Hello all.

Lately I've noticed 2 things going on. First, I've noticed that there was oil leaking from the middle of the long & short block...where the head gasket lies.
And just today, saw my upper radiator hose blown up. I had to remove the radiator cap to relieve pressure, and it went back to normal.

Anyways, this is the cause to it. My aftermarket catalytic went out on me about 1 month (or so) ago. I had no clue during the time it was the cat. because I was losing power, and at one point I had to take my mom to work. I was only able to travel 50mph on the freeway, and on the way back it wouldn't go over 20mph.
Called a good friend of mine that's been doing mechanical work for about 20-30 years--old fellow.
Well long story short, I replaced the cat. with an OEM one and it's been fine ever since.

However, since I replaced it there was a minor leak from that spot I mentioned earlier dripping on to my tranny case.

Now my question is, what exactly can it be? I've searched and people with blown head gaskets have mentioned that the symptoms are oil in the coolant--i.e. in the coolant reservoir tank or in the radiator itself.
~However, I don't have either symptom.
Then, others have mentioned that the leak can be cause by a bad cam seal??

Well a few days after I first noticed it, I called my mechanic/friend back and he said the cause of the leak was the clogged cat. Especially having forced it back that day, he explained (not entirely in his words, but I'm summarizing) that the pressure the cat. was causing forced the oil to leak out.
It makes most sense, but now that all of you know my scenario what's the best outcome ya'll think I should come to?
The head gasket is around $70, and I saw a few pics of install, and it looks like it's labor intensive. However, I can't do the entire timing myself, I am not that experienced...
People say it's straight-forward; yet, I don't see many articles here, nor on Google of installing the head gasket...
I have the Helms manual, but there's hardly any pics or details to guide me step-by-step.

Well I will post the pics of what I'm talking about in the next post.

Thank you for your help

 

 

Wow you have a major pressure issues with that upper radiator hose there is a blockage somewhere in there because that last picture does not look normal and it looks like your head gasket is toast. If you don't know about how to work on this issue i'd definately take it to a reliable shop. You might look at a water pump issue. Don't drive it anymore until this gets fixed.

 

dude that looks like a snake swallowed a rabbit,lol...yeah I would say 99% your head gasket is toast, get a block tester ,your mechanic friend should have one if hes been doing it as long as you say,or buy one they are pretty cheap....and stick that bugger where your radiator cap is if the fluid changes then its a head gasket, or since that looks that bad you might be able to just take off the cap and if you see bubbles then it is blown...btw if your taking the head off do a waterpump and t-belt, it maybe possible that you have a clog in your cooling system somewhere but check the gasket first....fix that soon I'd hate to see you blow that shiny aluminum radiator

 

HG is fine. The leak is occurring higher up like from the distributor o-ring, cam seal or vtec solenoid gaskets.

 

Ok, to clear a few things up, hopefully this might help.

About 4 months ago, I had a mechanic re-swap my blox cams with my oems. So ever since then it's been fine. So, i don't see how it could be the cam seal?

Then, for the distributor, i had that replaced, too, not far after the cams. I got it brand new from distributor king. So that should be fine too?

I think in the end it might have to be the gasket. It just keeps leaking profusely from that same spot...

 

hondakevin & srmofo thank you for that guidance. I think in the end it is the hg that is the culprit.
However, I did have some clogging. When i took off the damaged hose there was thin plate looking layers on the interior of the tubing and some around the outside of the radiator.
I cleaned it up, and been looking at it for the past 2 days.
I've been driving casually, and have noticed my temp. is back to normal and the rad. hose isn't bulging like b4..

 

I was more or less adressing the overheating issue, hondas usually leak al little oil from that area, who cares? not me....I would at least pull off the cap while it is running before it is hot and look for bubbles. its easy enough and it might keep you from warping the head or block

 

For sure dude, I think this weekend i'll go ahead and open the valve cover and see if I notice anything out of the ordinary... Long weekend so i'll have time to see what's going on from it from an easier standard

 

i dont think its the head gasket. u should get oil and water mixed in either the radiator or in the engine. the area where u found the oil normally cause by the cam cap no5 of the exhaust cam. its not written on the shop manual but b4 the installing the no5 exh cam cap,i would put silicone between the cam cap and the head. this was covered b4 somewher on HT.

 

you only get oil and water together when the leak is between the coolant jacket and an oil passage. if its leaking externally then you are not going to get the mixture....AND YET AGAIN PEOPLE LOOK AT THE PICTURES CLOSELY, DO YOU SEE THE UPPER RADIATOR HOSE, THE COOLING SYSTEM IS GETTING WAYYY TOO MUCH PRESSURE. or the hose is bad, or at least it is now. the hose combined with the OVERHEATING issue he described is very symptomatic of a blown head gasket, that is the REAL issue, not the very small oil leak. so please quit giving bad advice if you are unsure of what you are looking at

 

Good response, I like that you took the time to truly examine the pictures I posed, then analyze what everyone else has said and come up with a more concrete answer.

I will go ahead and get that block tester tomorrow to see truly what's going on 100%. Seems like a cheap, easy way of truly figuring out if the head gasket is the main culprit here.

I took someone elses advice either on HT or TI to replace the hose. After I did I've been looking at the motor everytime I drive and park. The hose is fine, my temp. is back to normal (usually in between cold and mid-temp)...never above the half mark.

But I won't be taking it easy, it's labor day weekend so I have time to really look into it.

 

i have that same leak on my D

 

After yesterday I think that's what it is. Something in the cooling system.

Yesterday, this curvy, snail shapped coolant hose was inflated too! I got home saw that it was spraying coolant from the hose and when i took it off saw that it has a small tear in it.
Went to Kragen to get a temporary but seems like it's making my motor worst.
After driving it casually, I saw my temp. guage flying to hot...after a few minutes it would go back to normal (in between halfway & cold). There are no leaks everytime I check under the hood when I drive, so I think it's getting insufficient coolant from that area since the replacement hose doesn't have that curve. Probably it's positioned wrong.
Anyways, I have to go into Acura dealership to show them what it is and they should have the right part...

This is getting so f*n annoying...

 

However, I've been thinking lately. From my initial posts I stated that there were small debris parts that looked like thin plates inside the coolant hoses. Now, I've realized that those small pieces looks somewhat like pieces from a gasket. In this case, I was thinking it could be the IM gasket. It's pretty much paper type of material when you touch it, and wondering... Anyone think that somehow my IM gasket came apart in certain areas and was able to go through my cooling/coolant system??

I know the easiest way to know 100% sure is to take my IM off...however, if anyone can pin-point that this is a possibility, then I will remove it to see wtf is going on...and why it would have come apart.

Thanks fellas..

 

I think the placement of the swelling of the hose is very telling. If it's the worst at the closest point to the radiator, I'd say the radiator is the problem.

What is the story with that radiator? Looks new, is it? What brand?

You can probably get a stock radiator out of a salvage yard for a few bucks if you want to test a different part. OR, a shop may be able to test that radiator and see if it's clogged somewhere internally.

 

Ya I'm pissed because it's a very expensive radiator...or was when I first purchased it. It's a Koyo aluminum radiator.

 

Is it designed for street use? It may have smaller core perforations if it's only designed to run on a water system instead of a coolant mixture which is a lot thicker.

 

no bro, it's a huge core. That radiator is bigger than stock and takes about 1 & 3/4 of antifreeze coolant. I've had it since 2005 and was always good, but if it's gone it's gone...
I just don't know yet?

 

Gotcha. Looks so good, thought you might have put it in recently. In that case, would definitely have to say something is clogging the core. If you think about all the other coolant passages in the system, it's the easiest to clog.

 

Just change the hose first. I have seen old, weak hoses do that and there was no issue with the cooling system.

And:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dartanian &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">HG is fine. The leak is occurring higher up like from the distributor o-ring, cam seal or vtec solenoid gaskets.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

the upper hose is the least pressurized part of the system, even if it was a bad hose that would not cause it to overheat....also smal pieces of debris will not cause it to overheat, all gaskets hang over into the passages that they seal, so it might be pieces of gasket but I doubt you'd be able to recognize them...Have you checked for a blown head gasket yet? at least take off the cap and look for bubbles comin up from the cap if you dont have the tester...if you see them then you defiantly have a blown head gasket

***EDIT*** have you tested/replaced the cap yet? I forgot to ask earlier

 

^^^
That's the problem I don't have the normal symptoms of a blown hg. My exhaust doesn't have a cloud of smoke, my radiator doesn't have bubbles or a mixture of oil & coolant, and the foaming in the valve cover where the oil is..

All I can tell is that the hg isn't good because of the leaking.

However, i mentioned in another thread that I just have a busy schedule: full-time school, LSAT prep course & 2 jobs.
So it's hard to find a little time to do these simple tasks. But nothing is ever simple when you don't have the time.

I will though as soon as I can.

 

Yesterday, I checked under my hood after a long commute from work to home. I took a notice at the front of the block again and noticed the oil leaking from up above...around the cam seal.
To the many that have responded saying that it's from that area or to check that area, Bless ya'll. I am a bit relieved, but I want to post up pics to confirm that this, in fact, is the problem.
Let me know as soon as ya'll can, thanks again for all your help wonderful people.

 

good to know that. but do like what i explain in my earlier reply,putting the silicone seal under the 5th exhaust cam cap.