Burning coolant after new head gasket and rebuilt cylinder head

VACS2017

MEMBER
2009 HONDA CIVIC
1.8L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
52,000 MILES

I purchased this car that is the LX sedan model, and found coolant in cylinder number two. I removed the engine and took it to the machine shop where they honed the block and checked for any warpage. The cylinder head was machined, but failed the pressure check.
It had an unusual crack inside the exhaust port.

I then purchased a rebuilt cylinder head online, new head gasket, bolts, and after putting all together, has steam coming from exhaust and burning coolant (coolant level drops).
My initial thought was that the block was not fine, but cracked or warped. I inspected the block with a feeler gauge before re-installation, but after doing a compression test and leak down test, started to wonder if there was any other way coolant could be getting burned? Possible leak internally? I disconnected the throttle body coolant lines, and ran for several minutes, but steam continued to come from exhaust.
I am going to pull it and find the problem, but I was wondering if anyone ever heard of a similar problem or had any ideas, before I do pull it again?

Thanks for your time and help,

Dave

1 Reply

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,938 POSTS

May be a porous block, this is rather uncommon, I have seen it 3 or 4 times in 45 years in the trade, if you have exhausted all other lines of inquire and cant find an answer, this may be your problem, trouble is it is very hard to prove one way or the other, you can dye the coolant and leave on a pressure tester at a high test pressure and check each bore with a boreascope you may just see something, the last one I checked I did it this way and I found a smudge off coolant on the cylinder wall after being on test for some 3 to 4 hrs, a warm block will help with this test as it may allow coolant to pass through the porosity easier.