I have a 94 civic EX, acquired about a month ago. I first noticed that the car tended to run hot got uphills. I was getting spillover into the resevoir and from there it would bubble and spill out. I changed the thermostat, flushed the system, changed most of the hoses and o-rings. I also flushed out the trans ( It was possibly the dirtiest most broken down fluid I have ever seen. It looked like it has been changed in its 88,000 mile life!). I thought that maybe the trans could have been heating the block too much....don't laugh, this is my first honda! Nope, the coolant still spills over into the resevoir! I tried to purge the system of air by running the car uncapped w/the air-con on the hot setting. Nothing seems to cure the problem! Could there be a blown head gasket without any mixing of fluid in the oil and cooling systems? Also the car leaks no fluid other than from the catch bottle. The car idles perfectly and has no visual smoke from the exhaust or funny smells. The power from the motor also seems like its there, considering its only a SOHC vtec. I'm at a lost folks...someone please help me....

 

could be a head gasket,

when you ran it uncapped, did the radiator just overflow, or were you getting bubbles?

I was getting smoky bubbles out of the radiator cap and when it was capped, it would be bubbling into the overflow bottle.


________
**** TUBE

 

Yup, I found out today that the head gasket is blown man! I guess now I get to change it. The dealer wants 1400 for the job, but I'm gonna do it myself. Thanks for your insight, it was on the money!

 

It's not a very hard DIY.
While you are in there, replace the Timeing belt and the water pump.. Cheap insurance..

Also get new head bolts, or get the AEM head studs.

Don't buy the ebay heat gasket set.. Very cheap.. go to autozone and get quality gaskets, I used Felpro,
and only buy the ones you need. (intake, exhaust, intake, etc. ) the gasket set on ebay comes with half a dozen you don't even use.

I did mine for less than $300, but I reused my head bolts and had to buy 2 head gaskets.

Make sure you don't have any underlying cooling issues, My head gasket blew because of an overheat, caused by the cooling fan relay.

Good luck!

Chris

Edit: One more thing, take the head to a machine shop and have them chack the head, they will check the valve seats, make sure the head's not cracked or warped, and machine the mating sureface. had mine done for about $80. again.. worth the money.

________
NEVADA DISPENSARY

 

I would get OEM Honda gaskets. Your going to be doing a crap load of work and this isn't something you want to do again so shell out a couple more dollars and get the OEM. How did you flush out the trans? I know a method that works, but i've never tried it and i don't know any1 that has done it so i wanna know a method that actually works.