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I should have been more vigilant with my camera-phone, but really, it’s an apple 3GS, and it’s a pain.:dry: But the lower hose was nothing but chocolate milk, so at least to my limited knowledge that seems fairly cut and dry as to “where” from “what”, but the “why” is still up in the air to me.
No knock, seems to be ok power from the very little driven after yanking the thermostat completely to let it at least get new coolant to burn off for awhile.. Really, just to get it so it could actually make it more than 3 blocks before it overheated.
This car only has 120k on the clock, that seems odd for a civic to have a bad head-gasket that early. No? Is it more likely something else caused the gasket leak, if, in fact that is the source of the oil making it in there?
Note: friend of gf’s car from work I agreed to look at, and fix if it was something I may not make worse by working on (such as the warning I gave her that her advice that it was just the thermostat when the coolant was significantly discolored was likely wrong).
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Why might be that the coolant was never changed? Some metals and types of coolant don’t play well together. Example, the issue with Cadillac NorthStar engines where the coolant reacts with the head bolts causing gasket failure. In your case the oil and coolant systems have joined and since oil pressure runs higher pressure the oil is leaking into the cooling system. This is better that some of the alternatives where the water leaks into the combustion chamber and ends up in the oil or seizing the engine because the cylinder is full of coolant.
After you get the headgasket replaced you will need to clean the cooling system with detergent. If you rig a low pressure high volume pump like the one in a washing machine, you can circulate detergent from a container (plastic bucket) to the engine through the upper engine radiator hose entrance and return the upper radiator outlet to the container. Let it run till the cooling system is clean.
[quote=”Jotmon1″ post=33723]Why might be that the coolant was never changed?[/quote]
Unfortunately, that’s the only reason I can think of, yes. It’s quite possible since she’s had it at the very least, that she never flushed/changed it.
Does the oil dipstick show a way higher reading than usual?
I would fill the cooling system with water and then pressure test to see if its leaking externally or not. You could also use compressed air to see if you see bubbles coming from the radiator where the radiator cap goes.
Do you know the maintenance history of the vehicle?
[quote=”dreamer2355″ post=33820]Does the oil dipstick show a way higher reading than usual?[/quote]
That I did not think to check at the time. In hindsight I should have checked the oil for signs of coolant as well if nothing more. I just did my “oh sh*t” face, pulled the gunked up thermostat, put it back together and put as much 50/50 premix back in as your supposed to so she could at least get it somewhere to have it properly repaired/looked at. I of course briefly tested it out (see if it would overheat, and see if noticed significant power-loss), didn’t notice any smoke from the exhaust in that brief period of time.
I would fill the cooling system with water and then pressure test to see if its leaking externally or not. You could also use compressed air to see if you see bubbles coming from the radiator where the radiator cap goes.
Afraid this was done in her apartment complex kind of as fast as I could to stay under the radar, since I didn’t wish to get her in trouble. I also have no air compressor myself at this time to work with, or a garage for that matter. All the repairs I’ve done have been in my (quite unsafe, uneven, and half-weeds) asphalt driveway.
Do you know the maintenance history of the vehicle?
Prior to her? Afraid not. With her, I’m going to go with likely a handful of oil changes in the 5 years of ownership on her part. If it were sold I think it would be a salvage title due to frame damage previously(rear end, got straightened of course, but it’s never the same). Afraid this is a young woman who works at the local coffee place here with a current boyfriend who is likely in less of the know about cars than her. She goes to school, interns, then works there, the boyfriend is similar. So money, vehicle knowledge, and vehicle worry are all tight til something becomes an acute issue.
I advised her to take it to a locally recommended garage mechanic, as the guy seemed reasonable, willing to work with her on this, and has 27yrs of experience. Where as I am a computer programmer, and have only (relatively) recently gained the drive for above and beyond car repair knowledge. Not to mention no garage, no air tools, likely a couple of specialized honda tools needed to do this right, and the fact that once I got it apart there might be a cracked head or similar awaiting me rather than just a straight-forward head-gasket job with other odds and ends thrown in while it was apart (valve adjustment, new water pump, timing belt, etc).
I am of course still curious. She’s spoken with the guy, so it’ll go in Thursday.. I’ll update once I hear more.
Don’t assume it has a head gasket issue because to me it looks like the coolant was probably never changed and contaminated with rust rather than oil. Oil contamination looks more like a chocolate milk shake. To be honest I would replace the radiator OR take it somewhere to have it flushed by itself. I’d also check the oil and oil level for contamination, if you don’t see any drop the head gasket theory and instead flush the cooling system OR better yet have it professionally flushed. With something that bad you really need the best equipment, not a garden hose. Once you have the system flushed replace the thermostat with an OE unit, fill it with the proper coolant, bleed out the air and recheck for any problems. The issues to watch out for are overheating due to passages in the engine or the cooling system getting clogged with contaminants. This is why it’s imperative that you have it flushed completely to remove all the junk in that system. Come to think of it this may be from the water pump impeller so if you don’t find engine damage it’s probably not a bad idea to do a timing belt and water pump while you’re at it. I suspect someone ran straight water in the system and it caused the iron parts in the system to rust up and contaminate the system.
The lower radiator hose was chocolate milk, as what was behind the thermostat. I basically left a small EPA fine by disconnecting that line and thermostat housing when I yanked the thermostat. As I previously said, seemed pretty cut and dry as to the issue, the cause of it was all that (to me) still could have more behind it.
I realize my posts have been long, so you likely missed me stating the above in the original post.
Just as the final update, was the head-gasket. Tech said heads were fine, so doing timing belt, gasket, flush, pump, etc is going to run her $740. Good deal.
Hopefully this checkbook setback(even if it is near half the cost a normal shop would charge) will get her to be more vigilant about maintenance.
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