Hi all, need some serious help. It's a 95 Civic EX bone stock with 162k miles. Just last month, I had a shop do a timing , belt, water pump, seals...

Now last week, I notice burning smell, I check under the hood and there's coolant all over the engine bay, like something exploded. All the hoses and the cap seem fine, I have no idea where the coolant came out of. I see lots of green cooked gunk on the top of the radiator where the plastic meets. Is this sign of a bad radiator? I didn't have time to get coolant, so I poured water into the reservoir, which was pretty much empty. Filled it to max line.

Also, I had a small oil leak for past couple years. Now since the timing belt work, the few oil drops became a lot more after every drive.

Just tonight, I checked the oil level and noticed for the first time that it looks like choco milk, very watery. I'm guessing this water came from the water I put in water into the radiator reservoir? Oil level was low too, so I put in more oil.

Now I just did a search, and it seems like this is a sign of a bad head gasket? My car seems to drive fine with no strange idle issues. I don't notice any smoke or anything after starting up, or even while driving. My car does not overheat or any of that sort. Can anyone tell me what is going on? Based on your experiences, does this sound like a blown head gasket? Or could it be a bad connection with the radiator somewhere?

I don't have the ability to take my car to a shop until next Monday due to my work schedule. You guys think it's still safe to drive for now? Can timing belt work possibly cause all my headaches? I never had problems for last 5 years. Now all of a sudden, I'm getting tons of bad signs after the timing belt work. Any help appreciated!!!

 

Blown headgasket

 

blown headgasket. i really wouldnt drive it is i were you

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM 98 GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">blown headgasket. i really wouldnt drive it is i were you</TD></TR></TABLE>

X2

 

Damn that sux. How would this go bad? Do you think a half *** job on the timing belt install could have caused this stuff to go bad? Even my radiator is running like a waterfall from the top plastic. Is this a totally separate issue from the blown headgasket? Man everything is breaking down ever since the timing belt install. If it's a blown headgasket, the car needs to overheat to do any real damage on the motor right? My car never overheated yet, even on my commute this morning. Everything seemed to run fine.

 

you could have a couple of things.... your temp sensing unit may be inaccurate, your thermostat could be sticking. Why did you change your waterpump? Just preventative maintenance or did it start leaking? If it were bad before you changed it this could lead to an overheating issue not picked up by your temp sensor assuming it is inaccurate. The fact that your loosing so much coolant could be a reason for it to run hotter causing the head gasket to go. Do you run the car hard at all and have you noticed anything at all that would suggest the motor got hot and did not sense it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by euhysh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If it's a blown headgasket, the car needs to overheat to do any real damage on the motor right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, the head shouldn't be warped, but you've got coolant in the bottom end is not good. Bearings do like coolant at all. Are you the original owner of the car? Any chance the headgasket has ever been replaced in the past?