94 coupe w/ B16....the coolant seems to be going somewere! There are no puddles or any visible leaks. It takes roughly 5-7 days before its low and begins to run very hot very quicky! It will take about 1-1.5 quarts of water and run cool until it gets low again. This has happened 3 times, im going crazy trying to figure it out and i dont wanna f@#! up my engine!

 

maybe when your eng is running it leaks and drys up cuz of the cars heat? i dont know much though.

 

I hope you don't have a blown headgasket.

 

You gettin' any white smoke out of your exhaust? If so, could be ablown headgasket.

 

That is my gut feeling but, no oil in coolant, no white smoke, no external indications and comp. is 190-180-180-190. Any other indicators of a faulty headgasket?

 

A leakdown test will tell you more.

 

Your problem is that youre using water. Use a 50/50 glycol/water and let us know what happens...

 

At the risk of sounding dumb, could you explain the steps of a leakdown test?

 

Step 1. Borrow, rent or buy a leakdown tester. They usually come with detailed instructions.

 

I can bet you're having the same problem as me. Every week and a half I have to top off my coolant reservoir. My compression test read 185 185 189 189 so I didn't think it couldn't of been anything until I did the leakdown test. I found my radiator bubbled up after putting air through cyl#2. Also never any sign of headgasket problem (no smoke or oil in coolant--the leak was small). Also my car idles funny at start up each morning because of the coolant filling up my #2 cyl's combustion chamber so if your car idles differently, suspect this. hth.

 

this happened to me in the civic i had before my teg....one night i was drivin i stopped at a red light and i overheated in like 2 secs...i take my car home let it cool down pop the hood...all the radiator hoses were sucked shut and there was absolutly no coolant at all...i refilled it...happened again...refilled it...happened again...refilled it and it never happened again...never...i sold my civic about 5 months later and it never happened again.....weird huh

 

At cold start-up, instead of rapidly going 1700 rpm, it rises roughly to 1700 in about 2-3 sec. It idles right at 800 but, the motor "jumps" a little and latley its been backfiring on occasion. I have a chipped p28 that runs a bit on the rich side. Ive been wondering if there is a small leak between the 2 and 3 pistons (190- 180-180-190)

 

No you CANNOT tell if you have a leak with compression numbers. The small variation in your compression numbers could be of the varied amount of carbon buildup in each chambers. The only way is to get a leakdown test, but if your idle is acting liking mine and missing coolant, I'm almost sure you have a similiar problem. You better get it taken care of soon because the coolant in your combustion chamber can easily bend a rod.

 

i had the same problem with my civic, and it turns out i did have a leak. it wasnt a constant leak but it dripped out slowly , so every 3-5 days i had to put in more coolant. turns out the leak was in my water pump it was a simple fix (about 30 min - 1 hour max). anyways im not sure if this is your exact problem but this was the reason why my shitbox was leaking coolant..