R_Squared

Lately, my radiator has been leaking some coolant, mainly around the plastic end tanks. I've been trying to keep up on topping it off and plan on replacing the radiator soon enough. But another leak has caught my attention. It appears to be on the head, right around where the header connects. I've snapped a couple pics of the leak. What could this leak be from and what should I do to take care of it? Thanks.

2001TEGGSR

Is that coolant just splash from your end tanks? or is your hose leaking?

Is your car consuming oil in excess? It appears that you have a somewhat leaky headgasket. A few things to check:

Compression Test
Is there black specs in your rad?
Is there water specs in your oil?

Buyimports2

How much black specks is too much?

GSRRacer95

I would check the housing where that bleeder fitting is. I was getting coolant in the same spot. I resealed the housing and my problem went away.

2001TEGGSR

I missinformed you... Black specks could just be dirt. Your looking for "beads" of oil in your radiator. If you find any at all, this is a sign of a faulty head gasket. If your oil is making its way into your cooling system, then it's possible for coolant to be crossing into your oil. Water is a horrible lubricant, and will cause premature bearing failure, etc. I would get it fixed as soon as possible. Is your car consuming oil?

MTEng

What you're seeing is the spot where the coolant is POOLING, not necessarily where it's leaking from.

Clean that oily mess with some Brakleen and dry the entire area completely. Drive the thing a couple days and look again. Should be easier to pinpoint. Feel free to post some more pics.

Also, snap a pic from higher and more to the left....

As I recall there are a couple temp sensors in the side of the head above that location. They tend to leak.

The oil leak is probably from either the distributor O-ring or the valve cover gasket. Make sure you use Hondabond in all the 90 degree "corners" of the valve cover gasket.

R_Squared

My car isn't consuming any more oil than normal really. I usually have to add about a quart in between oil changes (3500 miles or so). I haven't seen any signs of oil mixing with coolant. What is the circular disc in the picture? Could I possibly be leaking coolant from there?

R_Squared

Thanks for the info. I'll have to clean it up and see if I can narrow things down a bit. I've been throwing a CEL for the Engine Coolant Temp (ECT) sensor for a little while now. Could this be having an effect?

2001TEGGSR

That's probably it, or at least contributing.

MTEng

I believe that is one of the sensors on the side of the head. May have cracked. Should be easy to tell. If not, keep looking

I believe it's a plug to fill one of the access holes used for machining the head.