Hello all, I recently replaced my Head Gasket about a month ago. Here lately, pressure is starting to leak out of radiator cap. I bough a new radiator cap and it is not hissing anymore. I drove around block, but it appears all hoses are very tight like they could pop. Is this normal?

After replacing Head Gasket, it was not swollen like they are now. Actually, when the car cooled down, the lower radiator hose would suck it self in as if someone was squeezing it. Now all radiator hoses seem to be very tight as if they could pop.

I don't understand and I pray the head gasket is not leaking again. I do not see any chocolate coating in oil cap or dip stick. I am just nervous because when the first gasket blew, the Heater By Pass Hose popped.

Any suggestions would be appreciated thanks!!

 

With engine cold, loosen the cap to release any pressure, confirm the radiator is full to the top, then put the cap back on. Now the top hose should be soft. Start the engine (cold) and feel the top hose as you rev the engine. If pressure builds up rapidly, the head gasket is leaking. Pressure should not build up until the engine has warmed up some.

 

Ok, so yesterday I was driving my car for awhile. Longer than usual and on the way home I was sitting at the light and I heard a pop. The light had changed and I turned the corner and pulled over to see what happen. I thought maybe I blew a hose again. Well this time the bottom radiator hose blew itself off. This confirms there is too much pressure building up in the hoses. I don't understand it and it almost had me wanting to get rid of the car. It is very annoying and I haven't figured out was the problem is.

Has anyone experienced this????

The car also appears to not have very much power. I had a Honda CRX 88 and it seem to have more get up and go than this car and my Civic is an EX with VTEC. I thought it was more powerful.

 

You should have coolant blowing out of your overflow before you pop anything. This means your cap is holding way too much pressure. You sure you got the right cap on there?

However, I dont think that the wrong cap is the root cause. Based on what you describe, I think your headgasket is leaking. the fact that your old cap let off a hissing noise is even more evidence.

With the car cold, take cap off. Turn car on, look for little bubbles in the radiator. if you see bubbles, you're blowing exhaust into the cooling system.

Can also do hydrocarbon test on the coolant..... been there done that.

Who did you have replace the HG and did they know what they were doing? Did they reuse head studs? Did they prep the mating surfaces correctly? You cant just slap a gasket on there....

 

I would get a leak down and compression test, and as the person above said, make sure the new gasket was properly install in which the studs would be replaced. But if you trust it was done right then you may have a warped head which means the whole thing needs to be replaced BUT i am just speculating, and a leak down would tell you for sure. Either way a new EX head (y8) is significantly cheaper than a new car -_-

 

LOL..about that HG, I did it myself. I did the same thing I did to my CRX 88. I did not have any problems out of it. For some reason, this one doesn't want to act right. I did not surface anything the last time and I reused my same bolts. I will say this, the number 4 bolt hole stripped and will not tighten down. All this is the same thing that happen to my CRX. I just torqued the rest of them down to the specs I got from the parts store. It was 2 steps and the last torque was like 57 lbs of torque if I am remembering correctly. The car drove fine for about a month, then all of a sudden, the hissing started from the cap. I left the old cap on so some of the pressure would escape out. If I put on the new cap it will hold the pressure and I was nervous it would blow something. Again, I have done this job before and had no problems. Maybe I should have used new bolts huh..

 

yup, once the head bolts (on these engines) are installed, they permanently yield (lengthen). When you try to reuse them you apply a lot more tension in the bolt for a given torque than designed....and voila, stripped threads. I would suspect that after a few thermal cycles, the joint at that bad bolt failed.

So are you saying you stripped head bolts on your 88 too when you reused them?

 

There's a reason Honda put in 10 head bolts and not just 9. You'll need to repair that stripped hole (or replace the block) to expect the gasket to last.

 

Yes, on the 88 CRX, one of the holes did the same thing. I didn't think the hole can be fix in the block if it was stripped. I don't know what the previous owner did to this car but the plugs where soooo bad. I believe the gap should be .044 or something like that. When I pulled out the old ones the gaps on them were .075!

On top of that, the exhaust manifold is cracked like it has a clean brake through it. Couple of things have come to my mind and those things are:

Did they purposely crack the manifold trying to make it louder?
Did they crack it because the cat may be clogged?
Is the exhaust heat/gas escaping from the crack too much on the block causing that bolt hole to be weak and strip the way it did?
Is this why my car doesn't seem to have more power?

I really like the car as it saves on gas. I just want it fixed. I drive it still, but I just check the water periodically to make sure it hasn't forced it all out. At most cases, it is probably a cup it has lost.

 

Here are some of the pics when I was replacing the head. The last picture is after I put everything back together. I noticed on the Throttle Body Intake hose it has a circle hole in the middle. I think it is closed off, but I look on another civic, and it has a square plastic box attached to it. Not sure what that is for as mine does not have it. I didn't take pictures of that though.