Civic EG

Hey everyone. i recently bought a 93 ej2. The first couple days i had it the car drove perfect. On the way home the temp gauge was all the way in the H. So i went home and parked it. The next day i went to autozone and found out my radiatior was leaking. I bought a new radiator and put it in. Now the TEMP is golden. stays right under the half way mark on the temp gauge. I went to start the car and the engine sounds good. I pressed on the gas pedal and around 2500-3000rpm the car starts to shutter. SO i decide to check the spark plugs and in the 2nd hole from the left i had oil on the top of the plug. i got majority of the oil out, and then i replaced all of the plugs and spark plugs wires. Went to drive the car around the block and its responds so much better but the tach is till jumping and when no matter which gear i shift into it is hesitating in the beginning of the rpm range. I appreciate any help u guys can give me. And by the way i did search but i am just hoping i need to bleed the radiator and not the worst case scenario of it being the head gasket as that would be too pricey for my budget at this time.

You have air in your coolant system. Bleed it all out and you should be fine.

Ok, I am going to go try that now. if i remember a post i had read from here all i have to do is while the car is cool remove the radiator cap, start the engine and basically just let it run until i do not see any more bubbles? Is there a certain amount of time this is supposedto take or just until i dont see anymore bubbles? Thanks in advance.

Your lower hose will get hot and then all the bubbles are going to get out. Then put the cap on it and let the air out the bleed valve and you should be good afetr that.

Ok guys i just want to triple check my actions. i had the cap off. cranked the car and waited for it to reach operating temp. once my bottom rad hose got hot i put the cap back on and loosened the valve/bolt that is located as you follow the top rad hose. as soon as i opened it, it started shooting squirts of coolant into the air like a miny geyser. is it doing this because of the built up air in the system? so am i waiting for the air and coolant to stop shooting out until its just coolant dripping out??? Sorry for asking so many questions on something thats supposedto be simple but i just want to make sure. This is what i did yesterday and after oing that for once or twice the car s acting alomost back to normal but its not there yet.

Yea just keep bleeding it from the top until its a clean constant squirt

93ej2 wrote:Ok guys i just want to triple check my actions. i had the cap off. cranked the car and waited for it to reach operating temp. once my bottom rad hose got hot i put the cap back on and loosened the valve/bolt that is located as you follow the top rad hose. as soon as i opened it, it started shooting squirts of coolant into the air like a miny geyser. is it doing this because of the built up air in the system? so am i waiting for the air and coolant to stop shooting out until its just coolant dripping out??? Sorry for asking so many questions on something thats supposedto be simple but i just want to make sure. This is what i did yesterday and after oing that for once or twice the car s acting alomost back to normal but its not there yet.

Wait... you took the cap completely off? No, you only need to loosen it but still have the cap on the rad. This way, the pressure/air can escape while your car is warming up. And do not take the cap off when your car is hot. Let it cool down and then take the cap off. Top off with coolant and you should be done with bleeding.

there is a 'bleeder' just for this purpose:

Thanks D-mon. That is where i have been bleeding it from. I loosened the radiator cap. Strarted the car let it run till operating temp. I felt the bottom hose and it was hot. I tightend the radiator cap and then i openedthe bleed valve all the way up. Air/coolant is hissing out. More air than coolant but it just seems to keep coming and coming. I mean really how much air can be in there? The car is supposed to be on the whole time correct?? Went to autozone to buy some more coolant and the guy told me that if i had the car on that there is always going to be air hissing out my bleed valve . But that doesnt make sense to me. I know i am missing something simple guys. either that or i am expecting postive results too soon. PLEASE HELP OUT GUYS. If i dont figure it out today then tomorrow i am going to post a vid.

it can take a while.
you can add water. usually start with about 50/50 mix of coolant.
so if you fill up with coolant/water and just add water after that.

Well guys the culprit has been found. Was driving down the street and the car died on me and it would not crank back up. Got it home and just said screw it and called two mechanics and they came to the same conclusion that the headgaskety was blown. They quoted me 500 dollars and thats labor and parts. So i am going to go ahead and let them do it and save myself the headache. The only thing i am wondering is did the headgasket get messed up before or after i changed the radiator?? hmmm

was there white smoke coming out from the tailpipe? How about a milky looking oil in your engine cap? Those are the signs of headgasket gone bad.