Tech question about a civic

[m3x1c0]

Reposting my friends post for him because I'm gonna help him with his buddy's civic. Wanted to get your opinions since you are all much smarter than us!

Hello all. Working on a 99 civic for a friend. Car is losing coolant out of the overflow and then getting hot. Car has a new radiator and all associated hoses. Changed the oil and saw no signs of coolant. Rented a block tester and the fluid showed presence of hydrocarbons in the radiator. Did not see any smoke out of the tailpipe. I then performed a compression test. Dry: I saw 150psi out of cylinder 4 and 120 out of 1-3. Then poured 2 caps of oil into cylinders. Saw crazy amounts of compression around 200+. Discontinued the rest after two cylinders. Afterwards I saw tons of smoke out of the tailpipe.

My theory: the Headgasket was letting go and the extra compression from the oil blew it out completely. Did I perform the test incorrectly? I'm planning on tearing down soon. Any advice or opinions?

 

[Steve V]

Oil will smoke after being dumped in cyls, sounds like head gasket, or cracked head. I would not drive it.

 

[turbofrank]

Did u bleed coolant system after new rad and hoses?

 

[regan j]

2 caps of oil in each cylinder??

 

[m3x1c0]

2 caps of oil in each cylinder??

Thats what he told me. The owner has decided he'd rather try some of that blue devil junk to fix it. I've advised against it.

 

[m3x1c0]

Did u bleed coolant system after new rad and hoses?

not my work. I will double check. Still does not explain the block test results.

 

[m3x1c0]

Oil will smoke after being dumped in cyls, sounds like head gasket, or cracked head. I would not drive it.

smoke went away after I let it idle for 10 minutes last night. My money is on a bad head. Owner claims he overheated it badly twice.

 

[Steve V]

smoke went away after I let it idle for 10 minutes last night. My money is on a bad head. Owner claims he overheated it badly twice.

Yup smoke will go away once the oil burns off...don't drive it.

 

[regan j]

Ahhh, owner overheated it twice. More than likely warped head. May be cheaper to purchase used decent engine to put in until he overheats it also.

 

[m3x1c0]

Thanks for the replies friends. We're trying to convince the owner to let us do the work for him as opposed to mechanic in a can. Advised him to stop driving it. We will see.