Bad gasket, head, water pump?

Tiny
SLIMNGA
  • MEMBER
  • 1998 HONDA CIVIC
  • 4 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 187,000 MILES
My 98 civic is overheating is there a way to see if it is the head, gasket, or water pump
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Wednesday, December 29th, 2010 AT 10:42 PM

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Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,689 POSTS
Find a mechanic with a "leak sniffer". That's my name for a tester that looks for the presence of combustion gases in the cooling system. It's a glass cylinder with two chambers of a dark blue liquid. Air is drawn from the radiator through the chambers. If combustion gases are present, the liquid will turn bright yellow.

If you see bubbles in the overflow reservoir even before the engine is warmed up, you can also suspect a leaking head gasket. The hint is the coolant will look like it is boiling, but it won't be hot yet and there won't be any steam.

Caradiodoc
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Thursday, December 30th, 2010 AT 7:00 AM

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