Hey everyone,

I'm back on team Civic after a few years, got my fourth civic and this time it's a '99 5 speed EX (D16Y8) with 220,000 miles. I've had it for almost a year and I've had some overheating issues recently. Temperature stays fine on my commute to work in the mornings (25-30 miles, ~45 minutes), but creeps to about 3/4ths on the temperature gauge (sometimes a little higher) when it's hot outside and while I'm in traffic or driving up hill. I think I might have a blown head gasket, but I'm also looking to get more opinions. Here are the facts/indications:

Milky oil? no
Milky/oily radiator cap? no
oily coolant in reservoir? yes
Trouble starting? yes, intermittent. When starting from cold, it sounds like 3 of 4 cylinders are firing for a few seconds before the fourth kicks in
Changed ECT sensor over the weekend (2 days ago from this post); burped the system and I'm having the same overheating issues.
White smoke from exhaust? no
Coolant is going somewhere. I keep needing to top it up every 1-2 weeks.
The radiator fan does cycle on and off.

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

 

Have you checked for coolant leaks? You can also rent a tester kit from your local parts store to test for exhaust leaks goin into coolant.

Change out thermostat since it’s cheap or you can check yours by pulling it out and throwing it in pot of boiling water to see if it opens up.

 

oooo great tip. I'll do that next. Shout-out to for showing how to take it off and to for showing how to test it. I'll reply to this thread with what I find out.

 

you having oil in the coolant tank doesnt sound promising. same with the trouble starting and rough idle at first

 

Agreed. This is how it starts. I drove my EF this way for over a year, just keeping coolant in it and it was fine. A few weeks ago it started getting exponentially worse, and also steaming from the exhaust. It's a bad HG.

 

You guys were right. I took the car to a nearby mechanic and he confirmed that the head gasket is blown, unfortunately. Now i'm looking to whether or not I should fix it or swap in a B18. Thanks for your input

 

Perfect time to make the jump to the DOHC engine.

 

Perfect time to make the jump to the K-series engine.