im having a very similar problem to schlabobble.... this is with my 99 civic VP 4 door...

last summer i was driving and all of a sudden the temp started rising and it went to about three quarters. since it didnt completely reach hot i kept driving. talked to my father about this and we decided to change the thermostat so me and my friend replaced that. We figured that the stat was stuck in the middle of open and closed that limited coolant was getting through. After that, it ran fine for a week and then all of a sudden it started to run hot again. So we continued to check the coolant and it was always down so i constantly had to add it. From what i could tell i didnt smell any coolant in the exaust so i didnt think anything of it. Finally my father decided it would be best to just get it into a shop and they told me that the head gasket was bad. They said it ws leaking coolant into the pistons and that they found coolant on the spark plugs. They also said it was leaking oil internally too. But, now that its winter, idk why, but it has been running fine. idk if its from the cooler weather or not but it has not ran hot once this winter and the levels of coolant have not dropped. makes no sense. so, because i drove it so long on, supposedly, a bad head gasket, i bought myself a 96 civic two door because i figured that this car would need major work and wouldnt be worth it since it has 252,000 on it. But, i still love this car so i want to fix what has happened to it if possible. My father suggested using this stuff called Barrs(i believe) to plug up any openings in the coolant process. But, i want to just replace the head gasket and see if that works. But, i am not sure what do do because i local engine guy told me that i would prolly have to grind down the head too b/c it is prolly warped. If anyone has any suggestions for me i'd appreciate it. Thanks.

 

its possible your head is warped after it overheating so your best off bringing it to a machine shop and have them flattin the head again and replace head gasket since its a must and i believe you got to replace the head studs after taking the head off aswell so get a set of them and the gasket while your waiting on the engine

 

Is that all that would need to be done or is there more to the process than that... i've heard others say that your supposed to replace the studs but you dont have to....

 

well since your head may be warped the studs would of warped with it(i would imagen so anyway) i onestly wouldent know if there is anything else to be done?? im just saying what i know of. the engine would need a good clean up though since the water would cause rust idk?

 

no no, that makes sense... im still drivin the car, i just need to figure out everything i need to do to it, would love to do it all myself so that i would be able to save money.... ya know?

 

well you could save a bit of money by preparing the block for the shop. like take the head off bring it to a shop and refit it yourself if you know how? it will save on labour time for the mechanic

 

Getting the head skimmed is gonna cost a fair bit cos it would need to be done by a specialist i think, might be a good time for an engine swap??

 

I got my head rebuilt and milled for around $200.

I probably should have swapped then, as my engine just died, but it did last almost 4 years since that work was done.


Good luck!

 

might aswell change the piston rings while your at it.

 

I would just start looking into swaps and save your money

 

well like i said, its a 99 civic 4 door, ugly as hell, my dads old car and its an auto on top of all that.... also i bought a 96 civic ex 5 speed, that things just sittin for another month while i finish school, basically kill this engine in the 4 door and then switch over... how long u think it will run before it kicks the bucket with coolant leakin into the pistons....

 

I drove for like a month or so trying to fix this and that.

I just made sure it didn't get too hot, kept refilling it, (keep some in the trunk) and limped it along. As long as you dont overheat it more, it should be ok.

But it all depends on how fast it pushes out your radiator fluid.

 

yeah, true, well i talked to my friend and we decided that over the summer to learn more about engines, we are going to rebuild the engine and clean it out and replace the parts with new ones... im open to any suggestions on how to do it....