Ok so here's the deal. I have a 92 civic DX sedan stock. Great running car until earlier today. I was driving to work this morning everything's fine I stop at a stop light an noticed it was idling rough something didn't seem right. I got to work checked my antifreeze it was indeed low so I filled it up. When I got off I started it, it seemed like it was running rough I got out an noticed excessive white smoke coming out the exhaust an smelled like antifreeze

I drove home everything seemed fine no overheating at all about 15 miles. I let it cool check the antifreeze an it was almost empty I filled it back up an started it just letting it idle looked everywhere for a leek an couldn't find anything just excessive white smoke out the exhaust. I checked the oil an it was fine wasn't milky or had any discolor to it. Is this possible to be a blown head gasket?

Any kind of help would be very much appreciated thanks

 

Most likely is. Do a compression check with the engine cold (hasn't been run all night). The white smoke and loss of coolant tells me your head gasket is indeed bad.


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those other symptoms don't always come with a HG fail. but this does sound 100% like a HG to me.

 

those motors are notorious for popping head gaskets. upgrade to the y8 mls gasket. if you didnt overheat it, you are in luck and shouldnt need any machine work. the trick i do in these situations is to mark the timing belt and camgear, slip the belt off, change the gasket, slip the belt back on with both marks you make lining up. 2 hour job.

 

Just pull the head. and get it check at a machine shop resurface if you have the money/nessesary.

 

If your blowing white smoke out of your exhaust and it smells like antifreeze it is def a head gasket. If it didn't over heat or anything your probably pretty lucky and didn't cook a bearing or anything but def don't drive it until you fix it.

 

94EG8 swears these B15B7 motors are never the same after the HG is changed ... though that might only be if the engine overheats? I dunno ... maybe he'll chime in.

 

Check your intake manifold too to see if there is any coolant sitting in there you might even be able to see it through the throttle body. It could be the intake manifold gasket too. Yes one of the very common symptoms of a blown head gasket is white smoke blowing out the exhaust but it seems there are a ton of people out there that yell head gasket he moment white smoke is mentioned and it's not always the case.

From what I can see you went through almost 4 quarts of coolant in only 15 miles of driving. That's a lot especially when it isn't getting into your oil means it's all getting burnt off in the combustion chamber.

Good chance it is the head gasket but it's not definitely the head gasket. I'm not as familiar with the D15's as I'd like to be, I've never owned one.

 

goldsy, a D is a D. Doesn't matter which D it is. They're all almost the same block, just with different bits bolted to it.

OP, there's a very simple, affordable test that I'm surprised (and disappointed) no one has mentioned yet. It's called a block tester. You can rent it from most major parts stores, and the disposable part is something like $15-$20, if memory serves correctly. You put a small bit of your coolant into the tester, drop in the disposable part (either a litmus strip, or a chemical reactant depending on what kit you get), and see what color it turns. The kit detects exhaust gasses in your coolant, which is definitive.

 

Yeah I know a D is a D block wise. What I meant was, I don't know how easy it is to see into places like the intake manifold on a D15 setup.

I have never heard of this block tester you speak of. Sounds like an easy and cheap enough test to do though.

 

Image of a D15B7 manifold. There is what appears to be a coolant passage near the #4 intake. If you can determine that #4 is taking in coolant then you might want to suspect the manifold gasket. Check the spark plugs or peer down the plug holes with a flashlight for evidence.
Otherwise its likely a headgasket.

 

The block tester is a fluid filled glass tube you sit on your radiator cap opening and pump/suck air through it from your radiator with a rubber bulb (think of the nurse taking your blood pressure). If the fluid turns from blue to yellow, you have exhaust gasses in your cooling system, and thus a failed headgasket or crack in the head or block. I'm not sure if coolant steam coming out your tailpipe will result in a positive result from this test, but I imagine it would. You could also use this test as further evidence as to whether it is the manifold gasket or headgasket.