Hello, I have a 94 Civic VX.

For the past week or so, when I start the cold car, it runs really rough, and I have to give it gas just for the car to balance out to act normal.

The car would also randomly start overheating maybe every few days--I think it might have happened no more than 3-4 times. Most of the time it would move to about the half way point, which isn't that much hotter than normal. At that point, I threw the heat on full blast and the temp gauge would return to normal. There were two instances where the car would really start overheating. One time I added coolant (it didn't take much for the radiator to fill), the other time I kicked the heat on till I could pull over safely off the highway, but the time I pulled over, the temp was normal. Before starting the car during this time, I checked the coolant maybe twice, and both times, the radiator/overflow barely took in any coolant.

During this time, upon starting the car, my driver side blinker and headlight --both low and high -- were shot front end. The blinker on the passenger side was fine, the light I'm not sure, the bulb needs to be replaced. The next morning, the blinker was fine, and the light was dull. After playing around with the car, restarting it and such, everything was fine.

The final thing: the oil light has been cutting on when I start the car. I have an oil link at the o ring where the distributor connects to engine block. I checked the oil level and it looked good.

Now, on Wednesday, that was the day I checked the oil level. I saw it was fine so my next thought was oil pressure, so I was going to bring it to the shop I usually deal with for them to check it out. I added a tiny bit of oil to the car, in spite of the fact the dipstick I was fine. When I started the car, the oil light did not turn on.

I drove a bit and turned the car off. When I started up again, the car started real rough like it has, so I instantly hit the gas to clear it out, but while i did, it spat out a good amount of white smoke. Once it evened out, I was on my way. Maybe 10 minutes later, the car started to overheat, probably 3/4 of the way to red. I hit the heat to cool it down till i could pull over safely, but it brought the temp right down to normal, so I kept driving. I made it to the garage with no more problems.

I let the garage know about what has been going on and they checked it out.

- They told me they wanted to change the oil and add Lucas. I knew I was due for an oil change.
- They found coolant in one of the spark plugs--causing the misfire at start.
- They had also found some oil in the spark plug wells.
- They saw the valve cover gasket was bad (the rings around the spark plug well tops)
- they refilled coolant and added sealer

They said I should be good to go.

Now the car runs fine--so far, but I have noticed the idle is off.

I'm thinking of bringing it for a compression test just for ease of mind, what are your thoughts on this situation? A lot of the things that I witnessed myself, and stuff the garage had told me made me think it was head gasket.

Thank you.

 

It is almost certainly your head gasket. Do not continue driving the car if it is continually overheating... this will destroy your head. You need to replace the head gasket, and have the head checked for warpage (and milled, if needed.)

EDIT: What "sealer" did they add? Did they test for the presence of exhaust gasses in the coolant? Is at an actual mechanic you're taking it to?

 

What did the mechanic charge you for his Band-Aid repair? Fixes in a bottle are not fixes. In fact, they generally worsen problems.

Also, it sounds like the root of the problems is that you do not do routine car maintenance.

 

Yeah i figured it was the gasket. I asked a guy I know who knows Hondas and he confirmed what I have been thinking as well as what I have heard from other people.

I am not sure what coolant sealer they used. I.am heading back to the garage today to ask some questions as to what was actually going on. When they told me they were going to add the sealant, I wasn't really familiar with anything they were talking about, and I figured I could trust their choice since I have been dealing with these guys for two years about.

They ended up charging me 300ish for all this.

And there were no tests that I am aware of. Nothing for the exhaust fumes in coolant, no engine tests, nothing at all.

And this was an actual mechanic, been there for years, works with AAA and everything.

*edit

So I went and talked to the garage. I asked him if he thought based on what I told him and what he saw, if he thought it might be a head gasket. Now he says, yes it could be, but we don't know. We did what we did to get your car running and to buy it some time, but to keep an eye on everything as you drive.

as for the sealer, I think he said it was called Winds? I haven't seen anything online called that, he said a guy comes by and delivers it in bulk. He asked me if car is running fine, I told him about the poor idle and some tiny air bubbles I noticed in coolant.

I also noticed while starting car this afternoon that the radiator was topped off with coolant when earlier this morning it had nothing. In the coolant I noticed some tiny air bubbles floating around in there.

 

These civics are getting old and problems can manifest in many different forms.

Personally I would replaced all engine hoses and the thermostat first and check to make sure the fan is working correctly.