When i revved my engine today for the hell of it while in neutral i saw white smoke coming from exhaust, i was reading somewhere it can be a coolant leak?
i did notice i had to refill my coolant reservoir fast than normal last moth.

how can i check for leaks? my car doesn't overheat and oil level is good.
please help me.

95 civic sedan d15 engine 5spd 161k miles

 

Well, you may have a blown head gasket, or cracked head. does it pump out white smoke at idle at all? or just when you rev it up?

 

Coolant leaks, maybe from the radiator would probably create white smoke coming from the engine compartment, would would be able to see them by the naked eye. You probably have a blown head gasket. Head gaskets need to be changed every 100k.

 

when i turn on car and let it idle, no smoke.
only when i rev it to redline and hold it for a bit

no white smoke from engine
so its probably a head gasket?

 

I would say yes head gasket. and since your gonna be that far into it anyway, change your timing belt and water pump and tensioner as well.

 

id be kind of scared to do the gasket myself,
a buddy of mine would charge me 150 to change it.

 

You should probably get the parts and have a certified mechanic do it. That way they can compression test afterward and make sure the job is done right.

 

for now, how can i keep it lasting long as possible without blowing it?
i don't got 400 bucks to replace it right now.

 

well, drive as little as possible, and dont rev it too high. certanly dont go to redline

 

i drive 70 miles a day :/ m-f

ill be driving 60-65 everyday now.

 

If you don't act quickly and replace the head gasket, you may be shopping for a replacement engine.

 

damn ,
oh my buddy charging me 150 also has a compression test.
he's done it on other cars before should i go to him. he fixed my cousins b20 he hasn't had any problems.

 

Remove the head and check for warpage using a precision straight edge. If the head is warped, it must be milled flat or replaced.

Install a new OEM head gasket and also buy new head bolts, which must be torqued to spec in proper sequence in several steps.

 

If you trust him to do the job right do what you gotta do to save a buck, but, change your timing belt,waterpump, and tensioner while your at it. with that many miles that timing belt may be ready to break. and you seriously dont want that.

 

If you trust your buddy, nothing wrong with that. Just be sure to get an OEM gasket, that's really the real key part. And what he above me said is great advice too ^^^^

 

hows this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GATES-Timing...9cbb80&vxp=mtr

 

I would recommend OEM only for timing belt and water pump. Typically aftermarket belts and water pumps don't last and you got to do it all over again real soon or you destroy the engine when the belt goes while cruzing 60 down the highway.

 

oh okay so search for oem?
places like auto zone and such should have them right?


sorry for all these questions, I'm new to this.

second edit:
are these good prices??

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/HONDA-OEM-192...item20de48c58f

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141168265322?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D141168265322%26_rdc%3D1

 

To get OEM you usually go to the parts desk of a Honda dealership. Even though that listing looks to be an OEM dealer for Honda.

You can check your local dealer for cost for your belt and grab the part number from them and then compare. On Ebay you also have shipping to take into consideration. Also any problems you have to ship back etc. Dealing with your local dealer is easier even if it's a little more expensive.

 

Lol...he gets white smoke when he holds the car at the rev limit in neutral so everyone here just says "omg headgasket". Nevermind that the car does not over heat or smoke at idle.

Condensation. From hot air hitting cooler air. Probably nothing at all wrong with the car.

What temp is it outside? What does the smoke smell like?

 

This is a very good question.

I know for a fact the D15B7 at redline sucks oil through the pcv system and will blow a fair amount of smoke but only at redline being held. The smell will tell you for sure. If it smells like coolant it would be indicative of a bad head gasket, but if it smells of oil it's the oil not being separated in the breather due to the increase in vacuum and going through the pcv back into the intake manifold to be burned in the cylinder.

You can buy or rent a block tester and test for a bad head gasket or cracked block/head and know before you go to all the trouble of a gasket/timing belt/water pump job.

 

Oil burning yields blue smoke, whereas coolant burning yields white smoke.

 

Depends on how much oil. It should have a blue tint but can look mostly white.

I remember the plumes and plumes of what looked like mostly white smoke after doing my wet compression test. Took 5 minutes to burn it all out of the cylinders, definitely wasn't a strong blue, actually looked mostly white.

I also remember how it looked when I redlined it down the road in 2nd gear and seeing quite a bit of smoke that predominately looked white.

The blue seems to be when it's less oil being burned like when the oil control rings are finally giving up the ghost. I think the pvc system dumps a bit more oil than that into the cylinders on redline.

 

I can't dispute what you're saying, but it's well known that oil burning in the cylinders produces smoke with a bluish color.

The OP reported white smoke. He could post a video to verify.

 

I agree totally, also the OP said he had to refill his reservoir quickly last month.

Just thinking like your signature, "Don't guess, troubleshoot." i.e. Block tester and be sure.