My 2.4 Honda engine uses an oz or two of coolant per week. A uoa confirmed it is going into the oil. It has been this way since i bought it used 7/07. My theory is it leaks until it is warmed up ,hence the small loss. Could this be a head gasket, if so wouldn't it get worse. Or is it a cracked block? I don't know if this engine can leak from the intake gasket. What do you guys think.
Head gasket or cracked block
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There's absolutely no way you can tell whether it's a cracked block or torn head gasket unless you take the head off for inspection (for torn gasket).
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Originally Posted By: Quest
There's absolutely no way you can tell whether it's a cracked block or torn head gasket unless you take the head off for inspection (for torn gasket).
Q.
+1
There's absolutely no way you can tell whether it's a cracked block or torn head gasket unless you take the head off for inspection (for torn gasket).
Q.
+1
I don't think it could be an intake gasket - this is a 4 banger and pretty much all 4 bangers short of some older Saturn engines have dry intake manifolds.
I'd still consider trying the new Bar's head gasket fix. But like I've said before, drain the radiator before installing the product so it doesn't just sit on top of the radiator.
I'd still consider trying the new Bar's head gasket fix. But like I've said before, drain the radiator before installing the product so it doesn't just sit on top of the radiator.
Before plunge good money to fix the leak, try the cheap and easy way first. Bar's leak is a low cost trial and it may fix the coolant leak, if not then you need to remove the head to examine the gasket and replace it if needed.
Hey posty, I sent you a PM, you should have a flashing mail icon at the top pf the forum.
Maybe apples and oranges, I just R+Red the intake manifold on a 99 Honda 2l twincam. I'm preety sure there were coolant passges in the IM. But, I'm no expert, I was mostly concerned with the head. I have had moderate success with the BarsLeak, brown goop too. For a while it was used as factory fill in GMs
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Different car but same problem, My EX 92 Escort used a little antifreeze and showed up on an oil report. I thought it was a cracked head but turned out to be a bad intake manifold gasket. Coolant does not enter the intake manifold, but an open water jacket butts up to the intake manifold's mounting flange and was migrating into one of the cylinders. Can you smell antifreeze when you start it up? Mine would eventually foul a plug. Barrs leak powder and spare plugs kept me running for years untill I took a stab at the intake gasket. My oil analysis said that even with antifreeze getting in the oil, no extra wear was evident...3000 mile oil changes. Mechanic in a bottle "or tube" is'nt such a bad thing. My transmission went kuput at 160,000..thats what killed my wagon.....rip
Kestas
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The leak path is coolant to oil. I tend to think one of the gaskets has developed a leak path.
Could be either a leak path from coolant to oil, or a 'slightly' blown head gasket, with a leak path between coolant and the cylinder (allowing coolant to seep down past the rings and into the oil overnight). I see examples of both all the time in diesel engines.
I don't know a thing about Honda engines, specifically. But this sounds like a classic leaking (or slightly 'blown') head gasket to me. I hear lots of talk about hard & fast rules saying that a leaking head gasket WILL cause this or that symptom. Reality isn't that simple, though. It depends on where, how, and why the head gasket leaks. They can leak ANY combination of coolant, oil, or compression... and it can leak externally, into the crankcase, into a water jacket, into a cylinder, or any combination thereof. Depends on where/why/how it's leaking and the basic design of the engine in question.
Cracked head is also a possibility... don't know how common this is on a honda. Disassembly and inspection is your only real option if you want to permanently fix this problem.
Another option might be to throw in some stopleak and trade it off. I prefer the GM stopleak pellets. I've seen them work miracles.
I don't know a thing about Honda engines, specifically. But this sounds like a classic leaking (or slightly 'blown') head gasket to me. I hear lots of talk about hard & fast rules saying that a leaking head gasket WILL cause this or that symptom. Reality isn't that simple, though. It depends on where, how, and why the head gasket leaks. They can leak ANY combination of coolant, oil, or compression... and it can leak externally, into the crankcase, into a water jacket, into a cylinder, or any combination thereof. Depends on where/why/how it's leaking and the basic design of the engine in question.
Cracked head is also a possibility... don't know how common this is on a honda. Disassembly and inspection is your only real option if you want to permanently fix this problem.
Another option might be to throw in some stopleak and trade it off. I prefer the GM stopleak pellets. I've seen them work miracles.
How about yuor coolant pressure cap... if air gets into the system, it can boil the coolant away..easily fixed my purging the system of air(run enging for about 20 minutes with cap off,a nd let ti do its thing) and just replace the radiator cap.
Originally Posted By: onion
Could be either a leak path from coolant to oil, or a 'slightly' blown head gasket, with a leak path between coolant and the cylinder (allowing coolant to seep down past the rings and into the oil overnight). I see examples of both all the time in diesel engines.
I don't know a thing about Honda engines, specifically. But this sounds like a classic leaking (or slightly 'blown') head gasket to me. I hear lots of talk about hard & fast rules saying that a leaking head gasket WILL cause this or that symptom. Reality isn't that simple, though. It depends on where, how, and why the head gasket leaks. They can leak ANY combination of coolant, oil, or compression... and it can leak externally, into the crankcase, into a water jacket, into a cylinder, or any combination thereof. Depends on where/why/how it's leaking and the basic design of the engine in question.
Cracked head is also a possibility... don't know how common this is on a honda. Disassembly and inspection is your only real option if you want to permanently fix this problem.
Another option might be to throw in some stopleak and trade it off. I prefer the GM stopleak pellets. I've seen them work miracles.
Totally agreed. I blew 6 headgaskets in a year during my "learning curve" with my GN. During that time, I've learned that sometimes it only shows up as a slightly unstable idle, sometimes coolant in the oil, sometimes shooting flame out between the head and block (pretty cool), and sometimes pressurizing the crankcase and making it puke oil out the breathers.
Could be either a leak path from coolant to oil, or a 'slightly' blown head gasket, with a leak path between coolant and the cylinder (allowing coolant to seep down past the rings and into the oil overnight). I see examples of both all the time in diesel engines.
I don't know a thing about Honda engines, specifically. But this sounds like a classic leaking (or slightly 'blown') head gasket to me. I hear lots of talk about hard & fast rules saying that a leaking head gasket WILL cause this or that symptom. Reality isn't that simple, though. It depends on where, how, and why the head gasket leaks. They can leak ANY combination of coolant, oil, or compression... and it can leak externally, into the crankcase, into a water jacket, into a cylinder, or any combination thereof. Depends on where/why/how it's leaking and the basic design of the engine in question.
Cracked head is also a possibility... don't know how common this is on a honda. Disassembly and inspection is your only real option if you want to permanently fix this problem.
Another option might be to throw in some stopleak and trade it off. I prefer the GM stopleak pellets. I've seen them work miracles.
Totally agreed. I blew 6 headgaskets in a year during my "learning curve" with my GN. During that time, I've learned that sometimes it only shows up as a slightly unstable idle, sometimes coolant in the oil, sometimes shooting flame out between the head and block (pretty cool), and sometimes pressurizing the crankcase and making it puke oil out the breathers.
The only thing you can do posty is get it professionally diagnosed at a good independent garage. They should pressure test the system first, then maybe do a leakdown test and or a compression test, along with a sniffer test at the radiator neck to see if combustion gases are getting into the cooling system.
Best of luck.
Best of luck.
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