Questions and Answers

Honda Civic Head And Gasket Q. I have a 1995 Honda Civic DX. About six months ago my car started to overheat so I checked the coolant and it was very low. I added some coolant to it and then it was fine. A couple of weeks ago I went out one morning to start my car and it wouldn't start. It seemed like it wanted to but it was almost like it was seized up.

I waited till it got a little warmer outside to see if a warmer engine would help. I also checked the oil and coolant again. The oil was pretty low and the coolant was very low again almost bone dry. So I added some oil and some coolant tried starting it three consecutive times and on the third try it kicked over.

Once it started there was a lot of white smoke coming out of the tail pipe. I let the car run for about fifteen minutes and the smoke got lighter but it was still coming out pretty good. So I took it in and they looked at it and they thought it was that the timing belt was a notch off which created the white smoke to come out.

So I drove it the next day and on the way to work it was fine but driving home it started to overheat again. I took it back in and they said it was because of some air pockets in the cooling system. So they fixed that.

The next day I drove it again and the same thing happened. It over heated again. And when I started it after a few minutes of cooling down it ran very poor and had no power. I drove it like this for a couple of minutes and then it cleared itself up but still overheated.

From talking to people I know they seem to think it is either a cracked head or a bad head gasket. What do you think? How much would a cracked head and a new head gasket cost if I brought it some where?

Thanks for the help,
Scott

A. With the symptoms you describe, a blown head gasket would have been the first thing I would have suspected. I doubt the head is cracked, but I would make sure whoever does the job to send the head to a machine shop to be tested for cracks and resurfaced if it's good.

If the head does need to be replaced, A new one from Honda is about $1200.00. But you can get a good used one at a junk yard for about $150.00 or so. Again, have it sent to a machine shop first. You don't want to buy someone else's problem.

Worst case scenario, with a new head, other needed parts timing belt, water pump, fluids and labor, we're talking about $2300.00. Without a new head, timing belt and water pump, about $1,000.00.

I would recommend replacing the timing belt and water pump at this time. Fans belts wouldn't be a bad idea also. The extra is the price of the belts since they have to come off to do the head.