[apologies if thread is in wrong category]
I own a 1995 civic dx and i've been having ALOT of problems with my cooling system. Way too many problems for a rookie to isolate just one cause. For the past week or so my car has been overheating and i cant figure out exactly what to do. For starters, my car has had a cooling system problem for a long time now, as i run through antifreeze like hell. I go through about 2-3 bottles monthly. Me being a rookie and all, i couldn't figure out whether the problem was due to my heater core or my radiator (im sure both needs replacing) or even worse; a head gasket problem (i've also been going through oil very quicky... about 1-2 bottles monthly... not sure if its because the car is just old). There is no visible leaks from any hose but my car does seem to leak some oily stuff on the passenger side floor. So about a week ago, thinking it may be my heater core, i bought some crap called Bar's Stop Leak, BIG MISTAKE (or maybe coincidence?). From the day i put that crap in my radiator my car has been overheating. Im not even sure if it cause something is clogged now or if its coincidences as a new symptom has formed; THE RADIATOR FAN now does not come on (when i first put the stop leak in, the fan was working fine as i had to let the car run it through its system for about an hour... car never overheated til after this day). Now in a perfect world, i could just replace my cooling system parts starting with the radiator and heater core 1 by 1 hoping that the problem would cease but this isnt a perfect world and times are hard. And since its christmas i wont have someone available to look at my car for a few days, so until then im trying to atleast save myself a few bucks by isolating the problem. Thanks in advance.

Summary of Symptoms(Before installing Bar's Stop Leak):
-Constant loss of Antifreeze (some of which seems to be lost at the reservoir from air pressure)
-Oily substance leaking inside the car(antifreeze?), passenger side floor under the dash
-Smell of antifreeze inside the car

Summary of Symptoms (After installing Bar's Stop Leak)
-Radiator Fan does not come on
-Lots of hot air in the radiator (enough that with the cap off antifreeze just pushes out...and with the cap on the air pushes into the reservoir)
-Engine overheats (^which im guessing causes that problem?)... each time i've pulled over never letting the meter go near or above 3/4
-Antifreeze in the reservoir seems muddy and gunky

[Update] as i play around with stuff trying to find the problem
-The upper hose get hot
-The bottom hose is warm.... not really hot... not solid cold... no pressure
-Oil on dipstick is solid brown, no grit, foam or inconsistency

[Update:] Came to the conclusion that the problem in my cooling system was at the thermostat as the lower radiator hose from the radiator to the thermostat was always cold and never showed signs that coolant was flowing through it. After removing the old thermostat and testing it, i confirmed that the old thermostat doesnt open at temperatures over 78°C as it should. Unfortunately, while replacing the thermostat and spark plug wires i must have overlooked something, or did something wrong cause now the car wont start and i cant accurately say the thermostat was THE problem all along.

 

Oh and to make the list of possible causes harder to isolate... My new fog lights blew out, my brake lights have blown and my radio has been in and out when the engine is off recently... as if the whole radio unit loss power for a few seconds then it comes back on... happens alot... so cant tell if the fan stopped working due to a electrical problem or? just throwing it out there in case that info can be used.... >_< sorry if it further complicates this

 

Sounds like your heater core definantly has a leak, that's whats in your floor board. You made the mistake of using a stop leak, which very well could have caused a clog in the system somewhere, and your gunky muddy coolant is either from the stop leak or corroded, old and dirty anti-freeze. I would start by replacing your heater core, checking all hoses and replacing any that look dry or cracked. I would also drain and flush the cooling system and get that gunk out of there before it causes worse problems


Posted from Honda-tech.com App for Android

 

what kind of smoke is coming from your exhaust?

with gunky oil, missing coolant and oil look real close at your head gasket

 

If it overheated at all, DO A COMPRESSION TEST / LEAKDOWN TEST. No point in replacing parts until you are sure the headgasket / head are in good shape. Prior to the HG going on my first engine (D15B7 265K 95 coupe DX) I had those problems start, right after 1 incidence only of an overheat. Using oil and coolant,at the same time screams Inspect my Headgasket.

 

Look for thick white smoke constantly coming out of exhaust. Do a compression and leakdown test Like CFiannotti said.This will give you best results. Could also check oil cap for milky substance but this isnt always noticeable.

 

Thanks, for replies guys. And yea it was a huge mistake installing the stop leak crap in my car. The smoke from my exhaust is normal... I checked because i at first was convinced it was a head gasket problem (not saying it isn't now) but besides the coolant being dirty and gunky i dont have many symptoms suggesting a head-gasket, my oil is a solid brown color... I'll get it tested soon regardless... Cuz now my engine is making a weird revving sound when it idles almost like its about to shut off, so im totally running out of ideas om what wrong with my car -_-

 

Change your oil, flush your coolant system, and at least do a compression test.

 

Changed fan motor, changed thermostat, and changes spark plugs and now the car won't even come on.. After changing the thermostat i reconnected everything i took off, spark plugs the ground wire to the thermostat house and everything else... because the car wouldnt even crank and the spark plug wires were in bad shape when i took em off i went on and replaced them... When i turn the ignition the engine cranks but the car doesnt start... The CEL flashes also as i try to start the car (not sure if the CEL suppose to come on again on lll) , any ideas?

 

headgasket

 

Care to elaborate or say something a little more educated than "headgasket"?? It's almost as if u didnt read anything past the first post on this thread. The car was fine until i tried to remedy a heater core leak with Bar's Stop Leak. The stop leak killed my thermostat. I replaced the thermostat and in doing so i disconnected a ground wire to the thermostat house and the spark plugs. after replacing the thermostat, i reconnected both the thermostat housing, ground wire, lower radiator hose and the spark plugs wires. the car would NOT start at all after this. Seeing as the engine didnt crank, yet it seemed to misfire i realized first i had the wires in the distributor wrong and the 3rd wire was bad. i replaced ALL the spark plug wires and now while the engine cranks, it does not come on. I NEVER moved the car or let it get hot since its been parked and it was coming on just fine before i changed the thermostat so please good sir, explain to me how "headgasket" is whats causing my engine not to come on???

On another note, i tested the old thermostat via a heat test and confirmed that the thermostat no longer opened at 78°C. So hopefully that was the problem all along to my car not cooling problem. Sadly a cant accurately test my cooling system since now my car wont start at all -_-

 

Sorry. I get tired of typing the same thing over and over. Anyway if you have a bad headgasket all the other stuff you are doing is futile.

Think of how much EXTREME combustion pressure your headgasket has to contain.

Your headgasket is likely leaking combustion gasses into your cooling system, causing excessive pressure in the cooling system resulting in the coolant being forced out through the weakest exit, the radiator cap, forcing the coolant to the reservoir, and ultimately the roadway, and causing low coolant in the system leading to overheating. This condition will not contaminate your oil or cause exhaust smoke. It may contaminate your coolant (brown gunky reservoir anyone?)

That is what I meant when I said "headgasket".

To be sure, you can buy a block tester kit for ~$50 at an autoparts store (I got mine at NAPA) and determine if in fact, you have combustion gasses in your radiator (the fluid in the tester will turn from blue to yellow). Think about that... they made a kit to test for this very condition!

If you find the above to be true, depending on the mileage of the engine you can:
1. Replace the headgasket while only milling the head.
2. Replace the headgasket milling the head with a vavle job.
3. Replace the headgasket during a complete rebuild of your engine including milling the head, a valve job and decking the block while it's torn down (preferred).
4. Obtain a replacement engine (I keep a spare engine in the garage for just such occasions).



Again, sorry.

 

Another possibility is a crack in the block or head. A rebuild would reveal that. A replacement engine would render it moot.

 

Or it could be a pinhole in a $4 hose.

 

Thanks for elaborating. But i'm thinking "headgasket" is kinda jumping the gun as the gunky stuff in my coolant was Bar's Stop leak.... i drained the coolant from my radiator and seen so... the lower radiator hose had no pressure and never got hot leading me to believe the thermostat must not be opening. The drained coolant from my radiator is a normal green color. BEFORE i began to change my thermostat my car started fine with no delay. The engine ran fine but would idle roughly (the belt seemed to slow down every so often and the engine seemed to revv), Nontheless it did start. After changing the thermostat the car do not start at all. Because it sounded like a spark plug problem (not to mention i removed the wires from the distributor, accidentally bent the 3rd wire and placed them in wrong order) i replaced the wires with new ones. Now the engine cranks, but the car does not start. Not totally ruling out "headgasket" but i think jumping to that conclusion is a bit drastic.

Also, again, i have the old thermostat in my hands. Testing it with boiling water (water boils @ 100°C am i right?), the thermostat does NOT open (it should began to open @ 78°C). A faulty thermostat makes complete sense with my cars symptoms... Sorry if it seems im rejecting your solution but jumping to "headgasket" without first remedying the faults in my actual cooling system seems a bit overkill. Almost like suggesting "brain tumor" to someone that has a headache.....

 

Don't want to conclude that the thermostat was the cause of my coolant system problems yet (even if the old thermostat failed the boiling water test) but since now the car wont start at all, i'll need to troubleshoot that problem before i can continue to mess with the coolant system(obviously). if it aint one thing its something, aye? Wish me luck.

 

Did you put them back in the correct firing order?

 

Thanks to HondaPartsHero for the good eye. My spark wires were off 1 cylinder counter-clockwise... Didn't pay attention to the distributors position in that picture compared to mines. This picture shows a better idea of how the wires should be arranged... Thanks again bro. Now that the cars running, i'll test the cooling system in a few hours to see whether the thermostat change was what i needed.

 

Ok, im guessing i finally blew a head gasket cuz i finally replaced the radiator( all along was the problem) and now; while the car is cool, the bottom line now gets pressure, coolant actually make it to the thermostat, etc etc; there now seems to be too much pressure in both lines. I tried bleeding the coolant system via the bleed screw and it seems like only smoke is coming from it(I might be bugging but looks kinda like exhaust), there now seems to be cloudy steam/smoke coming from the exhaust pipes leaving behind water residue (as there is only water in the cooling system since i was tired of wasting my anti freeze looking for leaks)......... Sounds like headgasket, right?

 

Probably

 

Well troubleshooting the problem with just tools and knowledge is getting me nowhere... So in 2 hours i'll be taking it to some mechanic... Hopefully the guy knows wtf he's doing as despite the fact that im telling him im spewing blue-ish smoke he's hell bent on telling me i must not be bleeding my cooling system right

 

At an auto parts store, you can buy a kit that tests for exhaust gases in the coolant. Also do cylinder compression and leak down tests.

 

Thanks... I'll be sure to get the kit when i re-up on cash as i just spent my last on the other stuff lol. Oh and question, so i took it to a "mechanic" to look at and the guys telling me it's my ECT sensor. From what he's saying it's suppose to be whats responsible for the fan engaging and the thermostat opening.......??? Im not a mechanic but im really into my car and fixing on it is my hobby so forgive my ignorance, but i thought that the sensor/thermostat switch or whatever u want to call the plug attached to the housing was only responsible for turning on the fan and controlling your temp gauge? Doesnt the thermostat itself open and close as the bottom of it gets hot?? I have the switch jumped so that my fan engages permanently until i replace the sensor... So i would think the fan running constantly would be an ok thing.

 

The ECT sensor plugged into the thermostat housing functions only to tell the radiator fan to turn on and off.

 

Thats what i thought so me replacing it would do nothing to help my cooling system if its already jumped. The fans on constantly, the heater core has at least a leak for sure, but the radiator, thermostat, hose, and fan has all been replaced yet the car overheats and the cooling system looks like it gets way too much pressure built up after driving (sometimes it even looks like the hoses are about to burst.) I havent tested yet but im 99% convinced its a leak in the engine block.