'91 Honda Civic won't start

JEASTWOOD85

MEMBER
1991 HONDA CIVIC

Any help on the matter would be great. My wife's '91 Honda Civic EX 130,000 mi won't start. I went out this weekend to take a look (not a car guy didn't know where to start). The battery was dead so I charged it with mine, starter sounded like it was trying but car wouldn't turn over. Also checked fluids while I was out there and her oil level was really quite a bit higher than it should be and it looked as though she may have oil in her radiator. She said she was driving on the highway and it just died on her, and wouldn't start after that. I've read some other posts about a plunger on the clutch so I'll check that out, just wondering what else to check while I'm out there again. Thanks for anything.

Wednesday, June 28th, 2006 AT 4:20 AM

3 Replies

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,754 POSTS

First of all, why was the battery dead? You should determine that issue. Next, check the level of the oil again and note if there is a creamy white color to the oil. Has the car been running hot? How did you determine that there was oil in the engine coolant? I would pull out the spark plugs and see what they look like. Note each plug and the cylinder they came out of. You should be looking for the deposits on the plugs to see if they are black and oily. If they are gray or a slight brown then that is good.

Did you get a check engine light to come on?

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Wednesday, June 28th, 2006 AT 3:02 PM

LIKETHISSITE

MEMBER
1 POST

What does it mean when you find white and creamy oil?
Thanks

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Tuesday, July 4th, 2006 AT 10:10 AM

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,754 POSTS

This oil is mixed with water. Overtime it will seperate, but within the engine it gets a good whipping and the mixture that results is the white creamy substance.

So what would that mean? The coolant is getting into the engine oil. The most usual method is by the head gasket leaking, but there are other methods as well.

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Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 AT 11:36 AM