johonda

My mechanic knowledge is currently limited to oil and tire changes. I really appreciate any help!


I bought a Honda Civic SE 2000 with a manual transmission and 125,000 Miles for $1500. It came with a valid Emissions Test from November, and it passed the Safety Test with flying colors (Ontario Canada).

The car runs phenomenally. However I popped the hood today and noticed the prestone was at the bottom of the overfill tank, below the low line. (I didn't know to check when buying the car)

I refilled the prestone and so far in the last couple days it appears to have stayed about the same level. Upon Googling I discovered I may have an engine leak (blown head gasket or cracked engine block).

There doesn't appear to be any white smoke coming from the exhaust. However I opened the radiator cap and while the car is running there are some very tiny bubbles. Keeping the car revved to around 2000rpm (no rpm gauge) for about 5 minutes there were some larger bubbles that came out, but not many.

I checked the oil stick to see if it was "chocolate milky" and I guess it is, but it looks really clean to me. And that would make sense since the car had an oil change a month ago and hasn't been driven much.

Should I be worried? What else can I or should I check?

edit: also, the car hasn't overheated at all, max temp is about 1/3 of the gauge.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

prestone? you mean antifreeze? lol make sure you check your valvoline level also. on a serious note, how was the level in the actual radiator? some bubbling is normal, that would be air leaving the system. if you ran it long enough for the thermostat to open, that would explain your larger bubbles. if no power loss, no smoke, no mixing, id say no problem.

Mr. Dabolina

You can have a blown headgasket and not have mixing of oil and coolant especially because of the way the coolant runs through these engines. A lot of the ways to tell a blown HG are rules of thumb. The only way to tell for sure is to have a compression test done. You can either buy a tester for yourself for about $20 from your local auto parts place and do it yourself or have it done at a shop.

Honestly I would just drive the car for awhile and see if it acts up at all. Blown HGs will usually make the car run sheisty because youre not getting good compression and combustion in one or more cylinders.

My Civic blew a HG and it would misfire once it got hot and would smoke like a bug fogger. But I never had oil and coolant mix in the engine. But I was down 40 psi on cylinder 3.

Good luck!

johonda

@eghatch9295: haha, yes I meant antifreeze/coolant. The coolant level in the radiator was and is good. The oil level is good as well.

@Mr. Dabolina: So far the car runs like new, hopefully that means there is no issue. I'll pick up a tester tomorrow so I can have peace of mind.

Thanks to both of you for the information and the advice; I really appreciate it!

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

if the radiator was full i HIGHLY doubt you have any problems.