i have a 95 civic ex and for some weird reason i heard a noise from when i got out of my car. i popped the hood and water was boiling in the overflow bottle, why the heck is it doing that.

my temps are normal and when i say water i meant coolant.

 

hmm are you sure its boiling or the pressure relieving itself? cuz both would sound the same.

run the car for a bit, turn it off, go to the rad cap, loosen it slowly, and see if the pressure comes out in the overflow

 

hah...hmm.
well maybe it wasn't boiling...but the coolant in the overflow was freaking hot. it was steaming out for sure though.

 

yea that would be normal if the pressure is relieving itself, id say bad rad cap

 

deff a bad cap or maybe even worse blown head gasket.....id just buy a cap first there only like 10 bucks at autozone or places like that

 

blown head gasket

 

hmm, now i think about it. when i took the cap off the other day a peice of the cap came off and i just stuck it back in on...it was rubber and the size of a dime with a hole in it.

aww dont tell me its a head gasket!! there would be some kinda power loss and coolant in my oil or something right?

 

its prolly not the headgasket, if it was, youd most likely be burning coolant. im burning coolant at the moment and i know its the H.Gasket

 

Get a radiator cap first. You guys can't say it's a headgasket off the bat. If you haven't noticed overheating, white smoke, or power/driveability issues then i wouldn't be concerned about a headgasket at this point. If you know someone with a compression tester (or you have one) doing a compression test is always a good idea.

 

i sure do got a compression tester. what numbers do i need to look for?

 

i may be wrong but i think its 150 or 180 psi

all of the cylinder should be similar compression, if one radically off, then theres your leak

but IMO its the rad cap.

 

be back in a bit. testing it.

...ok well its lil chilly outside ill mess with that later. i think im just gonna go buy a cap tomorrow see if that helps then test my compression. thanks mistermark.


Modified by stitruk at 7:06 PM 1/30/2007

 

i hope it's the radiator cap.

 

just make sure when you do a compression test that you take all your plugs out, disable your fuel and igntion, and block the throttle wide open. Most honda motors should be around 180-220 depending on the model. If you're in the 160-170 range, that's not bad as long as there isn't more than a 5% difference between cylinders.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stitruk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hmm, now i think about it. when i took the cap off the other day a peice of the cap came off and i just stuck it back in on...it was rubber and the size of a dime with a hole in it.</TD></TR></TABLE> thats maybe a problem. it would be worth buying a cap first.


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stitruk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">aww dont tell me its a head gasket!! there would be some kinda power loss and coolant in my oil or something right?</TD></TR></TABLE>
not necesarrily (spelling?), a headgasket can blow in three places for the most part.
1) between combustion chamber and coolant. that would cause excessive pressure pushing coolant into overflow tank. A good way to see is by seeing if there bubbles in there while car is running. Not sure? look in there while bringing up the throttle.

2)between coolant and exhaust. That would cause white smoke in exhaust when hitting gas, so check that. also after driving le car sit at idle for 10 minutes then hit gas and see if water/cooolant comes out the tail.

3)between coolant and oil. check radiator if its looks like it has "oily" antifree. Also check oil to see if looks "milky".

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mistermark &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its prolly not the headgasket, if it was, youd most likely be burning coolant. im burning coolant at the moment and i know its the H.Gasket</TD></TR></TABLE>
first statement is partly incorrect. And yes you are.

Its better to fix a headgasket fast if not you are gonna have a worse problem if it hasnt happened yet like a warped head.

 

well guys i replaced the radiator cap...$9.46. fixed my problem. i drove around driving sorta hard for about 10-15 min around some back roads and no bubbling...no boiling...thank god!
appreciate all your help.

ill still test the compression later on. as for now everything seems good to go...besides the clutch and ill tackle that another day.

 

 

hmm.
WELL after all that i got to school the other day and i hear PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS....i see steam coming from my hood and i pull a lil bit forward and there is a puddle of coolant on the road. i then pull in a parking pop the hood and coolant is spraying out where it looks around the headgasket!! i said...frrrruck it and went into class anyway.

i come back out after 2.5 hours, enough time for it to cool down in 30degree temp. and pop the hood to find my heater hose was leaking at the clamp. drove to the parts place bought me a $5 heater hose slapped it on that bad boy, refilled the coolant and then removed all my plugs...

the compression test as followed.
cyl 1 = 190
cyl 2 = 190
cyl 3 = 180
cyl 4 = 160 &lt;-- hmm?

it drives normal, heater is nice and toasty, no coolant leak and temp gauge is normal.
oh and about that other oil leak, drain plug is stripped. i need to get an oversized 14mm to fix that.

 

i would replace old hoses and get new clamps. Also compression seems not so great. I would imagine maybe your Head Gasket is starting to go. but definetly check and replace worn hoses.

 

got ya!
thanks for the help.