any major damage?

[ram si]

hey all

i just bought an eh/eg(?) civic si sedan and had a bit of bad luck with it yesterday. as i was driving i noticed that there was smoke coming out of the exhaust. not having had the car for very long i started getting real worried real quick.

i pulled over and opened the bonnet and saw smoke coming out of the engine. i let it cool down a bit then checked the radiator and saw that there was very little or no water at all in it. i was stopped near a mechanic shop and i went and asked him for some water and he told me to being the car in so he could have a look. he started putting water in and it took nearly 5 L's, there was hardly any water left. i told him the water level had been fine a few days ago and he did some pressure tested and found a cracked hose in the engine that was leaking water... he fixed it and i drove off and its been all good since.

however, after this incident i've decided to get my car fully serviced this week and get all the hoses that are looking like they are going to crack soon replaced.

My question is, would this incident have caused any major (or even minor) damage to the engine? if so, what kind of damage should i look out for and how do i spot it? as i said the car seems to be running smoothly once again...

should i tell my mechanic to look for anything in particular (apart from the usual servicing stuff) becuase of this?

any help would be great

cheers

[Sydsyd]

no it shouldn't have any after effect to the engine...i had the same problem like urs a few months back, and now it's running fine...

and to answer the other Q, yes, I reckon u should ask ur mechanic to check for any signs of wearing or damaged hoses and get them to ask u for any other changes (apart from normal service) they do...

[D4rk4n63l]

engine should be ok.. but yeah, check other hoses, hose clamps, thermostat, temp switch, etc.. any of these may cause cooling malfunction

[didz]

If your engine had of been operated for too long your head would most likely have warped/cracked resulting in expensive repairs. If you're lucky it could be a head gasket but if its that it would be best to get your head planed/reconditioned to fix a possible warp in the head.

If you are still worried get your head checked out but im sure its fine. A way to check if your head is ok is to check the oil and if there is water in there then your screwed lol..

Keep in mind if u take your head off u need new gaskets.


By the looks of things if everything is ok now then its unlikely that there is any long term damage so check the oil if everything is ok then you should be right.

[Mr_will]

the only damage that is likely to have occured is if you didnt let the engine cool down before you refilled the radiator.

if you refill it when the car is (very) hot, then you have a very very hot engine block, with some ambient temperature water.

mix the two to create a cracked/warped block. if this has happened, youll notice milky oil/coolant, so be on the lookout for that.

on another note, its relatively easy and inexpensive to replace all the hoses yourself, i did it to my da9 (around 13 hoses i think) with nothing more than a few spanners.

i would suggest that you dont use the clamps provided by honda, because the ones sold to me by my local honda spare parts dealer have ALL snapped, and i have since replaced them with whatever i could find at supercrap auto, and they seem to be holding up fine.

[Drew]

It would pay to have the radiator reconditioned, it costs around $70-$80

The head will probably be a bit softer than usual now, if the car overheats again you risk cracking and warping the head. So keep a really good eye on the temperature over the next few weeks.

Piston rings may have somewhat shrunk a little bit, but not exactly likely unless you are blowing black/blue smoke now.

Also get the thermostat replaced at the same time.

Better to be safe than sorry

And while this is all being done, go to Honda and get 2 bottles of Genuine Coolant and get them to use that instead of the regular green/red stuff. That way you'll be rocking uber cool blue coolant ^_^

[ram si]

thanks for al the help guys

its a relief to know that no major damage has been done considering its my first car and ive had it for less than a week

to Mr will:




on another note, its relatively easy and inexpensive to replace all the hoses yourself, i did it to my da9 (around 13 hoses i think) with nothing more than a few spanners.



i'd like to know more about this actually, becuase i've realised i can save myself alot of money by using some of the DIY articles on here to do some of the service work myself, so if you could expand a little that would be great

[Mr_will]

thanks for al the help guys

its a relief to know that no major damage has been done considering its my first car and ive had it for less than a week

to Mr will:



i'd like to know more about this actually, becuase i've realised i can save myself alot of money by using some of the DIY articles on here to do some of the service work myself, so if you could expand a little that would be great

all i did was ring honda, and say i wanted every coolant related hose they have for my car. all you then need is double that number, of clamps and youre set.

its easy to match them up, because they are pre-bent, so its obvious which one goes where. all i had was the hoses and the service manual, and it was very simple.

getting the old hoses off can be tough, i used a stanley knife on a couple, but you have to be careful not to damage the fitting.

the only challenge i found was that some were in very awkward places, eg under the intake manifold, which meant getting to them was an exercise in flexibility, and patience.

[ram si]

thanks for that

hopefully give it a go this week

[Mr_will]

good luck, have your camera handy, that way if you get stuck you can post some pics up here and we can help you out :thumbsup: