one shot every time. But the check engine light is still on. Which hopefully tonight we will have time to look at that. And I didn't think there was a code for a bad head gasket.