from overheating 2 smoke trial

hey peeps, check it out, my aunts old 91 civic 4dr lx my new car, is having problems. when she got rid of it the radiator was clogged and spitting anti freeze out, so i replaced the radiator and the hoses, then coolant flowed fine and no over heating while running in the driveway, so when i got insurance on it and some temptags 31 miles later the cars over heating again but it was fluctuating like it wanted to cool off but was doint it fast enough till eventaully it just went up and stayed untill i pulled over and let it cool dwn. so i replaced the thermostat, now the car is not over heating as far as i can tell, but now im geting this white like smoke coming from my exhaust and the engine idles at like 500 and tries to dye, actually did once or twice, mind u the car was sitting for like 6 months or more before i started wrking on it. so now im thinking the fuel system maybe is dirty so i put z-max in it that did nutting. so now i call on my auto peeps for advice cause im bout to dump this ride and i dont want to. what should i do? is it even worth tryin to revive? :confused:
p.s. im not sure how many miles it has cause the engine has been swappped before. thanks for all the helpi can get.

white smoke in the exhaust means your burning water, then its probably your head gasket. but make sure you let the car warm up cause at night theres alot of condensation, and a blown head gasket and water condensation in the exahust and be easily mistaken for one another.

I'm having a similar problem with my radiator. It started overheating and I thought it was just the thermostat because it was working fine. Then I lifted up the hood with the car still on, and the reserve was bubbling STEAMING HOT!!! It was litereally about to BLOW!!! What could have caused that?

Originally posted by cscott784
I'm having a similar problem with my radiator. It started overheating and I thought it was just the thermostat because it was working fine. Then I lifted up the hood with the car still on, and the reserve was bubbling STEAMING HOT!!! It was litereally about to BLOW!!! What could have caused that?


you noe when i removed my aunts old radiator the little plastice elbow that goes into the reserve was melted. but i replaced all of that. and if my head gasket was blown wouldn't i see a mixture of oil and coolant or water and not str-8 oil in the engine? i'll go check, but last i checked it wasnt the head gasket.

Maybe its my head gasket???? What is the propper way to check if it is blown? and by the way, what and where is it? :D

hondas are notorious for overheating leading to cracked heads and/or blown headgaskets.

Originally posted by civickiller
white smoke in the exhaust means your burning water, then its probably your head gasket. but make sure you let the car warm up cause at night theres alot of condensation, and a blown head gasket and water condensation in the exahust and be easily mistaken for one another.

ok it is confirmed :( sad to say but it is my head gasket. i just let the car run for about an hr or so and the smoke stayed, it went away a little but no the less was consistant. i proceeded to rev the car turn it off and immediately look at the engine oil and long and behold a few bubbles, not that much but enough to make me wanna break a foot off in that car after all that wrk. but anyway, is changing the head gasket alot of wrk and money? im about to start researching this.

yes its alot of work... and your head may be warped.... if it is then its gonna cost some hefty coin.

when my head gasket went and cracked the head it just gave me an excuse to go zc:D

A head gasket is some work but nothing a few people tools and an afternoon can not fix.

I did mine ALONE on my ZC and it took a little over 7 hours it was my first time doing it too.

1. Un plug the battery & drain oil and rad darin coolant from block as well

2. remove the exaust manifold bolts from the head.

3. remove the intake manifold

4. Set engine at TOP DEAD CENTER

5. remove vavlecover

6. remove distributor & cam sensors (if DOHC)
(if SOHC Skip to step 8 )
7. Remove cams and rockers and make sure not to mix them up

8. unbolt head bolts being carful to remember what order they were in

9. check for all connection leading in to the head (hoses, bolts and such) and remove them

10. remove head ( may need some persuasion )

11. remove old head gasket

12. Bring head to machineshop to check for cracks and to get plained... ect

13. install head gasket

14. re-install head

re-install as per instuctions

voila done.

If I were you, I'd replace the water pump while you're at it.

def. a blown head gasket, i would replace the timing belt and water pump while i was in there....might want to re-ring it also only a few bolts to drop the pan and pop out the pistons then you'll have a fresh motor...


gunnmen01

Thanks for all the feedback. i'll start work on this next week. and change the timing belt etc. hopefully i can doit in one or two days, i'll have help. i'll let ya noe how it goes.

Originally posted by 91blublaze
Thanks for all the feedback. i'll start work on this next week. and change the timing belt etc. hopefully i can doit in one or two days, i'll have help. i'll let ya noe how it goes.
thank for everyones help, i did replace the head gasket and the car is up and running , unfortunately the day after i got my tags somehow my pos batt terminal touched something under the hood and a spark which lead to a fire and i was pissed, finally got a extingusher and put the flames out, my batt was a lost and my intake was melted. i replaced the batt, intake and the side quarter panel, but my hood has this permenant tattoo of a burn mark on it. but the car runs, then i got a new cat converter and exhaust, thats where i am now. bout to take some pic so ya,ll can see what im workin wit. and the 17" rims make me go a bit slower. i do have a question, my distributor cap had some heat and melted the slightest bit, could that contribute to loss in high end speed? cause i can't seem to get over 95 mph, and i have a completely stock 88 civic with and oil leak and tilted front wheel that will go 110 almost 115 easliy. im baffled. be back with some pics.