Okay, I have always wondered WHAT exactly causes the overheating in our motors. We seem to have this notorious problem and it becomes a pain in the ***. SO. I went over to Honda yesterday to get some parts and struck up a conversation with some old dude that was working on a 2001 civic LX that had overheated and needed a new head gasket and seals and resurfacing, etc.....

I asked him why it happened so often to the '01-'05 civics and his answer somewhat caught me off guard.

Basically, Honda revised their coolant fluid in 2004 and now every Honda off the lot comes with BLUE fluid. Prior to the blue, the coolant was green. Not any type of neon green but it was simply GREEN; more opaque than that of Prestone's neon green... almost every Honda manual that I have seen or heard of says that you should change the fluid out at 100,000 miles. BUT there was a problem with that... The difference between the Honda GREEN fluid is that it can start to become acidic after about 30,000-60,000 miles and it will start to (very slowly) eat away at the head gasket, thus creating an opening. This is where the exhaust fumes will begin to leak in to the cooling system, creating air bubbles and too much pressure builds up in the cooling system. When this happens, you will have an overheated motor. Honda fixed this problem with their new BLUE coolant. The mechanic dude told me that, in actuality, the green fluid should be changed every 3 years, regardless of what the manual says. The new blue fluid can be changed every 5-6 years.

There is your answer. Cheers!

 

Thanks for the Post . Ill be using Cometic headgasket with the Blue stuff

 

I just bought coolant from Honda and its still green.

 

Take it back and tell them that you want the new blue colored coolant. If they try to tell you that its only for the Honda Pilot, tell them that they're full of it and you want the blue anyways. They might have just given you green because they still have it in stock and they're trying to get rid of it all... they should exchange it for the blue, if you have a receipt.

 

Interesting Honda decides to rip off General Motor's Dexcool and has the same "problems" with a long life coolant, causing head gasket failures.

 

My 2002 came with blue type2 long life coolant. I think Honda changed from the green type 1 to blue type 2 some time around 2001-2002.

 

maybe. serviced bulletin said '04. but that could be wrong..

 

My local dealership still sells the old type 1 green, they've never sold blue. I looked into it when I worked there.

IIRC the '01 - '05 Headgaskets were 3 layer steel though and this wouldn't affect them ('96 - '00 are definitely 3 layer steel, as are EX/Si/VX '92 - '95 models)

 

Is anyone here using the orange Dexcool in their 2001-05 Civic?

 

I only use the blue or green. and i actually change it out at the end of every winter.