The other day I parked my 1999 civic 1.6 liter and noticed a gurgling /boiling sound from under the hood. It was my overflow tank which indicated to me a head gasket. Coolant was a little low so I topped it off. No oil in my coolant nor coolant in my oil. So everything is fine, my wife drove it for around a week or so. The other morning I was checking all the fluid levels as I do in all my cars routinely and noticed "mud" on the underside of the radiator cap along with a small amount inside the radiator neck. I suspect a head gasket due to apparently combustion gases are beginning to mix with the coolant. I just did a timing belt,water pump and head gasket about 8 months ago. The car does run strong....actually 160,000 miles and strong. Any suggestions?

 

welcome to the forum. take a compression check and see if there is a difference in any cylinder, it might tell you where the oil leak might be coming from. when you did your head gasket, did you mill the head or shave the head if not this could also be the cause of the oil into the radiator.

 

I did not mill the head when I replaced everything. However I did use a straight edge on the block & head.I have put approximately 26,000 miles on it since then, (I commute almost 200 miles per day to work and home).
And this problem just started a few days ago. A friend of mine in which knows his Hondas has told me to use the permatex copper aerosol spray on the gasket this time before installing. Does anyone else use this method? He said that he has never had a problem using this product. Thanks for your reply by the way.

 

Hey man,
I myself don't care for the copper gasket "glue" but that's just my opinion. If it were me, and the gasket was bad. I would 1) have the head checked by a good trustworthy mechineist and have him take at least .001 off. 2) I would get a Felpro or HDM gasket kit and a set of ARP head studs, the studs are about $60 on eBay for a y7/8 and well worth it. 3) run it up, head studs per the instructions(if you need info Message me I just did 2 last week) head nuts in the cross pattern and 3 step torque (again per ARP spec) and re-torque after 3 heat cycles. After that you should be gravy. Just donated my '97 EK 1.6 y8 to my car crew cause of head gasket and I was just good for it. It had 163k on the gasket, and this is the exact process I use. It had 315+k on both shell and engine, body needed putty, but the engine still looked good. It's about to go back on the road.
Best of luck man, and may yours run farther than mine.
Mike da wrench✌🏻️
C.O. Crew☠