I have a B18C1 swapped into my 96 DX coupe. Today when I drove over to my gf's I noticed white smoke coming from the engine bay. When I stepped out of the car, I realized that it was coming from underneath the car. I took a look to see what was happening and coolant was pouring onto my cat (which caused the white smoke). I tried to see what might have caused the leak. The rad hoses were fine, it didn't seem to be coming from the water pump, the heater hoses were fine....

I'm getting really depressed about this swap. Could it be the headgasket. I was told that when I hit Vtec, there would be a cloud of white smoke coming out of my exhaust. Would a headgasket leak cause the coolant to leak out of the engine?

 

It very well could be the head gasket if you're sure that it's not leaking from elsewhere. Did you check the allenhead caps on the sides of the motor? They're like bolts, but they don't have a head on them, just recesses for a large allenhead socket/wrench. One of these started leaking on me right after I swapped it, but it was leaking oil. Took me a few days to figure it out, but I was glad that was the problem.

It could also be your coolant channel on the back of the motor. It's a metal channel that's usually black and it connects from your water pump housing to your thermastat housing. There are o-rings in there that can go bad and leak. There are also a couple hoses that run from it that could cause problems. Check those out and see if that might be your problem.

hih

 

I'll keep you posted. I didn't get a really good chance to get under the car this morning. I had to go to work.

 

There are also 2 heater core hoses that go from the engine back to the firewall (pull your intake and you'll probably see them). I haven't seen a Honda's fail yet, but several other cars I've worked on, that's been the cause of the mysterious coolant leak (they're just rubber so any hose will eventually fail).

 

Andy!!! what's up?

Yeah I checked those, they looked fine. Of course this was at 8am and I was really pissed and nervous, so it might be those. But I have a feeling it's probably another one. Those two heater hoses really looked ok to me.

BTW, is it most likely a cracked hose? I mean it was dripping quite a bit, I can't imaging anything else leaking in that area of the engine.

 

Turns out it was one of the heater hoses connecting to the firewall. It was just missing clamps on it. Seems fine now.

 

Good call andy. :goodjob:

 

Yeah! I still want a similey doing the cabage patch! Glad you got it fixed.

It was missing a clamp? That's odd. I have a set of hoses in my garage for my '98 EX I was going to put on when I did my clutch but I only put on one of them. If I ever do a swap I'll change the other one (couldn't really get to it).