1993 Honda Civic DX

I must have been putting too much pressure on my engine one cold night when coolant began spraying and smoke was clearly visible (looked like it was overheating) from around the area the coolant resovoir is. I let it cool down, did not see anything noticeably wrong with any hoses by the resovoir. Began driving, and noticed at highway speeds, my thermometer dropped. Heater blew colder air. But warms back up at speeds below 25 mph. In idle (upon cold start) rpms pulsate until thermometer reaches right above cold mark. In idle (after engine has warmed up) thermometer reads HOT (max). Cannot seem to find the issue and was wondering if anyone knew what it may be...

 

Stop driving the car until the issue is fixed.

Car information is needed. Add it to your first post.

 

Yeah you definitely have a problem somewhere with your cooling system if your overheating. I would check all hoses, clamps, and reservoir or radiator for cracks. I'm pretty sure you don't wanna warp anything so make sure not to drive it. Even if you drive it and it doesn't overheat if their is pockets of air it could potentially warp a section of the cylinder wall. check you oil dipstick and see if you see any milky looking substance or if you have oil in your reservoir.

 

Thanks for the reply! There is no milky substance on the oil dipstick, neither is there any oil in my coolant resovoir... I thought I had just blown a hose considering the coolant spraying, but there seems to be no signs of where it could be coming from...

 

My 1993 Honda Civic DX has a terrible oil leak, I know it's also burning oil.. Oil only seems to leak when the engine is hot. At higher RPMs I can smell the oil burning. Spent numerous hours trying to figure out how to resolve this problem, even replaced oil pan gasket. I also had to install a "pan-saver" (universal drain plug) because the oil pan was stripped. Nearly 2 quarts A DAY is being consumed/leaked out. If you anyone has any info on how to help, please do...

 

So I'm under assumption that you see no visible external leaks? Or is there oil puddling under your car and you just haven't stated that?

 

I did forget to state that. After taking a look under the car on jack stands, looks like it leaks from the exhaust pipe, leaving the oil pan covered in oil. When engine is still hot, I see a lot of smoke coming from the exhaust pipe.

 

ypu might need to redo the oil pan gasket. Heard they're tricky to do.

 

Can you disconnect the exhaust manifold (header) and look into the exhaust ports of the head?

I suspect you will see a large amount of carbon buildup around your exhaust valves by what you are describing.

You will be looking at something like this:



Here is another view you would see if you pulled the head itself, these have a heavy build up. If yours look anything like #1 and #3 in the pic below let us know:

 

After seeing your coolant/overheating issue thread......

I think you are in for a much bigger job than just valve seals.

Have you done a compression test? If not I would do so and post the numbers here.

I merged your threads as I believe that all these issues on your car are quite likely related.

^ this is seriously good advise ^