Possible oil in coolant; '04 Civic

HondaChica

New Member
First off, sorry for the crazy long post! I posted on a different forum, but didn't get any replies. Not sure if my issue is that mind boggling or if no one knows/cares on that forum, so I'm giving this one a shot..

I've had ithe car since the end of last month and I've put about 3k miles on it. On my most recent road trip, I ran into some issues, and I'm kind of at a loss on figuring them out. So..

The car is a 2004 EX Coupe, 5 speed, 94k miles. No leaks, not burning oil. Have not experienced loss of power or changes in driving characteristics before or after this last road trip.

On Thursday, about 50 miles left of my 400 mile drive I threw a CEL for the vtec oil pressure switch. Oil was low by 2.5 quarts (which definitely shocked me), topped it off and CEL went away the next day. No issues driving around during my three day stay. On the return drive on Sunday, the car started to overheat 100 miles in. I turned the heater on, which did nothing but warm me up. I pulled over to the side since the temp kept going up and when I came to a stop the heater started blowing cold. I turned the car off and popped the hood, immediately smelling coolant. Coolant reservoir had spewed coolant and what seemed like oil all over the place (it was darkish and really greasy). I checked the oil level which had not changed since adding the 2.5 quarts days earlier. Topped off the coolant and continued my road trip.

Had no issues after that, drove the remaining 300 miles running at normal operating temp. Worrying about my oil loss and the fact that oil seemed to be in the coolant, the next day I did a compression test. Compression was 185, 185, 175, 190. No coolant in oil, coolant looks green and clean in coolant reservoir. The inside of the coolant reservoir, above the max line, seems to be coated with oil, but this is the only evidence that oil was ever in the cooling system. I started the car and idled it with the radiator cap off and nothing spewed out, however there seems to be a little smoke coming out of it. Doesn't produce more smoke when revved or anything. Pressure test of the cooling system produced no leaks, just held the pressure. Coolant test says there are exhaust gases in the coolant.

I've been doing research for what seems like days, and the only outcome has been more confusion. I have no idea what to do at this point. Keep driving the car until something happens? I really don't want to throw parts at it. If I crack open the head and the head gasket is fine, I'm going to be kicking myself. The car runs absolutely fine, but that 2.5 quart oil loss and the spewing coolant and oil/residue in the reservoir has me kind of freaked. I'm hoping someone on here can shed a little light on this for me and give me some ideas. I'm really hoping I didn't buy a pos. I need this car to last me like six months, without being a money pit. :(
 
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HeX

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I took the liberty of tweaking your title and highlighting in bold the key points in your explanation so members can at least glance at it, get an idea if they can provide helpful suggestions, then do so. I grayed out the 2nd paragraph because it doesn't help your cause much.
 


HeX

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I say inspect the thermostat and consider flushing out the entire coolant system (both the radiator and engine block) thoroughly then perhaps refilling it with just water for a day or one long drive. After that, inspect the water and see if you notice obvious oil in the water. That'll be an obvious clue to a blown head gasket. If you only need the car to last for 6 months or so then consider using Blue Devil Head Gasket sealer.
 
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HondaChica

New Member
I say inspect the thermostat and consider flushing out the entire coolant system (both the radiator and engine block) thoroughly then perhaps refilling it with just water for a day or one long drive. After that, inspect the water and see if you notice obvious oil in the water. That'll be an obvious clue to a blown head gasket. If you only need the car to last for 6 months or so then consider using Blue Devil Head Gasket sealer.
Thanks for the replies, HeX! I was a little on the fence about filling my cooling system with water since it's been so cold here. But at the same time, I was kind of at a loss and not sure what else to do. Nothing seems to be cross contaminating during normal city driving, only at higher RPMs. So yesterday I decided to horse beat it a bit to see if I could replicate the issue before filling it with water. I definitely replicated it. I ran it at WOT through all the gears about three times, the final time I started smelling coolant. Pulled over, and low and behold my reservoir had puked all over the place and was still absolutely full of oil. I decided to baby it home and take it apart. The head gasket has no obvious blows, but I guess it's kind of hard to tell on these multi-layered metal gaskets? This is my first "run in" with a head gasket, so I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Maybe someone on here can give me some insight? I tried to take decent pictures of the gasket, not sure how well that really worked.
 


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HeX

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Although Im not an expert at visually inspecting head gaskets, it appears to me that there are some oil seepage marks on the gasket. Either way, its off so put on a new one, preferably from Honda, and kiss your worries good bye.:ghey:

FYI, if youre in sub-50 degree weather, definitely dont risk running with water alone. If you later perform a test like I suggested just, at least use cheap antifreeze.
 
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HondaChica

New Member
Although Im not an expert at visually inspecting head gaskets, it appears to me thst there are some oil seepage marks on the gasket. Either way, its off so out on a new one, preferably from Honda, and kiss your worries good bye.

FYI, if youre in sub 50 degree weather, definitely dint risk running wuth water alone. If you later perform a test like I suggested just, at least use cheap antifreeze.
I'd just like to set my mind at ease knowing the head gasket was the actual cause of my issue and I'm not doing this for purely Ss and Gs. Hopefully I will be able to kiss my worries goodbye with the new head gasket.

Yeah, definitely don't need a cracked block to add to my problems, assuming that's not already a problem as it sits. We've been super lucky to see highs out of the 30s, let alone 5os.

I appreciate the help! =)
 

HeX

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I appreciate the appreciation. :thumbs up

If the block was damaged you most likely wouldve noticed already.
 

dancam

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sorry I couldnt add anything earlier. this is cpoied and pasted from something else i wrote and i added a bit:
out of curiosity i read up a fair bit online about people having head gasket problems with their 01-05 Honda civics. i have one and the cooling system setup seemed odd to me and i wasn't sure why they had such cold thermostats. what i discovered is that almost everyone (not all, but almost) who has a head gasket go has it happen right around 110-140k with the most being at 120. that is right when the first scheduled coolant flush is and many people mention just that-that they just had their cooling system serviced by Honda or someone else. with these Honda's the heater core is the high point in the cooling system. if you drain the coolant the only reliable way to get all the air back out is to jack the front of the car up till the muffler almost hits the ground then bleed the air out. if you don't there is a good chance (not guaranteed) that you will trap air in the heater core, which will at some point move into the block or cause issues and cause a hot spot in the motor and cause the head gasket to go. you said your coolant was green which means it was changed, honda coolant in the generation was blue. These hondas need honda coolant as the green stuff wrecks your water pump seal and corrodes the heater core. make sure to put the honda coolant back in!
also where the thermostat housing meets the block there are passages where coolant, oil and exhaust all pass through into the thermostat housing very close together. there is possibility for leaks by the gasket there.
also i have a mechanical water temperature gage on my civic in addition to the one on the dash. as the car warms up they match, but as soon as the thermostat opens at 170f the one on the dash stops! the mechanical one will continue to climb until it reaches 205f when the fans turn on but the one on the dash does not move! my previous civic (2005) had a rad fan that would sometimes quit. i had it twice where i was stopped at a stoplight and i could hear my coolant boiling. got out and opened the hood and my overflow cap had blown right off and boiling coolant was shooting all over my engine bay out of it and the temperature gage was still below half both times! it had perfect operation from cold to where it stops just below half but would never move higher. so i believe that people are overheating their motors without even knowing it.
oil also passes though a probly 6 inch long gasketed area in the intake manifold it could leak into the intake and be burned there.
as im sure you saw many people replace their head gaskets and still have problems with this gen. make sure to bleed it well, i think their coolant isnt being bled properly when the new head gasket is installed and they blow it right away again. i believe the thermostats are so cold because these head gaskets blow so easy. check your water pump since everything is apart. also the thermostrat controls flow to 5 different passages, if it fails all kinds of bad things happen =) also replace rad cap.




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Sorry im too buisy today to add more, hope this helps




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HondaChica

New Member
sorry I couldnt add anything earlier. this is cpoied and pasted from something else i wrote and i added a bit:
out of curiosity i read up a fair bit online about people having head gasket problems with their 01-05 Honda civics. i have one and the cooling system setup seemed odd to me and i wasn't sure why they had such cold thermostats. what i discovered is that almost everyone (not all, but almost) who has a head gasket go has it happen right around 110-140k with the most being at 120. that is right when the first scheduled coolant flush is and many people mention just that-that they just had their cooling system serviced by Honda or someone else. with these Honda's the heater core is the high point in the cooling system. if you drain the coolant the only reliable way to get all the air back out is to jack the front of the car up till the muffler almost hits the ground then bleed the air out. if you don't there is a good chance (not guaranteed) that you will trap air in the heater core, which will at some point move into the block or cause issues and cause a hot spot in the motor and cause the head gasket to go. you said your coolant was green which means it was changed, honda coolant in the generation was blue. These hondas need honda coolant as the green stuff wrecks your water pump seal and corrodes the heater core. make sure to put the honda coolant back in!
also where the thermostat housing meets the block there are passages where coolant, oil and exhaust all pass through into the thermostat housing very close together. there is possibility for leaks by the gasket there.
also i have a mechanical water temperature gage on my civic in addition to the one on the dash. as the car warms up they match, but as soon as the thermostat opens at 170f the one on the dash stops! the mechanical one will continue to climb until it reaches 205f when the fans turn on but the one on the dash does not move! my previous civic (2005) had a rad fan that would sometimes quit. i had it twice where i was stopped at a stoplight and i could hear my coolant boiling. got out and opened the hood and my overflow cap had blown right off and boiling coolant was shooting all over my engine bay out of it and the temperature gage was still below half both times! it had perfect operation from cold to where it stops just below half but would never move higher. so i believe that people are overheating their motors without even knowing it.
oil also passes though a probly 6 inch long gasketed area in the intake manifold it could leak into the intake and be burned there.
as im sure you saw many people replace their head gaskets and still have problems with this gen. make sure to bleed it well, i think their coolant isnt being bled properly when the new head gasket is installed and they blow it right away again. i believe the thermostats are so cold because these head gaskets blow so easy. check your water pump since everything is apart. also the thermostrat controls flow to 5 different passages, if it fails all kinds of bad things happen =) also replace rad cap.


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This is good information to know! I'll make sure to refill with Honda coolant and bleed the system thoroughly. The thermostat housing is getting a new gasket, along with everything else that had a gasket and was removed. It's been absolutely freezing here, so I have yet to start putting the car back together. It's been snowing all day and supposed to continue until tomorrow night. Some areas are supposed to get 20 inches! Probably a good thing my car is in pieces, because I'd probably be out there getting myself into trouble! Haha. I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

sorry I couldnt add anything earlier. this is cpoied and pasted from something else i wrote and i added a bit:
out of curiosity i read up a fair bit online about people having head gasket problems with their 01-05 Honda civics. i have one and the cooling system setup seemed odd to me and i wasn't sure why they had such cold thermostats. what i discovered is that almost everyone (not all, but almost) who has a head gasket go has it happen right around 110-140k with the most being at 120. that is right when the first scheduled coolant flush is and many people mention just that-that they just had their cooling system serviced by Honda or someone else. with these Honda's the heater core is the high point in the cooling system. if you drain the coolant the only reliable way to get all the air back out is to jack the front of the car up till the muffler almost hits the ground then bleed the air out. if you don't there is a good chance (not guaranteed) that you will trap air in the heater core, which will at some point move into the block or cause issues and cause a hot spot in the motor and cause the head gasket to go. you said your coolant was green which means it was changed, honda coolant in the generation was blue. These hondas need honda coolant as the green stuff wrecks your water pump seal and corrodes the heater core. make sure to put the honda coolant back in!
also where the thermostat housing meets the block there are passages where coolant, oil and exhaust all pass through into the thermostat housing very close together. there is possibility for leaks by the gasket there.
also i have a mechanical water temperature gage on my civic in addition to the one on the dash. as the car warms up they match, but as soon as the thermostat opens at 170f the one on the dash stops! the mechanical one will continue to climb until it reaches 205f when the fans turn on but the one on the dash does not move! my previous civic (2005) had a rad fan that would sometimes quit. i had it twice where i was stopped at a stoplight and i could hear my coolant boiling. got out and opened the hood and my overflow cap had blown right off and boiling coolant was shooting all over my engine bay out of it and the temperature gage was still below half both times! it had perfect operation from cold to where it stops just below half but would never move higher. so i believe that people are overheating their motors without even knowing it.
oil also passes though a probly 6 inch long gasketed area in the intake manifold it could leak into the intake and be burned there.
as im sure you saw many people replace their head gaskets and still have problems with this gen. make sure to bleed it well, i think their coolant isnt being bled properly when the new head gasket is installed and they blow it right away again. i believe the thermostats are so cold because these head gaskets blow so easy. check your water pump since everything is apart. also the thermostrat controls flow to 5 different passages, if it fails all kinds of bad things happen =) also replace rad cap.


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And thank you very much for taking the time to give me all of this information!! =)
 


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