Overheating after BHP Increase

[pardizzle21]

I am not entirely convinced yet its the head gasket, as i can still drive hard and the car is fine but when at a stand still it heats up due to the coolant being sprayed out and emptied via the overflow and with no coolant inside it heated up.

As long as i have coolant in my system I'm fine, hence topping up and not bleeding it properly (hence little bubbles). I did drive it today and done a little blasts and i was fine as not much was sprayed out cuz i took it easier than normal and sat in the car and let it idle and i was fine as coolant was still present as i filled a lot this time.

I have no oil mixed with coolant or coolant in the oil, no white smoke and when the car was tuned it was tested for compression and it was fine and then strapped it to the dyno and tuned as it was safe to do so.

I think i will check the basics, cap, thermostat, bleed, need new radiator any way and new fan a long with it. I'm suspicious about the intake gasket also and wonder if this is linked to the pressure build it.

My vtec cam was retarded by 4 degrees. I also wonder about this head lift issue people also speak about.

Hi jangz, it seems me and you have a very very similar problem.as mine has the same symptoms(and lack of symptoms to suggest head gasket failure).My car has randomly been fine for the last 4-5 days, but then today in town it was cooking, i pulled over and found coolant spray everywhere! ggrrrrr

Hope a solution is found!peacex

[jangz]

Sounds very similar to my car. Mine has been perfectly fine the last week or 2 even when I have been blasting it here and there, cooler weather seemed to help. Its so random. I asked about head gasket change and cost of skimming and head pressure testing and that shiz with cost easily over £450. I am hoping its not the head, if it is, I cant afford to do this any longer. Have been contemplating on my 2nd car should this fail on me. However saying that the car still runs amazing and no signs of dying. This issue seems really intermittent and also more so in the hot summer day rest of the hear I have no heating issues???

[007]

check your top and bottom radiator hoses after one of your runs. do they look bloated and feel hard when you press them?

[pardizzle21]

hi jangz,
Its such a ballache mate isnt it!I also priced up a skim and pressure test,head gasket,water pump (and of course my time ahaha) and it totalled £126
head gasket-£50
Skim-£25
Pressure test-£25
Water pump-£26
My time-£less lol
But i am still hesitant to go ahead with it all, as i feel its a simple problem but just cant find out what it is!Iv checked pretty much everything,stat,sensors,relays,leak test,test fan etc.waterpump and head skim are the only things i can think left to do with the cooling of the engine, but I agree the spending doesnt seem to be slowing down....

Hope you get it sorted pal! pardz

[jangz]

WHAT!!! your price is so good even before labor haha free is nice, my garage mechanic said they send the head out to another place and a skim and block pressure test would cost about £150-£180, I reckon he is just saying that because they don't want to mess with my car any more LOL, but that don't help me resolve the issue.

I wish i could do my own head change, never done it and worried about how to get the timing right, i got a good idea on how its done but never taken the leap as i work off the side of the road unless my mate allows me his nice home garage. Where did you lean it, i always wonder how everyone here is such a great mechanic ^_^ i know my stuff but this always seems daunting. I guess i am always learning.

I am starting to think its the head gasket, even tho we are not see any obvious signs that it is the head-gasket, man this is such a bitch >_<

what to do, whhhaatt too dooo.........? I decided if it is the head-gasket, i cant afford the price anymore (not that i cant afford it, i dont want to spend any more is more like it), partly cuz im so fed up and pissed and partly cuz i feel i need to move on but have this HONDA SICKNESS that cant be cured and will never leave me like herpes LOL, it just burns the pockets LOL (i dont have herpes lol)

Do I need counseling?

[pardizzle21]

Hey jangz,
yea the price is'nt too bad!TBH i learned everythin i know about cars through a couple of things.
1-the internet(this forum) scouring for hourssssssss n i mean hours
2-A friend i can ask anything
3-But i am NO mechanic ahahah

Also about the head prices, yea dont get it done through the garage, cus they'l want a cut for being the middleman
Try and find a reputable cylinder head specialist
I also have the bug, 1 side of me telling me to quit, the other side telling me to finish the engine dream/project.But minimum wage and no self control limit me!!But no u dont need counselling ahaha

I wouldnt give up jangz, im just using my car as normal, not thrashing it around, untill iv got enough money to do an overhaul and then hopefully it'l be cost free from then on.Id rather drive a car untill it blows up than give up on it! If i sort the overheating problem then i can carry on with my car plans (a remap, gearbox, decat etc to come in future)


Today outside work a friend(and a random customer )said they could smell oil when i started my car.This makes me think even more that the head gasket isnt properly sealed, as the valve stem seals were checked before fitting and they were fine.Which im hoping means the gasket wants replacement!!

peace

[saxophonias]

this is why changing gasket isn't such a straighforward procedure and can always have dangers

[jangz]

Dude it seems we are on the same wave length regarding our project/cars. Man this seems to be a universal epidemic, I made the intention to run it to the ground too (advice of my dad also) and also to finish the project. I could NEVER sell my car to anyone I rather make a loss than to give it away to someone for money. I done too much for anyone to even appreciate the effort put into it, plus the personal memories and that I'm a jealous person, like I would never want anyone to touch or enjoy my car LOL.

I recently got myself a 1.3bar radiator cap and floored the car in gears 1,2, 3 and the coolant didn't seem to overflow at all and things underneath seemed calm and tidy, I don't want to get too excited just yet as I do have to top up my coolant again from before and it could be that it didn't spray out because I didnt have enough coolant for it to even fill up the reservoir. So will check it out again and confirm after proper testing.

As long as i got coolant in the radiator it never heats up, it was when the system became emptied after the hard runs that it heated up and checked the radiator and it was dry LOL so it made sense and it being on warm days didnt help it a lot either, kind a accelerated the heating up of the engine.

I do check my oil lever, exhaust smell and visual check and all is well and safe. No leaks either, and yes I too am a sensible daily driver and 70-80% of the time I'm chilling the see if I can beat my MPG records that I set for myself 50 MPG being the best yet.

About the garage and taking a cut for the skimming makes sense, I am still going to wait it out and drive like a G'd up gangsta go 13" wire wheeled low rider LOL (mad comparison , i am still on stock hight)

Also take it easy with the overhaul, I been driving this same car for 8 year and collected parts over 2-3 years to make it easier on the pocket and even then its not all brand names, as I do have a wife and child , but yes this is a money pit no hiding that fact, if it kept it stock like all these other NORMAL people i would be sitting rich on cash (but thats not fun) haha I like sitting in something old skool and fast.

Peace Out

[pardizzle21]

Just a quick reply for now,
I agree we are on similiar grounds with the civics!Once we got the problems sorted we'l have to meet up man!
I saw a vid(from a link posted here)which mentioned the rad cap being very overlooked when it comes to overheating, might order one.did u get an OEM honda one?if so how much it cost?

My car had been fine the last 3 days, then today on the usual journey it was cooking on red the whole way to work!!!!
I would rather spend money on replacing alot of bits before going the whole way and doing the headwork and waterpump etc, as this is guna be costly.(even tho its alot cheaper than the quote you got !)

I fully agree, i couldnt bare to sell my car to some scrotum who wont have a clue about the time effort and ballache thats gone into it!(even tho my car is no stunner, ask hondamake (hi steve!)


Anyways i sed this would only be a quick message, peace jangz!

[jangz]

Yeah man a meet up sounds cool.

The radiator cap that I got cost me £12 off ebay, from Demon Tweeks. The stock radiator cap we have is a 1.1bar, the one i got was an uprated one that is 1.3 bar and seems to have done the trick, still havn't filled up the radiator fully yet but no overflowing or signs of heating even after many hard-ish pulls at gears 1,2 & 3.

Start small, one thing I learned about fixing any issues with the Civic is to never over look the smallest detail and never jump to big conclusions as most times its always been the smallest thing that caused the issues that I personally faced.