BTW, I agree with Koss that you don’t want to modify anything inside the fusebox.
I’d rather not add a wire at the battery though. An unused wire that carries battery voltage would be ideal. You would be able to tap into that wire. There might be one going to your pictured connector.
Possible. Try putting your voltmeter across the connector terminals. Do you see 12 V? If so, pull the fuse for the work lamp and see if the voltage goes to ~0 V. If it does, I think you’re in business.
I guess I need to start thinking about making a decision with my car. It’s a 2013 Civic with about 130,000 miles. I generally try to shoot for 200,000 miles as I (in pre pandemic days) put a ton of miles on my cars every year.
In very heavy traffic on hot days the overheating light started coming on and I noticed I was slowly losing coolant. This was back in March when I was still commuting into Cambridge. After a bunch of visits to the shop they think that it’s probably the head gasket. They think under normal conditions it’s fine but when it heats up there is a small leak in the head gasket and coolant is leaking into the combustion chamber and burning off. $1600 to put in a new head gasket.
I’ve had the car parked for the most part since March since I don’t need it right now. I run it once a week or so and have taken it out to do a few errands just to keep it running, but I need to decide soon whether to do the head gasket repair or get a new car. The car is in good shape generally and I think I could squeeze another 3 or 4 years out of it if the head gasket fixes the problem.
I just don’t want to spend $1600 unless it’s very likely to solve the problem. I could buy a new car tomorrow if I needed to, but in general I like to drive my cars until they are no longer reliable.
Curious if anyone here knows if the head gasket repair suggestion makes sense? I’ve asked them if they can do a pressure test or something to give me some confidence that this will fix the problem, but they haven’t really answered the question.
I think the gasket thing makes sense as a possibility.
Does it overheat if there is coolant? How quickly does it run out? Can you just keep topping it off?
If it still overheats while there is coolant in the overflow tank, I’d think it would have to be something else.
Does a lot of water come out of your tailpipe?
How does the oil look?
Does water drip out of the tail pipe when its sitting after its been driven? Car needs to be idling.
If the oil looks fine and you’re loosing a lot of coolant, do a quick check that your lower radiator hose isn’t cracked or leaking from the ends.
First Google result is from people who sell gasket repair concoction (Blue Devil). These products are hit or miss but may be worth trying. Some people freak out at the thought of adding stuff to coolant but I’ve never had trouble.
You mention overheating. Anything else?
How To Tell if a Head Gasket Is Blown:
- Coolant leaking externally from below the exhaust manifold
- White smoke from the exhaust pipe
- Bubbles in the radiator or coolant overflow tank
- Overheating engine
- White milky oil
- Fouled spark plugs
- Low cooling system integrity
The couple of times the light came on the coolant had gotten pretty low because I didn’t realize it was losing coolant before then. I don’t think it will overheat if there is coolant, but I’m also not sure if it slowly burns the coolant off, or if I lose a lot quickly when in terrible traffic. Maybe I should just let it run in my driveway on a hot day and see that happens.
I’ll have to take a look at the oil. The only thing I noticed besides the overheating was I started getting rough starts which could be from fouled plugs I suppose. Once it fires and gets past the “boggy” start which was lasting for roughly 5 seconds it runs like normal. The shop seemed to think those symptoms also pointed to the head gasket issue.
So drive it for a bit and then park and let it idle and check for water?
Basically, but I wouldn’t go that route as it isn’t exactly a reliable sign of a blown gasket.
Any legit shop should be able to pressurize the cylinders to find out for sure that you have a faulty gasket. So it shouldn’t be a scenario where you’re stuck spending 1,600 with your fingers crossed that it was in fact the gaskets.
IMO, with what you stated, if the oil looks like it has little dots in it or is a bit milky, it is almost certain that your head gaskets are bad.
If the oil looks fine it could be something as simple as a cracked lower radiator hose. That certainly would cause overheating. That probably isn’t likely but never know.
Ok so I asked them to do it back in March so that I could make a decision and they didn’t do it. I think I should probably bring it to another shop that’s willing to do the pressure test. Although if the problem only manifests when the engine is really hot will this show up in the pressure test?
Wouldn’t a cracked lower radiator hose show evidence of leaking? There is definitely no visible leaking.
Its called a leak down test. The engine is getting hot because of the gasket leak. Yes it will show up, it checks for air leaks out of the radiator and is done when the car is off. That’s why say to check for bubbles in the radiator. Yes, if there is no visible signs after a drive, the hose is probably fine. Also, the shop be able to distinguish what caused the blown gasket and if something else needs to be replaced i.e faulty water pump, thermostat.
Here’s a short video from a popular YT car guy. He says sealers are worth trying.
I think I damaged the gasket a few years ago. I ran over a pipe on the highway and it pierced the radiator. I took the next exit and drove the car to my shop but it overheated before I got there. I probably should have just pulled over and gotten a tow instead. But anyway, my theory is the gasket got damaged because of that incident and basically degraded faster than it would have normally. Does that sound plausible?
I just checked the oil on my dipstick and it looks normal. Not sure if I should try to actually drain the oil to see if it looks funky? I don’t have an oil pan here because I never do it myself, but I could probably find something.
If the oil looks fine on the dipstick dont bother draining it. I didnt see the post about the rough idle. That sounds like a head gasket issue and you got air leaking between the cylinders. After oil gets works it’s way in the gaskets can expand a bit causing the leak to almost seal but not really - possibly causing a rough start.
I’d just call around and see who will test it for you. And to answer your question, I’d keep the car and spend the money if they can assure you that the leak was likely caused by something that can be repaired.
I think I damaged the gasket a few years ago. I ran over a pipe on the highway and it pierced the radiator. I took the next exit and drove the car to my shop but it overheated before I got there. I probably should have just pulled over and gotten a tow instead. But anyway, my theory is the gasket got damaged because of that incident and basically degraded faster than it would have normally. Does that sound plausible?
Not used to this software like 22 but yeah, if the cooling system is fucked, the heat will eventually just cause the gaskets to swell and blow.
Not auto repair, but I’ll just ask this here.
I’m thinking of getting a new vehicle (minivan) in the next year and I was looking at the options on some of them. What do we think of the utility of an engine block heater (rarely gets below freezing here – maybe 1 week a year)? How about splash guards?
I agree with everything Formula72 has written. If your oil looks ok, then the coolant your losing isn’t going into the oil pan. It’s probably getting into the combustion chamber and going out the tail pipe as steam. The bubbles you’d see with the radiator cap off and the engine running will look like carbonation and are an absolute sign that your head gasket is bad. The exhaust gas getting past the head gasket and into the cooling system over pressurizes the system and it’s also super hot and causes overheating. If you keep driving it you’ll eventually get oil that looks like chocolate milk.
I’ve only ever needed an engine block heater when it was something like 20 below zero (in Fahrenheit). If it only gets below freezing for a week a year where you are, it’s not likely getting anywhere near cold enough to be necessary.
Thanks. It was pretty cheap compared to total price, so if it was even slightly useful, I’d have gotten it. Now it’s off the list.
Sorry, radiator and thermostat ruled out already. Should have mentioned that.