oil and water mixing?

[jbartholomew]

I just replaced the head on my 87 accord lx after i cracked the first one. It has been running fine for the past two months or so. recently i checked the oil and it was low and had water in it, then i proceeded to check the water and there was a light film of oil on the radiator cap. i was wondering what i should do, if i should pull the head and check the gasket, or just change the oil and see if the problem persists. I must mention though that the head gasket that i got with the new head did not impress me, and the cylinders all read 150 psi compression when i checked them.

[SteveDX89]

You can always try changing the oil and flushing the coolant system to see if there was any mixing that went on when the head gasket was changed. That's a lot easier to do than a head gasket. If the problem persists, then you've got a head gasket problem.

[shepherd79]

Do what steve said.
change the oil and flush the coolant system. it could have been that when you installed the headgasket you got the coolant into the oil throught the oil passages and oil drops into the coolant system.

if your headgasket is leaking, you may want to take the head off and clean the head and block. always use new headgasket. and remember to torgue it in steps.

[Honda-Master]

why don't you just do a leakage test?? that will tell you if u have a bad gasket or crack in the head or block

[jbartholomew]

Just had the cooling system flushed and checked by a mechanic, nothing wrong with it, and the oil was changed. new problem, as i was driving it for about 10min on the hwy, and then exited, when i stopped the engine ceased up. the temperature gauge never moved from cold, and there was no water in the radiator. could the water pump be bad? (130,000mi and i don't know if it is the original).

[POS carb]

if the cooling system is runs dry the engine will overheat and the temp needle will drop to Cold because there is no hot water flowing over it...
If the engine siezed well that's a pretty bad overheat, your block is probably warped.

Head gasket problems are usually noticed first in your cooling and oil systems
When I first blew my head gasket it happened because a hosefell off and all the water came out. I pulled over when I heard the pistons knocking, the temp gauge was pointing cold. I filled her up and drove around, later on I had the milky (watery) oil and a funny idle, temp would move up and down at random. I had cracked the head
I blew it again recently but the oil and water aren't mixing, it is however shooting steam out through the spark plug hole !! The idle is lopey like I have a big cam or something but there is definately a decrease in power and the radiator goes dry about once a week.

[Vanilla Sky]

make the mechanic fix it. chances are they either didn't fill it back up, or they left something open.

[AccordEpicenter]

This is why i never use a non honda headgasket. Looks like you might need to change it

[Vanilla Sky]

well, he said his engine locked up. chances are he has much bigger problems now.

[shepherd79]

This is why i never use a non honda headgasket. Looks like you might need to change it

i don't knwo what you are talkign about. I used non-Honda headgaskets on all of my engines and i never had gasket leak. well i would say never i had headgasket blow out on me between cylinders 3 and 4 causing 0 compression in both cylinders, but that was because i bought head gasket set of ebay.
The headgaskets i buy from Autozone always work for me. You just have to make sure your block and head are straight.

[jbartholomew]

i towed the car home, and it cooled off and ran, i didnt check the compression yet, but it started and ran fine, hopefully nothing was damaged. i added more water to the radiator and it did look like a milky color (ie oil in there). i also replaced the thermostat jsut because.

[87AccordsterLx]

There are other places for oil to get into the coolant and the reverse. A crack or bad gasket on the radiator where the hard line oil feed for the heater core could be a problem. Not sure if its like that on the accord.

[Honda-Master]

due to all the overheating ,,definatelly the head-gasket. warped head , for sure ....possible cracked head, ,+ i am sure piston rings are most likely collapsed that if you just repair the top end it will burn oil ,i would install one of those low miles japanese engines they come with around 40-45k miles ,, but will it be worth it is such an older car???

[jbartholomew]

im probably going to pull the head and have a machine shop check if its warped and if the valves are seated correctly. is there any places other than the dealers that carry head bolts? i would rather not use the same ones for a third time, im glad i got away with useing them twice.

[jbartholomew]

just filled the radiator and engine started right up, warmed up, and ran beautifully. valves knocked a little, going to adjust them. there still may be a leak in the radiator, didn't check it yet. i think the whole problem was that the mechanic never bled the coolant system, luckily everything made it through, hopefully nothing else goes wrong in the coming weeks. thanks for the help though.

[HondaBoy]

that can actually be the cause, not bleeding the cooling system. that'll make an air pocket not allowing flow of water. hope things work out for you. i've had my engine sieze up once when it over heated. has run fine for years, no problems on the internals.

[Honda-Master]

Ok... i thought u said there was water mixed with oil... not bleeding the cooling system has nothing to do with water /oil mixed together

if you got water/oil mixed together you got a blown headgasket or cracked head/////// Do a cylinder leakage test ..

[jbartholomew]

the original problem was that there was oil in the water. i thought it was just residue from when i replaced the head, so i had the water and oil changed. then i got it back and ceased the engine.

[StressSolutions]

ceased=ended
seized=stopped stuck grabbed

Why do you have to continually fill your radiator?