popejooie

the thermostat for my 97 ex coupe periodically goes up to the redline and staying there. most of the time it does this when i drive around in parking lots during the day (slow speeds, stop-and-go type stuff) but it will occasionally do it while cruising on the interstate at 75 at night and other strange places that makes me feel like its not from overheating. the rad fan comes on pretty normally and if there's any other info i can provide please ask because id like to fix this, it scares the crap out of me and makes me feel like my car is going to die for the 4th time in the past 6 months

Hanmin

Does your car smoke? Try changing your thermostat.

EG6KILIN

x2

popejooie

i forgot to add, i have a cracked stock header and sometimes when i crank it up a **** ton of white smoke will come out of the exhaust right before the catalytic converter (i think thats what it is anyways)

EG6KILIN

popejooie

Omgz thnaks mahn so much help!!!!

Utzz

What do you mean by 'die for the 4th time..."? What has been happening to the car up to this point? What have you tried to fix/replace?

It sounds like you've over-heated it once too many times, head might be warped, head gasket might be blown (allowing coolant in the cylinders...that produce white smoke).

P.S. Your thermostat doesn't go up to the redline...that's your temp gauge. If you've replaced your thermostat, hopefully you used an OEM one (not one from PepBoys or the like) and re-bled the system properly.

popejooie

okay then let me re explain because i am retarded. i bought this civic w/ 125K engine blew a month later, pulled a motor w/ only 55k and had a friend install it, the car stopped turning on a month later, so i replaced distributor and then took it to a shop and my "friend" never changed the spark plugs so they changed them and it ran decent. i think the person i bought it from ****ed with the ecu because the car smells like its running really rich. and i didnt mean thermostat i meant temp gauge i just figured the temp gauge was a thermostat :/

popejooie

okay i dont think its running rich i think its burning oil. there was no white substance on my dip stick but it doesnt have any oil i think.

Utzz

You have quite the mess over there, my friend. First off, what white substance would you even be looking for on your dipstick? There should only be oil on it...and now you're saying that the motor doesn't have any oil in it?? Yikes...

So at this point, you have a D16Y8 with 55k miles (that you swapped out with one that had 125k), put fresh spark plugs in, put a fresh Y8 distributor on it and while it has a cracked exhaust manifold, the only things wrong with it are a) it might be burning oil and b) it's running hot?

As for "b" - have you put in a fresh OEM thermostat and re-bled the system correctly?

popejooie

no, im currently stuck at work worrying my *** off about a blown head gasket. but yea by white substance i mean i read somewhere (on here i believe) that white gunk can be in the oil when you have a blown head gasket.

popejooie

the crack on the header is only on the far left pipe (closest to distrib). it does have oil, i checked it first without turning it on and letting it run for a sec and thats why i said it didnt at first. when i start it though theres not like white smoke but opaque grey smoke coming out of the crack in the header along with a small amount of liquid and after about 30 seconds smoke stopped coming out from there and it dried up and the opaque grey smoke came out from underneath the car about where the catalytic converter is it. i think there might be a hole/ crack right about there too.

popejooie

buuummmmmp. if anyone has any more suggestions?

HiProfile

White smoke from the exhaust is almost always coolant. A warped head/block or blown headgasket will allow coolant into the cylinders, and also 1800F gasses into the coolant system. You need a REALY bad headgasket on a D16 to get coolant into the oil, which is what that white gunk they're talking about is.

BTW there is no "I think" in diagnosing stuff such as burning oil or running rich. Only a wideband (or experienced spark plug-reading guru) can diagnose it running rich, and watching the oil level AND leaks over a week to see if it burns or just leaks oil.

popejooie

so bubbling in the radiator resovoir would be another sign yes? and when you say white smoke, could you be a little more detailed? because i wouldnt consider the smoke ive seen to be white. and i apologize for trying to be as helpful as possible to the more knowledgeable of you ive already got the little tag to let everyone know im a moron
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