Home with VX, Some Q's and comments

[GasSavers_James]

My only experience with the liquid coolant leak stopper was on a 500 dollar oldsmobile that we drove across the country a couple times. I can't vouch for it over the long term, and i am skeptical to put it in a honda, but on that olds, there were 3 leaks to start with and after adding the bottle there were none for the next 9,000mi. I then put new tires on the car and sold it for 700$.
I took off the cap on the VX and took a look. It looks really old, the contact points are scarred and there is a white circle around each point where the rotor hits. I will replace that, along with the rotor as soon as possible.
Is a cap and rotor from a chain auto parts store good enough?
I will also put SI wires on. I am excited to see how it runs after that.

[rh77]

A while back, I had a '90 Beretta GTZ with the Quad-4 engine. It was losing coolant and sprung a leak in the rad. The sealant stopped the rad leak, but the head gasket turned out to be blown (at 80K miles, 2nd owner). On that one, the oil was mixing with the coolant to make what looked like "chocolate milk coolant" and exhaust vapor would be present on warm starts (like what you would see in the Winter, normally). I promptly traded it on a Civic DX Coupe.

A mechanic mentioned a trick to test the head gasket (saw it first-hand on a K-car Wagon) -- caution dangerous -- remove the rad-cap when safe to do so, make sure the stat is open/functioning - warm engine, and rev the engine. If coolant spews from the cap opening, then the gasket is likely blown. (not sure of the accuracy on that one )

RH77

[Bill in Houston]

Ya, on head gaskets you have a few different possible symptoms.

Chocolate milk or mayonnaise coolant or oil
Big fog cloud at startup
The amazing disappearing coolant

I like that it is pretty easy to diagnose. Unlike weird EGR stuff...

[GasSavers_James]

The oil looks fine. I have to take a closer look at the coolant. It does have the magic dissappearing coolant symptom. I can smell coolant in the interior, but not in the engine bay, so i am guessing heater core. I did notice that when it was missing in low rpm lean burn mode, there was a puff of mist out the tailpipe...but that was on a rainy day with 100 % humidity so who knows. I will go look at the coolant now.

[GasSavers_James]

the coolant looks fine too. I am pretty sure now that the head gasket is fine, but will now check the tailpipe during warm startup. Thanks for the info. I am excited now to get the cap rotor and wires to see if lean burn runs well.

[Bill in Houston]

Sounds like heater core to me too.

[Gary Palmer]

If you think it might be the heater core, before you spend any significant money, you could just get a 2' piece of 5/8 heater hose and loop it, to bypass the heater. That way you could tell if your problem is engine related or heater core, before you fix something that may not be the problem.

[Bill in Houston]

Ooo, I like it. Good idea.

[mrmad]

Doesn't sound like a headgasket from your description, but thought I'd share my experience with blown head gaskets to help you troubleshoot.

Not sure on the D series engines, because so far I haven't had to take mine apart, but the B series engine has an open deck, meaning the cylinders are in their own little island in the block and the head gasket seals the cyclinders to the head. My Integra blew the head gasket last fall. There was no oil in the coolant because it blew between the cylinder and the head, and there's no source of oil there. It also didn't blow white smoke. This was mainly because the combustion gasses were blowing into the cooling system and overpressurizing it. It would blow coolant past the radiator cap and overflow the resevoir. The radiator would ventually get low (and the resevoir would be overflowing) and then the car would start to overheat. I was losing about a pint every 50 miles or so.

To proove it was the head gasket, I took it to a gas station that tests for CA smog, and they stuck their smog sniffer above the open radiator cap while the engine was running. They detected hydrocarbons which indicated combustion gasses were getting into the cooling system. This meant blown headgasket or cracked block/head. Apparently there is a type of dye you can buy at an autoparts store that can test coolant for hydrocarbons that could do the same thing.

I had a head rebuilt and 15 hours later (could probably do it in 1/2 the time now that I know how to do it) I was back on the road.

If it is your heater core leaking coolant into the interior, you'd want to get the wet carpet cleaned or removed. An old roommate had this happen in an 80s Subaru and the carpet started to mold. An indescribable smell seemed to be permanently embedded in the car after that.

[GasSavers_James]

Good Ideas! My VX does not have the overfilling resovoir problem. Since I have started driving it the radiator is always full, and when the engine is warm after driving, the resovoir is still near the bottom, not much if any higher than if the engine was cold. Also, it doesnt seem to be leaking enough to get the carpet wet. I can see no drips, and am guessing that when i take the plastic panels off i will find a little puddle that maybe evaporates at the same rate that it fills (just a guess). I wont buy a heater core until i see that the heater core is leaking. the leak is minor so it is fine to drive the car.

could a head gasket leak just a little bit? could it cause hesitation at low rpms in lean burn (i think this is just the o2 sensor, but who knows)?
it is still hesitating a little in lean burn mode after plugs wires cap and rotor.