Sister picked up a 92 Civic DX with 120,000 miles. They drove it cross country from Cinncinati, OH to Phoenix, AZ. Just outside of Phoenix (where I live) they started having chronic overheating problems (couldn't hardly go a mile before it started overheating again). It's got to the point that it won't hardly run or even start.

My father and I have been working on it to resolve the issues ever since. We found that it got so hot the spark plug wires melted inside the head. Also the plastic shroud covering the lower part of the timing melt in between the engine and the belt itself was in a state of hardened goo. Water pump was not leaking, but we replaced it for good measure. Thermastat has been replaced as well and of course the spark plug wires. After digging the the chunk of rubber and plastic around plugs and vacuuming out the little piece we remove the plugs themselves. The plugs had a correct gap and were not bad condition either. We do have spark from the new wires now. Compression is 135,120,120,133 respective to 1,2,3,4 cylinders.

Though we were able to get the engine back together, set the timing of the crankshaft, cam gear pulley to TDC, and line up the distributor to the number 1 position; now the car will not start.

Today my Dad was tweaking the distributor and checking the timing again. He was able to start the car and have it running for a very short while till it died again. He found the electrical timing was about 40 degrees advance of TDC on the crankshaft pulley indicators. He rotated the timing belt by I gear tooth and got it down to 30 degrees and it started again. However, when moving the belt a couple of more notches it yielded nothing. Even moving it back to either 30 or 40 degrees still did not start the car.


The inconsistencies are driving us bonkers. Any ideas?

 

sometimes a blown headgasket can cause crazy things to happen check that out.

 

We are dreading that as a possibility too. We not see a mixture of fluids though.

 

are you positive that the crank timing isn't 180 off?

 

could be the HG is fucked up and leting exhaust gasses into the coolent and heating up the fluid. if you get the ca runing, let it run with the rad cap off to see if it boil over

 

if u have a blown'ed head gasket. when does it start boiling over?

 

sir i suggest you double chk your cam timing if it is realy at TDC then you can chk olso your clynder head gasket

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ARIZONA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">are you positive that the crank timing isn't 180 off?</TD></TR></TABLE>

how would it have driven so far in the first place if that were true?

 

a head gasket is cake but when you change it make sure the head isnt warped. if it is im sure you can find a dx head relativly cheap or better yet a z6 head with and add a knock sensor and rock it mini me style.

not to jack your thread but PM me, i have everything you need for the mini me swap i will sell it for a good price too

 

Thanks all for your input!

I had another mechanic friend take a look at thing and found that compression is being lost right out of the radiator indicating a head gasket as well.

Now lets just hope that all. No warped head or worse yet, a cracked head. I found a machine shop here in Mesa, AZ that would level it for $45.

Any suggestions for brand of a head gasket or should I get the whole HG kit? I usually go with the premium parts from Carquest (Gates belts, 10 micron oil filters, etc.). Or would it be better to be raped by Honda for a kit?

 

just get the honda OEM head gasket, it will be worth it in the long run

 

yea just buy the head gasket kit from honda. it comes with the head gasket, intake manifold gasket, exhaust gasket, valvecover gasket and the spark plug gaskets.