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Car Troubles
TL DR
Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
Hey, H/A!
Last week, my car's temp gauge went way into the red. It's a '93 Honda Civic Del Sol. I checked the coolant reservoir, and it was still full (just got oil changed/fluids topped up a few weeks ago). At this point, I was hearing that it would likely be the water pump or the thermostat.
I took it to a guy, who couldn't get it to overheat. Said the radiator was short over a gallon in coolant. He pressurized the system, left it overnight, and then when he started it up, it sounded awful. He told me (and I've observed) that coolant will bubble out of the reservoir. His explanation is that there's a problem with one of the cylinders causing exhaust to get pumped into the radiator, bubbling out through the reservoir and pushing coolant out of the system. His prognosis was that I'd have to either replace the engine or take the cylinder head to a machine shop and they could tell me if it was a gasket or something else.
Basically, I'm looking for a second opinion before I go get a second opinion. I don't know a whole lot about cars, so any input will be appreciated.
Thanks!
Last week, my car's temp gauge went way into the red. It's a '93 Honda Civic Del Sol. I checked the coolant reservoir, and it was still full (just got oil changed/fluids topped up a few weeks ago). At this point, I was hearing that it would likely be the water pump or the thermostat.
I took it to a guy, who couldn't get it to overheat. Said the radiator was short over a gallon in coolant. He pressurized the system, left it overnight, and then when he started it up, it sounded awful. He told me (and I've observed) that coolant will bubble out of the reservoir. His explanation is that there's a problem with one of the cylinders causing exhaust to get pumped into the radiator, bubbling out through the reservoir and pushing coolant out of the system. His prognosis was that I'd have to either replace the engine or take the cylinder head to a machine shop and they could tell me if it was a gasket or something else.
Basically, I'm looking for a second opinion before I go get a second opinion. I don't know a whole lot about cars, so any input will be appreciated.
Thanks!
TL DR on
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Posts
You might not have to replace the engine if it didn't overheat too badly, but it sounds like the head is at least warped which is not cheap to fix. Depending on how much you like the car/how old it is/how expensive it is to fix id start looking for alternatives.
The engine didn't cut out due to the heat or anything, I just saw it was running hot and I pulled over. In any case, I'm still looking at buying another car unless there's a way to get this fixed for <$500ish
However, if you can't, it's probably best to just get rid of it and get something new.
So, no chance this could be something easy like a thermostat?
Also a great time to do a timing belt and water pump replacement if you're due for one.
I did a replacement on my old '97 Dodge Neon years ago and was in it for a couple hundred bucks, but that was the kit, sealant, belts and water pump. A buddy of mine helped me out, took several hours.
For what its worth, we got a 2014 Corolla about 6 months ago for 21k, and you can probably do better than that if you do some legwork (and definitely if you get less options!)
Do you know a reputable garage/mechanic? If not, do you have any tools of your own and the fortitude to tear the top of your engine off in your garage?
Because you can pop the head yourself fairly easily and see if it is just the head gasket or a crack in a cylinder/combustion chamber, and also check if the head is warped with a steel ruler and some feeler gauges.
In the case of damage worse than a head-gasket, you then ring up mechanics asking if they want a Del Sol. Mechanics buy cheap cars with things they know how to fix wrong with them, fix them up cheaply, and then drive them for a decade or so until they die and repeat the whole process over again.
Keeping in mind that if he does "pop the top off" he is putting a new head gasket in regardless if that was the issue or not (assuming he still wants to use the car).
(the date caught me too)
Combustion gases getting into the cooling system is cylinder head off no matter what.
Yep but the part of starting it up and "it sounding awful" makes me think there's more going on beyond a headgasket.
Also my post was about if he was going to attempt to pop the top himself and not a mechanic, with a car this age/mileage and the fact you're opening it up you will want/need to replace the gasket before you seal it back up (assuming you found the issue/fixed it/wanted to keep the car). If he took the top off and the block was cracked and he was going to junk it/scrap it for parts then no new gasket)