White Smoke, Overheating

Hi,

I am the proud owner of a 1990 Honda Civic Std. Hatchback. I am having a few problems with the car that I believe may be interconnected.

Problem #1: When you start the car for the first time in the morning it starts up fine, no problems. But, let' s say I drive to a 7-11 turn off the car for a few minutes and then come back, it has a hard time starting. It turns and turns and turns. After about a minute it starts, but not without shooting a white ploom of smoke out of tail pipe. It kinda looks like my car got hit with an A-Bomb. However, if I go to work and let the car sit for eight hours it starts up with no problem. It's only when I start it up after a few minutes of it being shut off that this happens.

Problem #2: Car overheats when idling. One day I was driving to work on the freeway and everything was okay, but when I exited and was sitting at the light I noticed my temp was almost to the red. Later on I checked the coolant and it was almost gone. The funny thing was I just filled it a few days before.

Problem #3: I tried to do a radiator flush with some stuff I bought from the store. It said to drain the radiator, then fill it with water and some of the flushing fluid, then let the car idle until warm with the heater on. I was sitting in the car letting it warm up and I revved the gas a couple of times and I saw water squirting out of my engine. I later discovered cracks in the radiator/heater hoses.

My best guess:

I think the gasket may worn out and allowing coolant to enter the combustion chamber, thus causing white smoke to puff out of the pipe and then making it difficulty in restarting because the spark plugs may be wet from steam condensation. I think worn gasket and cracks in the hoses explain the fast consumption of the coolant.

I am know mechanic. As a matter of fact, I am going to school to be one but I am still very new. If any of you have experienced this problem, please help me figure out what caused it and how to fix it.

Thanks

sounds like a blown head gasket to me. if it hasn't overheated too much, the block might be salvagable. but if it's overheated a few times there is a good chance the engine is warped.

might just be swap time :naughty:

to find out if it can be fixed you need to pull the head off and clean off the gasket. then check for warpage on both the block and head. then go from there. if it's not warped too much the head can be milled and the block decked. but to be honest, i feel that is always too much money spent for a d15. much cheaper to just get a replacement engine.

gimmie a minute and i'll try and find the head gasket replacement helm's page to give you an idea what kind of work is required to fix a blown head gasket

head removal...
http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-8.jpg

http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-9.jpg

head installation...

http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-22.jpg

http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-23.jpg

http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-24.jpg

cylinder head/ valve train section: http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/cylinder_head_valve_train.htm

I am goin to agree, i think it is the head gasket also.
If you know what you are doin, then it will only take about 5 hours to change the gasket yourself, if not it shouldnt take you over a day. The hardest part of it that i thought was cleaning off the head and the block where the gasket is, that is the most time consuming part of the process. If you do decide to switch the head gasket and you run into some problems just give me a holla cause i just replaced mine about 3 weeks ago.

YES! take your time cleaning the gasket off...and use the correct tools! if you stay in 1 spot too long it will warm up and warp in that spot.

another commone mistake people make is to over torque the head

i learned the hard way, be sure your stuff isn't too warped. had a head gasket blow. had the head machined but didn't attend to the bottom end. the head and block didn't meet back up properly. i would say maybe 2 mos later the head gasket blew again...DOH!

Problem #1: Main Relay...I can almost 100% guarantee it it...my 90 HBSTD did the SAME thing...drive to the store, won't start...drive for half an hour...start every time. Changed the relay...NEVER did it again.

Problem #2: ???...not sure but it might be connected to problem three...

Problem #3: Fix the leaky hoses and still see if you're still having the other problems...

Let us know how you make out and what the problem was/is :)

Hope that helps...

Jason :smokin:

White smoke = coolant going through the system.

If the engine has overheated from 3 it has prolly warped the head - also leads to moisture saturation of plugs and dilutes the fuel making it very hard to start.

Go with Ami's reply on the head - but get the mechanic to do do a compression test and also a leakdown test on the radiator - they have gas in the water testers for this.

yes, it is definately a blown head gasket. White smoke is coolant being burned.

explanation of smoke colors:

white smoke= coolant
blue smoke= oil
black smoke= fuel (running rich) but don't confuse this with the puff of black smoke you get when you rev really high, because that is normal

Thanks for all of your help. I changed the gaske and put the head back on. Now all I need to do is replace the intake/exhaust manifold gaskets while I have them off and replace the heater and radiator hoses. I really don't want to spend too much money on a D15, especially since I plan to buy a B18B motor next month, I just want to be able to drive it until i'm ready to perform the full swap (within the next 2-3 months). I'm tired of driving my tired ol' Toyota.

yeah, for ur 1st question it most definetly ur main relay.
Had the same problem, replaced it and it never happed since.

Thanks for all of your help. I changed the gaske and put the head back on. Now all I need to do is replace the intake/exhaust manifold gaskets while I have them off and replace the heater and radiator hoses. I really don't want to spend too much money on a D15, especially since I plan to buy a B18B motor next month, I just want to be able to drive it until i'm ready to perform the full swap (within the next 2-3 months). I'm tired of driving my tired ol' Toyota.
Did you check to see if the head dwas warped?

If you didn't get the head machined then expect the gasket to let go again sometime soon :(