Hi all,

First post so apologies in advance.

I know there are loads of threads out there about this but I have yet to find one that suits my case.

About four weeks ago I was driving down the highway, had the fans going and changed the temperature, couple minutes later I noticed the coolant temp was climbing. I changed it back and it dropped back down. I got back home, bled the system and found that air got in the system, I changed the temp to hot, it bubbled a little bit but then settled down and was blowing hot air and operating at normal temp. Just thought it was a bubble in the system and kept driving like normal. About 2 weeks ago, same thing happened, at highway speed I changed the temperature of the air in the cabin and it started to overheat. Got home, bled it again, I cycled the temp dial through each individual index and found it would bubble each index, didn't notice any leaks in the system. Took it to my shop, I trust them, they said head gasket is most likely due to bubbling. They didn't check with combustion fume dye or anything though. I sometimes get a faint smell of coolant from the engine when i get out of the car, but never any puddles or leaks underneath. Had a look in the engine bay last night and there is tons of coolant residue on top of the transmission to the left side of the engine(when looking from the front of the car). I checked the oil, it's still normal color, bronze, no mixing of coolant. My thermostat and fans are good, the coolant temp is steady as long as I don't change the internal temperature. I am planning on doing the head gasket my self, but I would hate to get down there and realize that it was fine. Any other possibilities?? Thanks.

 

A simple compression test can tell a lot , I had an 04 made in can. and it still ran after the head gasket FINALLY blew , It had over heated a few times and I did the radiator fume test and compression , The fume was neg. and the compression was like 140 155 155 140 , And it ran for a year before it quit ,

 

Thanks. I think i'm going to change the head gasket now, before it completely blows on me in a bad spot. It's also relatively low milage (166k kms) so I think it's worth the work.

 

you should do a proper compression test before you do something you don't have to , Don't tighten the gauge plug too much in the plug hole it may be difficult to remove , A cheap thermostat will cause problems when it doesn't function properly , Same with the head gasket and bolts Use only OEM honda parts