Hey guys, I'm having a smoking issue with my ej2 and I have already searched and haven't found any threads relating to my specific issue.

The problem is that the car overheats and smokes what I'm pretty sure is coolant, but it only makes smoke after the car is warmed up and the temp gauge starts reading just around 1/2. After the car has warmed up the temp needle starts climbing quickly (but I kill the motor before it gets too hot) Now when it was still cold here (-20*C) I tried testing the car out and let it idle for a good 30-40 minutes and it never overheated or even smoked. The guy I bought the car off of said he replaced the headgasket within the last year, and it would like to rule everything else out before replacing it again. Yesterday when I had it running, after 20min the car started to smoke from what looked like the thermostat housing, but it was coming from the area just under the intake manifold runner, and I couldn't figure it out before I decided to turn the car off.

I also get another issue where the car sometimes continues to run even after I turn it off, but then dies after I put the clutch in. I'm stumped on this issue completely..

 

What kind of smoke, also if the exhaust has sweetish smell to it its coolant (headgasket)

But from what you have posted, sounds like the head gasket is leaking (internally , combustion chamber)

 

Its a normal grey smoke (might be a tad blue but not noticeable with the little amount of smoke) with no smell. Im pretty sure the thermostat is broken closed, but the car takes a while to warm up. Also just found out my battery isn't holding power (alternator may be shot) had to keep the battery booster hooked up to drive it around the block.

 

the water inlet pipe may be leaking. it goes between the thermostat housing and the water pump. sometimes where the seam of the pipe/tube is welded from the factory gets eaten away. I just fixed this on my D16Z6 last weekend. now I wish I had taken some pictures. I had to do a temporary fix and cover the inside and out with JB weld.

if that is the problem you will need to order the part from Honda or go to a junk yard.

 

I will have to check that tomorrow, I haven't seen any leaks or puddles under the car. But I will be looking at this tomorrow.

 

Blueish smoke is a sign of worn out rings. So your burning oil.

Only thing you can do to fix that besides replacing the rings is to use full synthetic oil , i know mobile 1 works with almost no smoke whats so ever. You will still burn oil but it wont smoke nearly as bad and that only if your rings are worn, not if your leaking coolant. Hope that helps.

Is your rad. fan coming on???

 

Rad fan never came on when I bought the car, so I made it come on during ignition run until I got the problems fixed.

 

Probably gasket I had the same problem except mine was a full track car instead I had exhaust or "smog leak" if you will into the car through the fire wall. But until yesterday I hydro jetted into a puddle and "BOOM!" went my engine! Two giant cracks on the block and oil errr where! :'(

 

Well its been a while, everytime I get a chance to work on the car it snows and now its starting to get warm and the snow is gone for the most part. I picked up a new thermostat, oil filter and oil, so I will be doing a coolant flush tomorrow and hopefully an oil change at the same time to see if those will help with my issue before just assuming its the headgasket. (Oil is extremely black, previous owner probably skipped a few oil changes before I bought her and thankfully I havent put any miles on her since I bought it)

Also found out last week that a lot of the fuses were the wrong Amp and a few were missing (Rad Fan was one), along with my CEL light being pulled to mask the Primary 02 Sensor Heater code.

 

Have u check your oil color to see if its mixing water in there or coolant to see if there is oil in there? Even you checked if its burning either away?

 

before you jump to the HG assumption as some other ppl suggested. make sure you don't have a minor leak some where the coolant flows a lot more when the car is actualy going vs at idle. 2nd leakdown test before you go at the HG

 

I've checked the oil and coolant neither of them seem to be mixing in the top of the rad or the oil pan. But both the thermostat and oil need to be changed regardless due to the fact they haven't probably been done in a long time since the oil is pitch black and the thermostat housing has lots of buildup. I still need to check if there is any leaks or mixing somewhere, and I was planning on doing a leakdown and compression test before I'd even think of doing the head gasket.

If the weather is nice today which it seems will be then I will hopefully have time to get stuff done on the car.