Posted earlier about what I believed was a head gasket issue, gurgling, bubbles in over flow, and momentary misfire in cylinder 1, which went away...

Anyways, this is what I have done and observed...

Pulled all plugs, cylinders were not shiny clean, nor were any of the plugs.

I believe cylinder 1 misfired due to faulty spark plug - will be changing soon.

1) I rented a block tester. And left it on the the rad filler for a good 1/2 hour, liquid remained BLUE - I assume the YELLOW would be very noticeable?

2) No water in oil

3) Top radiator hose is collapsing when engine cools down

4) Gurgling and lots of steam coming out engine Radiator overflow/radiator fill with cap off, does not do it as bad when heater bypass switched on. Gurgles when engine shut down after running a while and puking coolant from over flow tank.

5) Engine is not showing it is overheating, but have been running a/c and both fans are kicking on

Water pump and timing assembly are about 2 years old, I can see the water circulating.

I should preface all of this with saying I tried the K&W fiberlock, a couple of days ago. I will be flushing the system this weekend.

Since none of the cylinders/pistons/plugs are "steam cleaned", can I safely assume that something is wrong with the cooling system?

Radiator is not that old. Thermostat and rad cap are probably 6 months old but autozone bought.

Thoughts? Thanks, I really appreciate it. Will still probably be selling my Honda to a family member to get to college, but feel better knowing that I don't think the HG is the problem.

Thanks again!

 

Anyone? Thanks, trying to resolve this by the weekend...

 

 

<p>First off, your radiator hose shouldn't be collapsing. &nbsp;Replace it. &nbsp;Second off, have you done a compression test? &nbsp;I don't see any mention of one.</p>

 

I'm thinking you don't have a blown head gasket.

I've seen 4-5 Civics with blown head gaskets, and in the cases where we knew the cause, it was because someone severely over heated the engine.

All the cases I've seen will blow coolant about three feet out the radiator (with the cap off) when you crank/start it. High enough to hit the hood.

You say it is not over heating. Normally, when a head gasket is blown, the engine will over heat because the combustion fire is superheating the coolant. It is getting out of the cylinders and into the coolant system.

I saw a case where the cap was missing one of the two rubber seals. Take your cap off and make sure there are two rubber seals there.

lrhtech

 

One other thing...

You can get a cooling system pressure tester. You put it on the radiator like it was a radiator cap, pump it to build pressure, and then watch the pressure to see if it drops. If it does, the pressure is going somewhere. Either leaking onto the ground, into the cabin, or into the cylinders from a blown head gasket.

It will come with instructions, but you can expect to lose a little pressure in the first minute or so as the all the rubber hoses expand a little under pressure.

lrhtech

 

Thanks. So you are saying the coolant block tester is not accurate, thus the need for a compression test? I flushed out the block and radiator this weekend, replaced the plugs, wires, cap, rotor and she is no longer boiling over, at least for the 20 minutes I drove it. Idles perfect, no missing.

With the issue of a HG failure, wouldn't the engine not idle correctly or idle rough? Runs as smooth as glass... The inside of the cap had green corrosion on the terminals, I wonder if mositure got inside the cap... thus the misfire?

I picked up the OEM thermostat and radiator cap, and experienced no previous issues. So, all in all, maybe I should not be concerned with the possibility of a HG failure? Thanks again.