1998 Honda Civic driving me insane
 

Hello all, this will be a rather long post as I want to get as much detail down as possible. A couple of weeks ago husband and I drove over Snoqualmie Pass, he was driving, and did not notice car overheating until CEL came on. Immediately stopped the car, opened hood and found cracked radiator. Got towed home from there. Installed new radiator, hoses, and thermostat, bled system, then drove. NEW problem--misfire. Found spark plugs and wires absolutely toasted. Replaced THOSE, cleaned out distributor cap and rotor, and now engine runs great! Although still have CEL code P0420 (catalyst operating below threshold bank 1)--I'm ignoring that for now as the emissions are fine, will replace that later. Also, there seems to be a leak in the cooling system somewhere. I have bled the system 3 times now, last time jacking the car up and running with the cap off for over 30 minutes while refilling slowly. Car runs fine for 2 days, then temp gauge is all over the place and coolant is low in the radiator, but the reservoir is full. When engine is at operating temp, coolant is bubbling out from the top of the reservoir. Hose is not blocked. From what I've read here so far, this could be either the rad cap, the thermostat, or possibly the water pump. Or, heaven forbid, the head gasket. Rad cap came with new radiator. Oil is normal, there is no oil in the coolant, and exhaust is quite clean (no bad smells, no ittybitty parts of catalyst coming out, condensation on exhaust pipe has no smell). As I said, the engine runs better than it has in years (should have replaced plugs and wires long time ago I'm thinking) but the overheating problem has me stumped. Any opinions, thoughts, random ramblings would be appreciated. Thanks much, love the forum!

EDIT: Just bled the system AGAIN, and found a pinhole leak in the hose going from the radiator to the reservoir. Could that cause the problem with the coolant not being sucked back into the system from the reservoir? Taped it shut with black stretchy sticky vacuum hose tape (had it to fix vacuum leak in our 1998 Passport) and am letting it cool down to see if when I start it again, reservoir coolant gets sucked back into system. HELP!!!

My first thought is if the car was overheated bad enough to burn the plug wires You may of cracked a head or blown a head gasket. If water is boiling in the reservoir that is one sign that tells me it is one or the other. Also that could be the cause of the converter reading below threshold. water in a cylinder causing a cold cylinder.

Oh sh*t.
 

Just did a block leak test, it's the head or the gasket. I'm inclined to think it's a small leak, as there are none of the usual signs of a completely blown gasket (no oil in coolant, no coolant/water in oil, no white smoke). So, now what? I've never attempted a repair this big, just checked the BIG Honda Civic repair manual we borrowed and it's a HUGE job. What's the average price a repair shop will charge for this? And I hate to stereotype, but I'm afraid if I take it to a shop they'll see me (short blond chick) and tell me all SORTS of things are wrong besides the head gasket. Husband is all for selling the car just to get away from it, but I love my baby and don't want to let it go. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!