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Hey all! I’m a long time ETCG fan, and first-time poster. I wish I didn’t have to make my debut like this, but here goes…
1997 Honda Civic LX, 5spd manual – 160,000 miles, purchased with 156,000 miles several months ago. I replaced the entire exhaust from the (cracked) manifold back, otherwise it has only needed tires/brakes, oil, and some TLC. Timing belt replaced at approx. 130,000 per previous owner.
I noticed a hint of burning coolant smell after a drive a couple weeks ago, but couldn’t really pinpoint it. It wasn’t a strong coolant-hose-exploded-on-the-highway smell by any measure, more like I had a frying pan of coolant on a low-slow burner…
I can’t smell it from the vents, and I haven’t noticed any fluctuation in temperatures. The cooling fan comes on when idling for a few minutes. I made a few 30 minute trips hooked up to a bluetooth OBDII scanner and logged coolant temps consistently between 88 and 95 (C).
I looked for leaks and was largely unsuccessful. There’s one hose on the back of the thermostat housing (?) that could be slightly wet, but it’s a stretch. There is some old dried on gunk all over the transmission case that doesn’t appear to be coolant, but who knows…
Eventually, I decided to sniff around and found the source! Inside the spark plug tubes is the exact same burned coolant smell that I get after a longish drive. The tubes don’t look obviously wet, but do have some white residue (also some green) at the tops and on the plugs themselves. The coolant overflow reservoir was about a 8oz. short of full, and the tube had a white chalky residue on it (which makes me think exhaust gases).
I’m a bit worried that all this points to a head gasket failure, and I wondered what you all thought about it :S . I’ve attached some photos of the tubes/plugs, the rest are in this album on imgur.
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Look at your oil fill cap, and oil level stick. Make sure there is nothing but oil on them. If they look milky, then you know you have a coolant leak in your oil. Even if they look clean, you could still have a leak.
Thanks. The dipstick and oil cap look/smell like oil. I don’t see any signs that oil is mixed with coolant in the reservoir.
You may have a small leak somewhere in the cooling system and it is burning off on the engine… A good way to find one that may be small or slow is to pressure test the system… Put the system on a 12-15 psi load and observe all around (also the pressure should hold, so if it is going down then you know you have an issue)…
-Karl
The white-ish color on the tips of your plugs is normal combustion by products. The coloring on the plug wires where they go into the plug tubes looks as though they have been wet. I would probably wipe them down with a bit of armor all just because that residue would bother me lol.
As for the leak, I agree with Karl, get a pressure tester (you can get them from Auto Zone or other parts stores as a rental tool, and get your money back when you are done) and get the system under pressure, then see if you can’t hunt down that leak. There are a couple of tiny, pesky hoses on the back of those engines, near the firewall, that are often a problem, because then never get changed since they are in an awful place to try to get to.
If you were burning coolant, your plugs would be clean. Anytime you have a head gasket failure, it really cleans the inside of the cylinder where the leak is, including the plugs. What I see on that plug is evidence of oil burning in that cylinder.
As some have pointed out, I believe you might have a small coolant leak somewhere causing the smell. Likely on the back of the engine where it’s difficult to see. Here’s a video on how to find those leaks.
Additional information on finding head gasket leaks and other cooling system issues can be found here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/what-to-do-when-your-engine-overheats
Information on finding and fixing leaks, such as your oil leak, can be found here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/finding-and-fixing-leaks
Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
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