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.
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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