possible head gskt leak and temp guage ?

[eightyseven]

87 Accord LXi

I'm adding and burning a half gallon+ of antifreeze after at least 3 weeks of driving, there is no visible puddles, or antifreeze smell.
White smoke from the exhaust on the initial startup but goes away.

Possible have a gasket leak on the exhaust side? How much usually for a shop to repair?
Interior does not reek of antifreeze so i'm eliminating the heater core. But the heating/cooling air vents sometimes emits an aquarium noise every now and then, very puzzling.

Also what is the norm' position for the temp needle? I usually start to panick when it gets 3/4 up to H as in the past it would hit H when the coolant is uncomfortably low.

THanks, this is the 2nd winter with my accord and i hope to make through at least 2 more.

blizzaks on all 4's.

[Greg]

I don't know if I can be of much help, but I'll try. It's also hard to figure these things out w/o looking at them...

1/2 gal in 3 weeks would mean that you have a VERY minor head gasket leak, if you do indeed have one at all. I've worked on cars w/ coolant loss past head gasket leaks before. One civic would lose basically a gallon of coolant within 30 or 40 minutes of driving. A Prelude that I worked on would lose maybe 1/2 gallon in 1/2 hr.

This guy who I used to work with told me that sometimes you can have head gasket leaks where the coolant doesn't enter the combustion chamber (so you don't see smoke), but hot exhaust gasses will force their way into the coolant (in the engine water jackets), and heat it up to the point where it boils over.

I've seen cars where the head gasket leaks into the coolant, and usually it will cause a pressure buildup to spurt the coolant out.

If you suspect head gasket leak, I would check the following:

inspect the condition of your coolant. Is it brownish and murky? Is it bubbly and sludgy? exhaust gasses usually dirty it up. If you're also getting oil leaking into the coolant then it becomes REALLY foul. You can usually tell by opening your radiator cap and looking at it.

Make sure your oil level isn't going down too much.

Overheating is bad and will kill your head gasket even more. I wouldn't drive on a temp gage that's going up past 2/3 of the way. If it does, put your heater inside the car to hot and your blower to 4 w/all your vents open and stop driving. You don't want to screw things up more!

I think you should be REALLY SURE about your condition before you go after the head gasket. Make sure there are no leaks around the intake manifold or water pump. THere is a little weep hole on the bottom of the water pump body. Make sure there is no green drip coming out from there.

You should check your coolant level at least every couple days and keep it full! If it starts losing more then you will either be able to detect the leak more easily or figure out that it is indeed the head gasket.

Buy a cheap inspection mirror to look around EVERYTHING and use a flashlight. be careful to not overlook anything. check around the hose fittings on the radiator and the engine.

Good luck!

[eightyseven]

Good info Greg. Hey i'm in the 'west burbs.

Coolant was flushed last year, its still green but over last winter i probably gave it a compelte transfusion (adding that was lost).

Oil looks fine doesn't even appear that light brown shake color.

I did one time experience the pressure where my catch was boiling and jettingson coolant 2-3ft high. (Thats when i notice this problem actually)...that was a close one, very low.


Thanks.

[AZmike]

I have a similar problem with a much slower coolant leak. Once your reserve tank is empty it's really easy to get air in the cooling system. Those bubbles like to sit in the thermostat housing and make your temperature gauge read above high (without coolant nearby, it becomes the temperature of the head, which is hotter than the coolant should ever be). The gauge doesn't creep higher, it just shoots up all at once. So if your gauge does that don't worry about it, just keep an eye on the coolant level. If your gauge just creeps toward H it's still giving a good reading.