I have a 2002 Honda Accord LX with 102k miles. 4-banger with automatic and kept stock. A few weeks ago it overheated. Radiator was empty. Filled the radiator and drove on. Radiator kept going empty but I couldn't see a leak. I gave it to a shop and they said the head gasket was blown, which would cause the radiator to empty. However, it would have had to have overheated to have blown, so what caused the overheating in the first place?

Anyways, they quoted me 1700 to replace the head gasket and replace the timing belt. However, now they're saying that the Accords from this year had their engines cast in sand, which caused bubbles which caused oil to leak into the coolant and make the engine overheat in the first place which caused the head gasket to blow. So to prevent issues in the future, the whole engine must be replaced. Does that sound reasonable? Anybody hear about this? From what I've read, people were seeing oil in their coolant when they had this issue. Does the fact that I didn't see oil in my coolant mean my engine isn't cracked?

Should I just replace the head gasket and hope the engine itself isn't at fault?

 

If you do a search, the issues with the block have been discussed before - I'm not sure if there is a TSB out for it though.

 

I've only heard of excessive oil consumption being a problem for the 4 cylinder of this year. I thought that the bad block casting was in the V6? If this is correct, perhaps they were confusing the two engines.

EDIT: Couldn't find any of the other discussions with a quick search, if anyone finds them, post them up!

 

I read a few previous posts and nothing definitive was ever said except that it can be a problem. The people reporting the problem seemed to always say they saw oil mixing with their coolant. I never saw any of that. The coolant I added would just go away after several hours and would not be contaminated with oil.

Nobody came up with a TSB but I found a few referring to coolant in the oil pan. I wonder if I should just take this to the dealership.

Also, is there anything that can cause the radiator to leak without a visible leak? I was putting about a gallon of coolant in this thing a day. It would empty overnight, but never with a visible leak.

 

From what you have described to me (adding a gallon of coolant a day) it sounds like you do indeed have a blown head gasket, and that the leak path is between your water jacket and one or more of the cylinders. Which means that your coolant is being superheated and blown out the tailpipe as vapor. Pull your spark plugs and inspect for fouling. If there is white crystalline powder formed on the plugs you have a water jacket leak.

I will also say that a casting or metallurgy defect could have resulted in a cracked cylinder, or shifted something in the engine to cause the gasket leak.

I would say its worth a shot taking it to the dealer. Tell them you were made aware of the problem by an independant mechanic and they advised engine replacement due to a defect in manufacturing.