92 civic with 230,000+ miles. I bought it last year.

I was driving midday today. Temp near 90F. White smoke/steam from under the hood. Pulled over and saw white residue sprayed around the top of the radiator and hoses. Looked closer at the top of the radiator and saw what looks like a crack in the plastic (?) top with some small formations of thick goo coming from the crack.

Can I replace just the top of the radiator? And, of course, there's the question of did something fail before the cracked radiator which caused overheating?

Any ideas?

 

You could try checking your thermostat. I went through two with another engine in my 91, one was the original, and when I replaced that the new one stuck too. What I did to check the thermostat was to warm the engine up and then make sure the lower hose was also warm so I would know it was circulating properly. Not hard to change. I would just get a new radiator too, they aren't that much and arent hard to change either.

 

I drove it back to my house with a couple of gallons of water in the back seat. I turned on the heater and got no heat. When I stopped, I felt of the hoses: top hot, bottom not.

THERMOSTAT ! me says.

I replaced the thermostat and radiator for $126. No problem since. Temp gage normal.