radiator losing water: --- urgent advice needed

adriano7910

only recently the cooling system started giving problems
let me document everything.
car 99-00 civic lev d15b non vtec
owned 9 yrs
problems started august this year
car started losing water and oil and also oil residue appeared in the overflow bottle and radiator
my dads friend suggected it cld be a bad thermostat . sound weird. but he took it out and told me drive the car normal.after a few days of it continuing i call our mechanic. he told me its the headgasket. made sense. carried the car in and he changed the head gasket and all other gaskets , shaved the head, changed the raditior fan and distributor seel and gave us back.
note the thermostat still is out if this helps. car works now doesnt burn oil but still loses water.overflow bottle always empty after driving and water goes down in radiator. filled up with water coolant misture thursday and checked oil and used it and came home didnt use the car since. used it today to go POS and come back. when i was in valpark with the ac on and the car idling i noticed the engine hard tumbling.looked over and the temp through the roof. switched of the car .let it cool for a 5 opened the raditor and nothing. strange no water.turned on the car turned the heater on and started pouring water in.radiator was completely empty and oil gone.me being stuned didnt notice the raditor fan wasnt coming on. because the steam and amount of water i used to fill back the radiator had me stunned. after i finish putting water in and bleeding out the bubbles i saw the engine check ligth come on and the temp go back down to half and stayed there since. drove home parked up. and let it cool down. switched back on the car little while ago and the check ligth not on nemore the raditaior lost some water and the fan still not coming on.
note the radiator fan problem has only began today or cld of been malfunctioning since we replaced it in early september. but why is the raditor losing water. and is the oil loss today because of the engine heat due to no water.
note:since we got back the car in ealry september oil level has nvr moved b4 today
plz leave detailed comment to help me . i will greatly appreciate this

azoturbo · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:08 pm Post subject:

sounds like head gasket

adriano7910 · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:24 pm Post subject:

new headgasket was put in september

Snyper · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:29 pm Post subject:

check to make sure your radiator is not leaking had a similar problem and when i checked out found out that it had a tiny leak

adriano7910 · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:34 pm Post subject:

i heard a bad water pump can cause problems. can they cause this type of problem

red bwoy · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:40 pm Post subject:

had a similar prob with my mazda familia except no oil or oil residue but my problem was the radiator cap see when the cap spring looses tension it holds no pressure in the radiator so when pressure builds it forces all the water in the radiator out it leaks out and drains away

it could also be a pinhole in the radiator i leaks steam only when the radiator is under pressure so you wont see or hear it while driving

as for the oil bring lost that could only be two things imho head gasket or cracked head

brams112 · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:57 pm Post subject:

engine swap pallie

axe · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:06 pm Post subject:

warped head...bad cylinder head gasket......cracked head
could be one or more

adriano7910 · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:13 pm Post subject:

head was shaved and all gaskets changed in september when head was shaved. have to check if it was pressure tested and checked for hair line fractures tom when i call the mech

legendkiller@1891 · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:32 pm Post subject:

adriano7910 · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:44 pm Post subject:

important piece of information i may have left out. when car is run hard since is came back in september ,seeing that i am a spirited driver the temp gauge goes up to around 3/4 when the car come to a stop and goes back down to half after a few seconds probably 6-10 seconds or will go back down if u start back to drive again. meaning u drive hard u stop at a ligth while at the ligth the temp gauge goes up and will come back down on its own or if the traffic moves and the car starts to drive again itll go down.

legendkiller@1891 · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:55 pm Post subject:

that really sounds like the head-gasket gone.. you ever changed the sump pan seal?..they probably didn't tighten back the tappet pan cover properly so it causing you to loose oil..or the head really cracked..

adriano7910 · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:59 pm Post subject:

oil level came back today without adding any. since head gasket was changed in spetember oil hasnt moved. all gaskets were changed in september so i dont think it can be damaged already. sump pan seal to my knowledge were nvr changed. not sure will have to ask mech all does questions. dad talked to the mech and left out few details. ill ask him all these questions.

legendkiller@1891 · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:05 pm Post subject:

adriano7910 · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:09 pm Post subject:

thanks man.already have does things on my list and things to check. im also going to carry the radiator to properly clean and check for leaks most likely tom. and also check the fan and fan switch tom too.

legendkiller@1891 · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:12 pm Post subject:

no ceen..you do that. Wink

civic SIR · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:09 pm Post subject:

yo, if the radiator fan is malfunctioning like you said then the car would overheat and force the water to come up throught he coolant resevoir. if the fan was "dead"- meaning that if was not spinning at full speed all the while but you were using the A/C you would loose water faster. Check an electircian first and if need be change the fan Wink

bluesteel29 · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:32 pm Post subject:

hoses....water pump...rad. fan switch..

sometimes u can have a small tear in hoses thats not openly visible..

adriano7910 · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:38 pm Post subject:

today radiator was cleaned and cooling system was pressure tested and one of those hard "u" shaped hoses was found to have a tear. hose was replaced by one from autonation. drove it tonigth not to long. drove hard. after a while the temp gauge still went up to 3/4 and came back down. goes up when u run the car hard and when it stops only then the temp gauge will start to raise or the engine is under strain like to maracus. when u start back to drive from the stop or after a period of time at the stop then the temp gauge starts to go back down. i check the water when i went out tonigth when i reached. didnt move. didnt check it since i reached home cause im letting it cool
ne one have ne idea why this happening
thermostat still out of car

Inshan · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:59 pm Post subject:

Start the car from cold, as in cold from sitting overnight. Well.. before you start the car, check the coolant level in the radiator, top up if necessary and put the cap back on.
Start the car, and hold the RPMs at about 2000 for about 2 mins. Now go and remove the radiator cap again. If there is any pressure in the radiator, you have combustion gases leaking into you cooling system somewhere... usually through a blown headgasket.
The oily residue in the coolant is the giveaway. Sounds like the previous head job was not successful.

civic SIR · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:13 am Post subject:

still sounds like the fan malfunctioning......... guage going up @ standstill and high speeds......

fordfanatic · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:33 am Post subject:

if the coolant circulation system i.e. the water pump, hoses and radiator are functioning properly, wouldn't driving at higher speeds replace the job of the fan? and sitting in traffic with no fan be like blocking the air flow thru the radiator? if spirited driving causes the pressure in the cooling system to build up to the point of pushing out all the water then at higher speed you are actually driving with lower or no water in the radiator.Which will cause the over heating. What if the thermostat controls the pressure in the cooling system? without it the engine is building more pressure than the cap can deal with so u loses water.

p.s. i am having this exact problem with my car, last night i put on a new water bottle cover that have a higher psi rating and when i was "spiritedly" driving on the highway the bottle cover flew off when i pulled over and checked water level was good so i expect that with the system sealed off the pressure reached so high that it just blew off the cover.........

legendkiller@1891 · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:03 am Post subject:

i think you should really consider doing an engine swap.

fordfanatic · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:27 am Post subject:

who me? nah i think i'll sell and let someone else do the engine swap......

legendkiller@1891 · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:05 am Post subject:

lol no not you but ok!. i was referring to adriano7910,

fordfanatic · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:23 am Post subject:

yes i agree...... he has lots of options right?? if it is a mechanical failure in the engine itself it should not be that hard to just change the engine right..... maybe reuse the tranny....

legendkiller@1891 · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:43 am Post subject:

im not sure about the 'lots of options' but if he said he done all those things an change all sorts of parts an the problem is still their, then i think its best he do an engine swap its what i would of done... But just friday i was in bamboo an dem fellaz coasin ah d15b engine is about 8k complete...

fordfanatic · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:45 am Post subject:

damn.... that price steep

legendkiller@1891 · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:49 am Post subject:

yep it is and to my knowing just recently(earlier in the year) a d15b engine an harness was 3500 for the most...

adriano7910 · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 4:24 pm Post subject:

at high speed temp ramains normal.
its when the car stops or slows to a crawl after then the temp gauge goes up but as i said only after hard driving
if u constantly drive at normal sppeds temp gauge remains normal at half