suspecting a bad headgasket. question is that the coolant is bubbleing in the resivor. can i:: option A: sillicone the top of the resovor cap yo prevent the coolant from escaping? it is a (closed system) option b: is that cap supose to leak???

 

I plan on driving till it puffs out white smoke. Then i would fix it. Any tipage for removing the exaust mantifode bolts??

 

well first is it over heating? adn if it try your thermostat first. one way to check to see if its ur head gasket is look at the oil if it has radiator fluid in it then yeah its a head gasket. another thing is if its a head gasket is youd be losing fluid and it isnt leaking

 

stick a new radiator cap on the before you decide to do any more diagnosis or repair. if that doesn't fix it then you can jump to more expensive causes.

 

i agree ^

 

looked over engine running at opp temp. i noticed some things. 1: bubbles in resovor when on and some when turned off. 2: coolant smells like exaust fumes. 3: hoses hard to squeeze, and both hot. 4: Driving car around, notice coolant overflows in the overflow bottle. top of cap gets wet. fill to MAX line, then it fills up 3/4 way full, and its past MAX mark. 5: had oilly deposit substance on radiator cap an inside resovor on the bottle sides. Oil in engine looks fine with no increase of levels or milky substance on oil cap. things done to car. 1: valvecover pulled and cleaned. no antifreeze present. 2:engine ran 3/4 hot sometimes but never got hot, always pulled over to kool off and add koolant. 3: Thermostate has been changed. 4: aprox 1/2 qt of transmission oil added to engine to clean up (gunk), going to change fluid soon. 5: looked at sparkers, all clean, grey in color. 6: powerwashed engine gay, no leaks present. powerwashed resovor inside, changed coolant. No oil noticed when drained. looked oily like film. 7: New radiator cap from autozone. still driving, haven't got hot in a while. Still see bubbles in resovor. 173k mi on engine, 3rd transmission.

 

When you (turn the resovor overflow bottle upside down), is it suposed to leak?

 

ok that does help. ah check your water pump if its not working right it means its not flowing properly. or the radiator it self has a clog. your hoses should be hard to squeeze it shows your hoses are good. as far as them being hot at normal temp they should be hot. but not hot enough to not touch. with it overflowing its hard to tell. so it could be the head gasket.

 

the resivoir is sappose to leak. the cap to the top of the resivoir isnt sapose to be air tight there has to be air for the fluid to go back and forth

 

1: removed timeing blt cover, all dry, no leakage there. Should i: 1: replace radiator? 2: replace waterpump/ 3: preform a compression test, no power loss. 4: when (89 octane gas is added, pinging occors when accelerating 45-60 mi an hr. sounds like popcorn. 5: fans come on and off, car won;t overheat till low on coolant. 6:powerwash radiator on inside. remove from car and clean.

 

coolant is dissapearing, 3-5 days. no white smoke noticed.

 

if there is no smoke then its not the head gasket yet. as far as the leakage goes on the timing belt side. its gunn beon the lower half of the timing belt. which means removing the crank pully. your kinda running out of options that it could be. if its not leaking any where but yet your losing fluid that means its being burned. smell the tip of the exhaust and see if it smells sweet.

 

Classic symptoms of a leaking head gasket.


.

 

i sniffed the exaust and it smells non sweet. smells like exaust lol

 

head gasket is leaking compression into the coolant jacket, pressurizing the cooling system, and therefore tripping the radiator cap, which will then send mad coolant to the reservoir.

that's your problem.

a blown headgasket can show itself as 1. coolant into the combustion chambers, which means smoke, AND/OR 2. coolant into the crankcase (oil) or the other way around, AND/OR 3. cylinder pressure...combustion gases...into the coolant jacket

your problem is number 3.

 

is their a way to get the cap to not trip? howabout that gasket seal stuff that you add to the radiator to seal head gaskets?

 

when head gasket is blown you have to replace no other way around it. if you have your own tools you can it it done in max of 5 hours and 40 bucks for head gasket and cost of fluids

 

it has to, otherwise the coolant system would just find the next weakest link in the cooling system - it would burst a hose or pop the seal on the water pump...or something else horrible.

the only solution is to replace the head gasket. when you do that, you need to make sure the cylinders are not cracked at all, and that the block (deck) and head are both flat and not warped. checking for warpage can be done with a legitimate straight edge.

thankfully, a HG on a d16 is really easy. it takes some time, but nothing is really that challenging in the process.

i am not sure if there is a write-up around on this forum...there might be if you google it.

 

exactly.

the one tool some people need to borrow is a torque wrench. if you do borrow one, assure yourself that it is not beat up, so the likelihood is lower that it isn't out of calibration.

don't forget cost of new head bolts. i would not reuse them. they are not that expensive from honda.

 

with my honest experiance i found that if a motor has a blown head gasket and the motor was never abbused i have a two time use. where ill reuse them only once and ive never had an issue with it. but on the second time i say buy new.

 

allright, i am gona rent a car and fix it. should i 1: get the head milled, if so, where do you find the shops? how do you tell if the head is cracked or block? 2: slap on a new h/g and reuse the headbolts. 3: motor never got too hot, 3/4 hot at the most.

 

1. it depends. if you use a legit straightedge and see that there is no warpage, you can still get it planed just to make sure. it depends on the shop, but there are some that can plane a head only a couple thousandths to assure straightness. finding shops is like anything else - word of mouth and the internet. after that, talking with the shop and taking a look around to see if you feel comfortable with the place. as far as telling if a head is cracked, a machine shop can pressure test pretty much everything. cylinder inspection is more of a physical thing. i'm sure shops x-ray stuff for cracks too, atleast some used to, but that was more of a high end thing.

2. new HG, yes, re-use head bolts...i wouldn't. i know someone in this thread said they do, but honestly it's not recommended, esp since you are coming off of a blown HG. if the HG was blown with those bolts, why risk it using them again? they are stretched. and the head bolts are not that much loot from honda so save yourself the worry and just get new ones.

3. it's good that it never totally overheated - that means you are probably a-ok with your head and deck, but the fact that it was running hot still shows there was a breach. you will probably be able to tell by looking at the HG where the breach was.

good luck y0

 

OK, IT LOOKS LIKE MY EXHAUST MANIFOLD BOLTS ARE RUSTED ON AND TRYING TO TAKE THEM OFF MEANS ROUNDING THEM OFF AND OR SNAPPING THEM. ONE STARTED ROUNDING OFF ALREADY SO I GAVE UP FOR NOW. I DABBED THEM IN GREASE FOR A NIGHT OR SO. i got one loose but it is turning out of the block. any tip-page for getting them off? REMOVE FROM THE CAT?

 

BG in-force. you spray that on and let it sit, possibly overnight. if you can't get that product, PB blaster or whatever specific liquid wrench product should do the job. just spray it on the nuts and let it sit. then try to undo them.

you need a specific penetrating oil product. FYI, wd-40 is not meant for that.

if you have a stud turning in the block then you have stripped a hole in the head, which is ok if you can get it out since the hole can be time-serted or heli-coiled.

 

What a load of crap man, it's a "sealed" system, the cap is airtight and under pressure.
If the pressure exceeds a given psi (14psi ?) it allows water to blow out from the overflow hose to prevent a rupture in the hoses/radiator etc, otherwise it keeps the set pressure and does not leak.