Hello everyone,

I've been having some trouble with my '02 EX losing coolant. I've done a compression test and came up with the results of 181,165,161,179. Those numbers to me don't indicate anything wrong with the head gasket. The plugs are also not white, nor is there coolant in the oil.

Next, I pressurized the coolant system, the system was losing pressure pretty rapidly, about 4kg/cm^2 over a period of 20 minutes. However, there were no visible external leaks, and as I mentioned earlier, I'm doubtful of internal leaks.

I first noticed this problem while I was driving in winter, the heat wouldn't get hot, and then the next thing I knew, the temp gauge was on the H; I pulled over and topped off the coolant immediately. After this happened I replaced the thermostat just for safe measure and flushed the coolant system in the process. Up until a few weeks ago, I didn't have to add coolant since then. Now, it's requiring almost a quarter gallon every two weeks.

I guess what I'm getting at......would it be feasible that it's the heater core that is leaking, given that I can't find any leaks? And if so, is there any way to test the theory before pulling the core from the vehicle (and discharging my AC in the process)?

 

have the same issue, please let me know if you figure it out.

 

If your heater core was leaking, you'd smell and/or see coolant.

If there is no external leak, it can only be going one place... in to the motor.

My money is on your head gasket being blown.

 

I agree.

Also the compression results show more than 10% variance which means somethng is wrng with the motor. Btw, he did a compression test, NOT the same as a leakdown test. The leakdown test will tell whether the head gasket is leaking.