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My ’99 civic had a radiator leak about 45 days ago so I purchased a new Denso rad part # 2213208. It’s a relatively easy install then bled the system after watching Eric’s video. Ever since the install, coolant overflow bottle fills up but does not drain back into the radiator. Here is what I’ve done to trouble shoot the issue:
Pressure tested No Leaks
Head Gasket test Blue fluid did not change color.
Bled System again for about 5 fan cycles
Thermostat is about 18 months old (OEM)
Oil looks clean
Coolant is clean
Bled system again for about another 15-20 minutes, I have the yellow funnel in Eric’s video.Boys I’m starting to get really pissed off, I’m going to check if the car gets heat, in fact I’m going to take a temp reading and post here.
Can the water pump, heater core, or something else be causing this issue? Do I need to do a compression test?
Please help a frustrated lady. :stick:
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I ordered a fel pro head gasket, intake gasket and some permatex copper spray.
Im going to attempt a head gasket repair. Watched some videos and i think I can do it.All the research I’ve done on various Honda forums show many people with the Exact symtoms as my Civic had a bad head gasket.
However I was unable to absolutely confirm other than the visual test of bubbles in overflow tank when can ran for a while and overflow tank fills up causing the radiator to be low on coolant. Then the temp gauge goes 3/4 the way upI have a feeling it’s the water pump. The blades do wear out. IMHO I’d change timing belt and water pump before the head gasket, because it’s less intrusive. I think the head gasket is the absolute last thing on the checklist on possible causes.
In my case I know I have a leak somewhere.I did bleed the cooling system, no luck. It appears there is some sort of back pressure causing the overflow tank to fill up and not drain back into the radiator.
This could be caused by engine compression.
I’m not dealing with the water pump at this time because that is a giant PITA.
Every morning I’m with the turkey baster refilling the rad.Why do you need to pull the guide pins out of the head? If you’re doing your own at home head resurfacing just pull them out and either eyeball the head back to its proper location or buy new ones. Those guides are typically very hard to remove without destroying them unless you have special tools or wish to make a tool. I did a Vtech head swap on an Integra some years back and the guide pins did not line up between head and block so I just eyeballed it carefully…. still running fine 4-5 years later. You must be confident in your Jedi skills though – do not attempt if the force is not strong with you.
I agree that it sounds like a head gasket failure. Exhaust gasses displace coolant into the overflow bottle. A leak of this nature will rarely show on a compression test. don’t discount the water pump possibility. Pull the timing belt and pump off first. It will be one of the steps to getting the head off anyway.
One thing I have seen done successfully with Subaru head gasket failures is to gut the thermostat – keeping the engine cooler will often prevent the leak from opening up and allow the car to be driven till a proper repair can be performed.
Rick
I truely hope the “force will be with me”.
I plan on just throughly cleaning both head and block. No resurfacing. I know it may be a crap shoot oh well…….
Some folks have servived a HG change without resurfacing hopefully Permatex will help a bid.
If all goes to hell at least I tried, then off to a mechanic.You *can* do a resurfacing youself. I’ve been doing in-shop cylinder head surfacing on Subaru heads for about 7 years. Our process has evolved over the years but we currently use a cloth backed silicone carbide sheet held to a 1/2″ thick sheet of glass with contact cement. The weight of the head does most of the work. We just do tight circles on the paper, clean it and lubricate it with WD40. We do engines ranging from 100 to over 500 HP using this same method. Perhaps someday I’ll film our process.
Rick
Can I run the car in So Cal climate without a thermostat for lets say 60 days without any ill effects.
Absolutely. It would be much more harmful if you were in a very cold environment. It will heat up slower, the defrost and heat will be lukewarm etc. Will not cause any harm short term.
If you don’t want to attempt resurfacing yourself machine shops usually charge between $50 and $75 to do a surface. We don’t send them out for a number of Subaru specific reasons that don’t apply to your head. As such we do most heads in house on glass but there are those rare cases when you can’t take off enough to get out the ridges from the fire rings or excessive warpage with hand working. Those we send out. Maybe 2-5% of the heads we do get sent out.
Rick
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