This happened on a: 1990 Honda Civic LX 16 valve engine.

Aggg. I'm trying to sell my Honda, some guy calls, wants to buy it. I drive it to the gas station (to fill the tank up, as a courtesy), get home (total round trip, 7~ miles), the Civic starts to shudder around 1,000~3,000 RPMs once I pull into my driveway. Now, it HAS been driven every weekend, for a few miles (10 min, etc...). I back it up, and rev the engine (again, 1,000-3,000) to see if it'll stop - I hear a loud pop, smoke, and radiator fluid is running out the engine. I stopped it immediately after the pop (before I know what happened), and ran away, thinking the worst.

It seems the front radiator hose blew apart next to the engine. The car did not appear to be leaking antifreeze - I checked my driveway for any drips.

HOWEVER, it was shuddering. My dad thought the thermostat could have locked up. Yikes!

So, here are a few questions:

1) How do I tell if the thermostat locked up - is this even possible?

2) Can I just replace the hose - I called the local Honda dealership, but it was closed - or do I have to "bleed" the system (sorry! I have only worked on an ACVW before, and have not messed with any of this watercooled stuff) when I put new antifreeze in?

3) If the guy was going to pay a certain amount, how much damage does this do to the asking price? 100.00? 200.00? Or does this just "happen"? I will obviously tell him, as we've listed every other fault with the car, it's just disappointing. I'm VERY thankful it happened before he test drove it, or drove it home.

4) I can do rudimentary things to engines - spark plugs, hoses, wiring, etc... However, if this sort of thing is too difficult/important for me to do, let me know, and I'll probably bring it in to the dealership.

5) I generally buy genuine Honda parts - is this the same with the hose? Or will any regular hose do?

Thanks!

John

 

You guys might have put the thermostat in facing the wrong way.... hoses you can just get one at your local autozone for cheap.. working on stock hondas is easier than eatin a pancake, and I wouldn't even bother bleeding the system, just refill the reserve, and off you are!

 

Well, I never installed the thermostat, but would a stuck thermostat have caused the shuddering? And, the thermostat's been working fine for a while, so I'm going to assume it was put facing the right way.

In any event, my dad is picking up some hose today, and I'll be changing it when I get home. This is really frustrating.


Modified by ururk at 8:52 AM 8/17/2005

 

Bust out the Civic Workshop Manual, it'll tell you how to replace it all. Bleeding the system is really easy, I dont know why you wouldnt bother doing so.

 

Ok, I put the new hose in, filled it up with Antifreeze - 1 gallon. Filled the oil, and ran the engine, drove it a bit. Everything seemed OK. The person came, bought the car, took it on the expressway - he told us it started billowing smoke, and it lost power. We've agreed to take it back, both parties understanding the situation.

So, did the engine burn up? It only ran for a few seconds (5?) when the hose blew!

Should I part it out, if the engine burned out, or is my best bet with a donation?

 

Ok... got the Honda back. Sigh.

His friend said the head probably cracked.

When he drove it back, it heated up/cooled down, as he was coming back. So, should I part the thing out, or donate it to charity? Right now we're looking at what charity would write it off as.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ururk &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
His friend said the head probably cracked.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Is the head cracked or the head gasket cracked? Either way, you can get a new headgasket cheap at autozone and a new cylinder head cheap at the junkyard $60 ish?). Replacing either of them is about a 4-5 hour job.. maybe less if you've done it before.

I'm guessing head gasket though. You also might want to check the little metal thing where the upper radiator hose connects with the engine.

If you didn't bleed the system after you replaced the hose odds are you could have done a lot more damage to your engine. If you don't bleed the system you end up leaving air in their, and when air heats up it screwed up the cooling of your engine, causing it to overheat VERY quickly. It's possible that you didn't bleed it correctly, and when the new owner drove it the air bubbles caused it to overheat and blew the head gasket.

Always bleed the cooling system... and be sure not to use pure antifreeze in there either. you want a 50/50 water antifreeze mix.

If you just want to get rid of the car, donate it, sell it broken, or just send it ot the junkyard and get $100 out of it.

Or this is a good time to try to learn how to fix it.

 

I would bet there was a nice big air bubble in the coolant system because of the awesome advice provided by the folks on this forum.

Chris

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiMateoAko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is the head cracked or the head gasket cracked? Either way, you can get a new headgasket cheap at autozone and a new cylinder head cheap at the junkyard $60 ish?). Replacing either of them is about a 4-5 hour job.. maybe less if you've done it before.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Don't know - how do I tell?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiMateoAko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you didn't bleed the system after you replaced the hose odds are you could have done a lot more damage to your engine.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Well, this will be the last time I ignore my intuition. I did NOT bleed the system, as per comment above. By "lot more damage" I'm assuming you mean more than a cracked head/headgasket?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiMateoAko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Always bleed the cooling system... and be sure not to use pure antifreeze in there either. you want a 50/50 water antifreeze mix.</TD></TR></TABLE>
It was a mix.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiMateoAko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you just want to get rid of the car, donate it, sell it broken, or just send it ot the junkyard and get $100 out of it.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I've made the call for a "quote" form the local charity. In the meantime, is there a link (not a book - don't have time to go to the library/store) to a quick explanation on how to replace just the gasket, and perhaps even the head?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiMateoAko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Or this is a good time to try to learn how to fix it. </TD></TR></TABLE>
Do you know how tempting that is for me? But then, I really can't get much more for it then than the charity will get me in taxes (assuming they even take it).


Thanks!!!!!

John

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxrocks &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would bet there was a nice big air bubble in the coolant system because of the awesome advice provided by the folks on this forum.</TD></TR></TABLE>



To the original poster, the serious damage I speak of would have been a cracked head or a blown head gasket. More than likely it was a blown head gasket.

You can tell if your head gasket is blown if your oil is mocha colored, or if the smoke that came out of the exhaust was white.

As for how to fix it, you might just want to go to Autozone and get the helms manual for your car. It has pretty good instructions in it. I've never done the job myself, but I'm confident that I could now. I didn't know crap about these cars until I was driving from Southern California back home to Salt Lake City, Utah and my head gasket blew, leaving us stranded in Las Vegas for 3 days. The repair ended up costing me $800 plus food and the hotel room. Oh, and the money I lost gambling too. Anyway, ever since then I've been determined to learn about my car. I have learned so much from this forum and from taking trips to the junkyard. In my opinion taking stuff apart at the junkyard is the best way to learn how to put stuff back together.

Anyway, if you want to learn how to fix up your car, this is the place to do it. Even if all you want to do is fix it and leave it in stock condition, the advice you'll get here is invaluable....

that's assuming you can ignore the people who tell you not to bleed your cooling system.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SiMateoAko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">More than likely it was a blown head gasket.

You can tell if your head gasket is blown if your oil is mocha colored, or if the smoke that came out of the exhaust was white.</TD></TR></TABLE>The smoke was white. I'm heading to the library tomorrow afternoon, to check out the Honda manual. Anything against Chiltons?

The Honda may not go - if I can lick this problem AND the intermittent startup issue (occasionally it won't start up, usually in the winter, new battery), my family may end up keeping the Honda for another winter. Only problem, it needs a timing belt AND water pump (around that mileage...), and I don't have any tools to do those jobs.

Law of diminishing returns. Sigh.

 

Chiltons will work.

 

http://www.jdmuniverse.com/for...32971
This seems doable, but I'm skeptical. I'm only using the link as a reference point. I've never used a torque wrench ($25), would have to buy one. Plus the gasket ($25), a water pump ($66), timing belt ($44), new studs ($$$?). The water pump and timing belt are due in 30k miles anyhow. It looks fun... The ONLY issue I see is getting the pulley off, and the engine mount. I'll get the manual tomorrow, and give it a good look over.

 

Just think of it this way. If you learn how to fix a head gasket, replace your timing belt, and replace your water pump, you've saved yourself hundreds (actually, over a thousand) of dollars in fees from a mechanic. They charge a lot to replace that stuff because it takes time.

ACtually, I have no idea why they charge so much to replace the head gasket. A job like that shouldn't take 3 days and $800 like it did in my case.

BTW, thanks for the link. I'm probably going to use it as a guide for when I do my mini-me swap.

 

Well, it's going to Charity Motors - couldn't convince my parents it was worth it to fix up the old Honda. My family still has two civics - 96 and 98 - which I might get the go ahead to replace the timing belt/water pump when necessary.

Thanks for all the help!

John


PS - I really really really wanted to take it apart! But... my track record with car repairs indicates the repair might have taken a week, instead of one day. It's not that I'm lazy, just that I never have EVERYTHING I need when I set out to work on something, and it ends up taking me twice as long as it should. Even if I prepare. Either I lose a screw, or missed a vital thing, or a part doesn't come in on time, or I have to soak something in WD-40, etc... It would have gotten done, just not as "fast" as a shop.