Hello all. I have a '03 civic LX all stock. 133K just had the timing belt and waterpump changed by Honda. I use my car for long trips. 1200mi+. Recently I started on a trip and made it 350mi or so and started to overheat. I immediately pulled over and discovered I had lost the radiator overflow cap and coolant had been blown all over the engine bay. I put about 48oz. of water in it and made it to a Honda dealer and bought a new $6 cap. Thought everything would be fine. Made it another 250mi to my destination and noticed the coolant was down. I topped it off thinking mabie it just had a bubble it needed to get out. On my 600mi trip home I experianced the temp guage climbing again after 60mi or so and I topped off again. The rest of the trip I had to pull over every 40mi and top off the radiator. There is no signs of leaks, no coolant, or just water at this point in the oil. I cannot find where the water is going. From reading here I figure it could be a head gasket or radiator. So I wounder:
Did the 48oz of cold water originally crack the hot radiator and cause the lose of coolant? OR Did I crack a headgasket on the inital heatup and that is where the coolant has gone.
Any help is greatly appriciated.

 

From the FAQ's: