Amazing! Have blown head gasket(i think) car still runs like a top!

[flook]

I think I have a blown head gasket but I'm not sure.

Symptoms:

-The cooling system is saurated with oil. The radiator has oil in it .Also, I have to remove oil from the radiator overflow tank every so often(after a couple of months it has about an inch or so of oil in it).

-There is no evidence of coolant mixed with oil. My oil dipstick is always clean - just oil.

-The only time i ever see smoke from the exhaust is when I top off the oil. If i leave the oil level about 3/4 way on the dipstick it does not smoke at all.Also, when it does smoke it's just a puff when starting from a stop.

-It burns about a quart of oil per month.

- It does seem to loose a fair amount of coolant. When i top off the coolant in the overflow tank it seems to empty in a month or two.

-There is no evidence of any external leaking i.e. no puddles under the car, no oil on outside of engine.

-First noticed the oil in the overflow tank about 8 months ago when the car suddenly started to overheat. I pulled over immediatly and noticed it was way low on coolant and there was a layer of oil the bottom of the tank.Temp gauge never got above about 3/4 way on gauge. It has not overheated since. I just make sure the coolant is always topped off.

-The car does seem to take a long time to heat up(guess this makes sense if there's a bunch of oil in cooling system).

What the eff is going on! Iv'e had a few cars with blown head gaskets and it's always been the other way around(coolant mixed with oil) whith white smoke out the exhaust. I have none off that with this car!

I have to say Honda has made an amazing machine! To have all this going and have the car still running great.

I know I'm living on borrowed time though. I want to take care of this problem before I'm left stranded on the road or worse, more damage to the engine.

Any ideas?

Sorry for long post just wanted to cover all the bases.

Thanks!

[QuikShifter]

try do system flush first and then examine your flushed out mess. It might give you a clue as to what is going on. I just blew my headgasket and my car still runs but smokey & rough idle. Not drivin her right now tho until I can fix it.

[91civichatch2571]

Not to mention, if it really is your headgasket, you risk warping your head which will cost you.

[QuikShifter]

Originally Posted by 91civichatch2571

Not to mention, if it really is your headgasket, you risk warping your head which will cost you.

Oh yeah! goodness knows, I probably already warped mine !!

[BLU CIVIC]

having blown head gasket does weird things to ur car....mine putted for a few weeks then straightened up....over heated then nothing....very weird when it comes to blown headgaskets

[quiXilver]

just replaced mine, the symptoms, were the rough idle, white smoke when idle, white milky substance under oil cap, and oil mixed with coolant, and substantial loss of coolant

[flook]

Thanks for the replies! I think you guys have confirmed my fears. I'll try the flush and see what I see...

Thanks again.