Civic-EG.com Forum 3.3.1

- Sat Jan 01, 2011 5:06 pm #230839 I replaced my head gasket about 20,000 miles ago because the expansion tank was slowly overfilling when highway driving during the summer. Now my expansion tank is mostly emtying and from wherever it is coming the fluid is spraying upward onto the underside of the hood. Because of the cold temperatures here in Pennsylvania it takes awhile to get the problem to occur for locating the exact location of the leak. I will be driving the car shortly with a rag on the cap of the expansion tank to see if the leak is indeed from there. In the meantime, is it possible that my radiator is bad and could be the cause of this problem and not the headgasket? I replaced the thermostat with a superstat yesterday and put my old radiator cap back on this morning and I'm waiting for my son to call for a ride home from work and then I'll take a rip to pick him up and will report back. I'm pretty sure it's the headgasket, the engine has about 330,000 miles on it but the radiator has 582,000 on it. I put a water hose in the top radiator hose yesterday and it flowed fine out through the bottom hose. Does this prove the radiator isn't blocked? I have a 98 CX, D16Y7, but I post here because I get good information here. Happy New Year to everyone!

- Sat Jan 01, 2011 5:40 pm #230841 Is there coolant in your oil?
Open your radiator cap and rev the engine and see if there is bubbles coming out from your radiator. That would probably mean its a head gasket..

But if it was your head gasket i dont know how the coolant would be shooting up to your hood.
My guess is a small hole on a hose..or radiator.
Or maybe a bad radiator cap?


Thats my guess..

- Sat Jan 01, 2011 6:36 pm #230849 I'm gonna give the gentleman's guess and say its the radiator. How would I know? I had the same problem no more than a week ago. I drive 15 mins to work & back, my car does not heat up enough to steam out, it was dripping out. I would be able to smell the antifreeze when I drive though.

I had about a 7" crack on the upper tank. After a few expletives, I busted out the dremel and JB weld and patched it up. Once it was drying, I ordered a aluminum radiator. Should be in next week.

- Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:16 pm #230864 It's the radiator HALLELUJAH. There's a hairline crack along the radius on the top front, it was behind a strip of foam to protect against vibration I guess.
What threw me was that the overflow tank was emptying. DAMN I'm happy about this situation. Good call ImThaBean.

- Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:43 pm #231044 Since I need my car for work tomorrow I bought a RediRad from AdvanceAuto which is not my normal practice for such an item, the precision is usually lacking. Well I ordered online last night for store pickup today and they had a 20% discount coupon which was great. I picked up the part this morning and checked it out at the store. One of the bottom mounting posts was broken off and rattling around the box. They had another box in stock marked with the same p/n, only the one I got is 1" wide (about) not the 5/8" of the stock part. I figured this is an upgrade, it was the same price and it was the only other they had. What do you think, can this cause any issues? Also together with the Superstant thermostat I put in I couldn't get the coolant flowing in this weather to properly bleed the system. The engine temp didn't get past 204 F and it ran ok but was knocking more than usual going up the hills around here. Anyway it's back to work tomorrow after a long holiday, hopefully the ride in will be uneventful. Oh and the outlet diameter on the radiator was about 1.5 mm under so I couldn't use the stock hose clamp, it leaked with it so I put on a band clamp I had around.