Since r3v is full of crazy knowledgeable mofo's and whatnot, I figured I would run this by you all.
My wife's car is a 2003 Civic LX (SOHC 1.7L auto) with just under 205k miles on it. It's about due for its 2nd timing belt replacement too.
This morning we drove to get some brunch and when I got back to the car and started it, it seemed to idle on 3 cylinders (rough idle, raw gas smell). It went away after about 10 seconds. We went elsewhere, parked and returned to the car. Same deal as before with running on 3 cylinders and I smelled hot coolant. At no point did it overheat as we drove 20 miles home.
We got home and I popped the hood. There was some coolant sprayed all over in the area by the expansion tank and the expansion tank had coolant all the way to the top. I check the fluids every month or two and it is usually 12-14" lower than that, near the "cold" line. I removed the oil fill cap and looked around. No funny smells, no milky anything. The coolant looked and smelled fairly normal too. The feed and return hoses to the radiator were both hot, so I doubt that there is a clog.
I pulled the spark plugs. Cylinders 1-3 looked fine and #4 was brownish-red/black and sooty. My assumption at this point is that there is a pinhole leak in the head gasket through which combustion gases are pushing into the coolant system. Maybe cylinder 4 gets some coolant in it when the engine is off and that causes misfires until it boils off? The engine check light is also on now, but I don't have a code reader.
Anyway, anyone have any theories other than a faulty HG? If it is that, what can I expect to pay at the dealer for a HG replacement? It needs a timing belt anyway, and she had the dealer do the first one ~6 years ago for $600. I've done HG jobs on my E30 and swapped engines and stuff, but with her car I don't have the interest or energy to a HG repair so I am thinking of taking it to the dealer and having them deal with it, and I am not worried about getting ripped off since they would have to give me a work list before starting.
My wife's car is a 2003 Civic LX (SOHC 1.7L auto) with just under 205k miles on it. It's about due for its 2nd timing belt replacement too.
This morning we drove to get some brunch and when I got back to the car and started it, it seemed to idle on 3 cylinders (rough idle, raw gas smell). It went away after about 10 seconds. We went elsewhere, parked and returned to the car. Same deal as before with running on 3 cylinders and I smelled hot coolant. At no point did it overheat as we drove 20 miles home.
We got home and I popped the hood. There was some coolant sprayed all over in the area by the expansion tank and the expansion tank had coolant all the way to the top. I check the fluids every month or two and it is usually 12-14" lower than that, near the "cold" line. I removed the oil fill cap and looked around. No funny smells, no milky anything. The coolant looked and smelled fairly normal too. The feed and return hoses to the radiator were both hot, so I doubt that there is a clog.
I pulled the spark plugs. Cylinders 1-3 looked fine and #4 was brownish-red/black and sooty. My assumption at this point is that there is a pinhole leak in the head gasket through which combustion gases are pushing into the coolant system. Maybe cylinder 4 gets some coolant in it when the engine is off and that causes misfires until it boils off? The engine check light is also on now, but I don't have a code reader.
Anyway, anyone have any theories other than a faulty HG? If it is that, what can I expect to pay at the dealer for a HG replacement? It needs a timing belt anyway, and she had the dealer do the first one ~6 years ago for $600. I've done HG jobs on my E30 and swapped engines and stuff, but with her car I don't have the interest or energy to a HG repair so I am thinking of taking it to the dealer and having them deal with it, and I am not worried about getting ripped off since they would have to give me a work list before starting.
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