# Bad head gasket on 98 civic?



## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

dbldee20 said:


> is losing coolant.
> No puddles under car overnight.
> The car runs rough when started cold after sitting over night, I am assuming because one of cylinders has coolant in it.
> After about 30secs or so it smooths out and goes to normal fast idle. Some white smoke in morning, but its cold here in morning & she parks outside. Check engine light comes on then goes out. I am assuming due to coolant fouling an oxygen sensor in exhaust. One garage told me it needed a tune up to fix one cylinder not firing, and they changed radiator & thermostat. They told me that it was clogged & coolant wasn't circulating. The car only runs hot when it gets low on coolant. I changed plugs, wires, cap, rotor. It still runs rough when started cold. She recently had water pump change w timing belt. I told the garage to pressure test it. I am assuming the car didn't need a radiator. Does she have any recourse with them, i will not take it there if it needs a head gasket repair. And does it sound like a bad head gasket?
> ...


My 94' Civic passed the compression test but #1 cylinder was burning antifreeze. The plug was wet. The head gasket looked damaged in the vicinity of #1 plug.
I had to stop the car after 15 minutes each time because I was afraid the connecting rod would break trying to compress water. 
Mine would start OK but then run rough. It had a "wet intake manifold" but checking it didn't show up any coolant where it wasn't supposed to be.
White smoke everywhere.
I also spent $130 on a valve that passes coolant and intake air but that also didn't show up any coolant where it wasn't supposed to be.


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## Rehabber (Dec 29, 2005)

Have a mechanic run a 'block check' its a blue fluid that turns yellow or green if combustion gasses are detected in the cooling system. If your mechanic doesn't know what a block check is, or doesn't have one, find another mechanic.


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## HawkZ28 (Feb 18, 2009)

Couild also be a cracked head or block. Any competent mechanic should be able to perform a simple leakdown test, and tell you exactly where the cylinder pressure loss is coming from.

Another way to tell is look at the tubes in the radiator. Typically, when a head gasket fails, the cooling system can't handle the additional pressure, and the tubes in the radiator will become oval shaped, versus the usual round.


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## gotboost (Sep 5, 2008)

When you changed the plugs what ever cylinder was or is leaking coolant the plug should have been much cleaner looking then the others..


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## dbldee20 (Dec 31, 2008)

thanks for the input guys, the head gasket is bad. a friend is going to fix it this weekend.


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