i was checking my spark plugs and when i took them off i saw water in there. i was woundering if it was the head gasket or blew my motor if you guys could help me out. thanks.

 

same happened to me a while back but it was due to the power wash I gave it, have you washed your car recently?

 

Are you talking water or coolant?

 

I'm willing to bet the water was sitting above the plugs, in which case you need to make sure your plug wires are sealing around the valve cover completely. Chances are water seeped in there while you sprayed out the engine bay or drove through a monsoon.

If the headgasket was blown, you'd see a low level of coolant when you popped off the radiator cap (with the car cold). Not to mention the water would be in the cylinders and not on top of the plugs. ...and if that's the case, the headgasket is leaking BAD - you'd be blowing a TON of smoke, overheating and not making any power.

 

like Mcdc2 was saying i recently wash my engine but i also smells like coolant.

 

yea the radiator still has coolant but, it leaks water too

 

You're probably having two separate problems:

The water was sitting on top of the plugs, right? Good - its no biggie; just check the plug wire boots and replace if necessary.

A simple leak is probably the source of the missing coolant. I'm guessing this for two reasons:

1. usually always the case. Coolant system components become brittle with age and easily fail. Headgaskets usually don't fail under normal circumstances (usually).

2. the coolant you're smelling is probably indicative of a small, gradual leak. As more and more coolant/water seeped out of the system as the car was driven, the water evaporated against hot engine bay components, leaving a "boiled-down" invisible concentration of coolant over everything. When you sprayed down the engine bay, you re-hydrated the mixture, and as the engine warmed afterward, the coolant was smelled again.

..Or the heater core is the point of the leak. Is the floor often wet in the mornings? Does the coolant smell increase when the heat is on?


Modified by luke.munnell at 10:33 PM 1/20/2008

 

yep as soon i turn on the car an starts warming up a smell of coolant and i check under the cae and theres coolant in the ground. so any ideas what it could be? oh yea one more thing when the car is warming up it starts to idle and it turns off.

 

What is year/make/mods of the car?

 

95 acura integra gsr, stage 2 clutch other than that all stock

 

If you have coolant on the ground.........I would look and see where its coming from.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Greasemonkey75 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you have coolant on the ground.........I would look and see where its coming from.....</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good call.

And if it seems like it coming from some place odd - like a frame rail or the firewall - check inside, under the pedals or around the center console for coolant - it could be the heater core. Mine went bad this past summer...

 

....and if you have coolant on the ground clean it up, dogs eat that **** and die.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jhammond_82 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">....and if you have coolant on the ground clean it up, dogs eat that **** and die. </TD></TR></TABLE>

hahah sad but true

 

yea theeres coolant in the ground but where is it oming from who knows