1997 Honda Civic OVERHEATING WITH MILKSHAKE LIKE OIL AT OIL

MICKEYMICKEY1969

MEMBER
1997 HONDA CIVIC
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
90,000 MILES

MY HONDA OVERHEATED AND WHEN I CHECKED THE OILPAN, ITS OIL IS LIKE MILKY LIGHT BROWN. WHITE SMOKE CAME OUT AT THE MUFFLER. SOME SAID THAT THEIR MIGHT BE HEAD GASKET OR ENGINE CRACKS. CAN THIS BE REPAIRED OR ENGINE NEEDS TO BE REPLACED ALREADY? WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO MY ENGINE? HOW CAN I CHECK IF THERE ARE CRACKS INSIDE THE ENGINE? IS DISMANTLING UP TO THE ENGINE GASKET ENOUGH TO DETERMINE IF THERE ARE CRACKS OR I NEED TO BRINGDOWN THE WHOLE ENGINE? IF REPAIR IS POSSIBLE, HOW TO? ITS A 97 VTECH ENGINE. IT REV HIGH UPON STARTING. I CLEANED THE FITV UNDER THE THROTTLE AND THE WHITE SMOKE STOP AND REV STABILIZE AT 1K RPM. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT WATER FROM RADIATOR LEAKED AT THE THROTTLE?

THANKS AND MORE POWER. YOUR FORUM HAVE HELP SO MANY. KEEP IT UP.

1 Reply

F4I_GUY

MECHANIC
3,302 POSTS

You most likely have a headgasket issue. You can do a cylinder leakdown test to confirm this, or a compression test. The lowest cylinder(s) is/are the cylinders where your issue lies.

Yes you can do just the gasket but it is not cheap. It is over a 6hr job and you should send the cylinder head out to a machine shop to get re-surfaced and checked for cracks.

You will know what the problem is once the cylinder head is off, you can look at the headgasket to see if it has ripped or been torn, if not look for cracked cylinder sleeves, cracks in the head, etc. But most likely you will see a headgasket issue.