Early sign(s) of a leaking head gasket?

[Ryanabn82]

Hello All.
Need some ideas/help/tips - whatever
starting off I have a 2000 civic lx sedan d16y7 automatic..ugh...Vehicle had one previous owner who was by the book on maintenance...at 200,xxx miles it still runs nicely etc.

No major mods..your typical intake header and exhaust from an EX model...Starting last week I noticed a short period of white smoke in the AM that quickly disappeared...I know cold morning starts produce a "smoke like" exhaust but today I really took notice that this wasnt early am temperature starting "smoke" quick check of the engine bay I notice small line of green sludge coming from corner of motor on the side the dizzy is on...i wiped it clean then noticed the coolant inlet was dirty on the bottom yet didnt see a visible leak...just a rotted out gasket (1st guess) started following the trail and then found jut a dime sized collection of coolant on the bottom of the block (see picture) wtf....ok. lets check the overflow since its not overheating etc...overflow is near empty...ok im losing coolant but no signs of stains on the floor/rest of the under-carriage...so i must be burning it..little by little right? checked plugs/valves notice a minimal amount making it past the gasket.. so off to auto zone no overheating smoke on start up for 10 sec (got worse when shifting from P to R??) otherwise doesn't happen again rest of drive/return home...while there i purchased K&W head/block/gasket seal for like 55$ (on sale and military discount + DOUBLE money back if it doesn't work..haha) as a precaution as well as coolant and gasket maker (if it turns out to be just inlet leak) I haven't touched the vehicle since. mostly because i work early and once i start working on the car it starts 2-3 side projects and next thing i know its 2 hours until work and i'm rushing to put everything together...I recently replaced a leaking valve gasket set and it has yet to show one drop so ruled that out...do not feeling like doing a head gasket replacement due to time mostly (work mon-sat Sunday off at radiator depot) original plan was y8 head swap with little internal upgrade etc....now i'm leaning towards complete swap for B20...for 279$ it would be as much as fixing this d series...anyone experience anything like this....no overheating - runs smooth but after running that small sign of a leak...before i start into it trying to get a better idea...replacing whatever type of material is peeling off the inlet area + the head gasket sealer as a preventative measure (until new head or motor is bought) is a lot easier than a head gasket swap....





above is an area on the block where i noticed a second leak of green sludge??

* the white stuff on the header was to cover a drill hole from pervious owner/slight leak - now sanded/fixed..
* I am aware of the distributor and the signs of leaking there as well..

 

[Ryanabn82]

...annnybody at all..?

 

[HeX]

...annnybody at all..?

Give it longer than 12 hours, realizing you posted at midnight EST on a Monday. People sleep, work and have families & responsibilities. It also doesnt help that you wrote a giant excessively long paragraph with poor punctuations and spacing. Its not at all inviting. Edit it to be easy on the eyes and clearly understandable for those who could help you. I honestly avoided due to the aforementioned reasons.

 

[MotorMo]

Welcome to the forum. Judging between your pictures and your recent mods (EX intake manifold, and exhaust manifold), I would recommend buying an hour or so of time from a good local mechanic in your area. There may be multiple leaks. Picture 5/6 made the cylinder head look slightly different the the cylinder block- oil markings and colors were a bit off, maby signs that the head has already been off before? Do you have a good mechanic?
My two cents, I wouldn't use the head gasket sealer. Just in case you need to remove the head later for repair. Some times it can be hard to remove the product from your cooling system as well, clogging up heater cores and such. But some people rave about them. To each their own.
Good luck, hope its something simple.

 

[Ryanabn82]

Hello again..thanks for the input. I do have a mechanic for projects/test/ etc that i cant do myself...I know it doesn't count now but was a mechanic in the army for four years even though it was diesel engines mostly i got the hang of "troubleshooting" etc...anyways turns out it Was coming from the corner of interest near distributor..but it went from just barely noticing it to woke up to a small puddle under the car..since this is also a DD and i had to go to work i did purchase a sealant that was 65$ (with a double money back guarantee) so i figured at least id make money if it fails...followed the VERY specific details and poured in 1/3 of the bottle...hardly anything..this was last week and today it is still "sealed" and no smoke at startup ...for now it seems fine and i dont drive it too hard...but this should hold until uncle SAM sends me my 1st post army back-pay for injuries which will either 1. rebuild d series W a manual transmission or order B20B for 279...thanks again now on to the next post/problem: Also "MOTORMO" I saw you're in Sonoma - nice I'm in Napa

 

[MotorMo]

Nice, glad it seems to be working out for ya. And congrats on getting up out of the Army. Napa has some nice roads- see you there