First time Honda here.

[fishon1213]

Hello all. My oldest stepson was gifted a Honda today, he will be starting driver's Ed soon. The car was free but definitely gonna need some repairs, tires, struts, engine work, but it was free so there's that.

It's a 2002 Civic ex, 1.7, auto, 251k. Decent body and interior.

I am fairly capable in the garage but have never dealt with a Honda, mostly into Toyota 4x4 stuff. He will be helping me get this thing roadworthy and I suppose we will both learn some things in the process.

Here she is, just hoping to make a safe, reliable driver for him at this point.

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[fishon1213]

So first thing is determine what all the car needs and make sure it's worth it, I believe it is at this point. It will definitely need front tires, alignment, and probably struts.

The biggest question mark is the engine. I was told it had been overheating and blew the cap off the overflow. I went to pick the car up with a new thermostat/coolant in hand. Changed the thermostat and started filling with coolant with the temp sensor pulled to burp the system. Once coolant started coming out from there it looked like Coca-Cola, no bueno. Also the rad cap had some sticky black gunk around it, however the oil looked fine. What the heck, so I drove it home. Only about a 10 minute drive, not only did it get hot but also had fog coming from the vents like from a bad heater core. I wasn't expecting that, but I made it home.

So I believe a head gasket is in order. Not sure how that would cause fog from the vents though. I'll do a compression/leakdown test and see what that tells me. Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

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[fishon1213]

Well I played with the Honda for a bit today. Just worked on trying to actually get the cooling system full to see what happens. After being patient and slowly filling with the rad cap off I actually got heat from the vents. Also let it idle for about twenty minutes after that and it didn't get hot. And also noticed the electric fans never kicked on. I still suspect an exhaust blow in the head gasket but being optimistic. I'll see about getting the fans to work at this point.

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[DocHalideigh]

How long was the car running for? I'm currently having similar problems with my civic. It seems my fans don't kick on while idling over ten minutes with the heat on low, but when the A/C is on they kick on. But giving the switch a short with a paper clip they'll come on. I was suspecting the water pump after I've changed my thermostat. Have you had similar experiences with the fans / considered the water pump before the head gasket ?

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