Hi all,

The cooling system in my 96 d16y8 seems to be mysteriously losing a quart of coolant every few weeks, and it does not seem to be able to replenish itself thru the reservoir tank, so no matter how much is lost, the reservoir tank still is at a misleading indication at its max level. I have checked all hoses and can not find any leaks yet. Oil seems to be ok without any trace of water/coolant.

I had replaced the radiator cap and when I open the cap it does hiss at me, indicating there is pressure in there. What could be wrong? Why is it not sucking coolant into the radiator as needed?

Thanks for any input...

civicfan8

 

It's probably building pressure, but no enough to bring the coolant in from the overflow tank. If you can't find any leaks, you may have a bad head gasket or cracked head. If you turn on the heater, can you smell antifreeze? If so, you may have a bad heater core.

Maybe someone else can add something as well.

 

WERD i just about to say its probably the head gasket

 

Thanks for your replies...

I am confused cause if it's the head gasket I should be seeing some major changes in terms of its driveability like white smoke coming out the exhaust, oil in coolant or coolant in oil, etc...lack of power....but I don't see any of these so far....

I turned on the heater and nothing smells like coolant either, so weird....

 

This is not true all the time. For instance, my dad had a Ford Ranger in which both heads were bad (V-6) and it would burn about a gallon of coolant per month. He had no driveability issues with it what-so-ever. There was no white smoke, no coolant in the oil, etc... The only way he found out was by getting the engine torn apart at his cost.
Antifreeze maybe cheap to replace as the level goes down, but when it burns in the combustion chamber, it's very hard on internal engine components. I'm not sure exactly how(heat, corosion, etc.) but I've heard it's bad.

Pulling the head and replacing the gasket would be your best bet. If it continues, you will have to get the head checked by a professional as some cracks may not be apparent.

 

Thanks for all the inputs. I'll take a closer look this weekend.

Is there a better way to determine the condition of the head gasket other than taking it apart?

 

i know there's some test kit you can get or or a test you can have done some places. i know inline pro will do it.

 

Well, my friend's 98 Ex is doing something similar that needs the headgasket to be checked. Her cooling system seems to intermitently not work, usually driving down to NYC from CT, the gauge will start to go up and blah blah blah. We've had everything besides the waterpump replaced and we thought worse case was the headgasket. What my shop did to semi test the headgasket, was to put it on an emissions machine and run a carbon check(something like that) and this can sorta tell you if the gasket is going or gone. Hope you understood what I just said cuz I don't think I did. Good luck in anycase.

 

Thanks for your input.....I'll get the car into the shop and have the head gasket checked/replaced....