Ek3 Weird problem

[HondaR]

Yeh tuners, have a 96 ek3 civic , auto cvt.Coolant is disappearing from the overflow bottle without any leaks underneath.It also seems excessive pressure is being created in the engine and radiator.Changed the old radiator that was leaking and i'm on my second radiator , where the first started to leak from the gasket area and seems the second one is doing the same thing, seems excessive pressure is causing the radiators to leak and also seems the rear cranshaft seal has started to leak as well.Weird thing is when the car is driving the coolant level in the bottle remains the same.It only disappears when the car is parked and cooled off.Checked hoses and other things and no signs of any leaks.

Checked the oil and coolant for any signs of bad head gasket and everything is normal.Please help.

[vtec-ghost]

disappearing coolant from overflow happened to me and it was the head gasket. No leaks whatsoever was seen. The radiator thing did not happen to me though. Did you remove the rad cap and start the car, and rev the engine to see if bubbles appear in the radiator? That would be a tell tale sign of bad head gasket. Or if you see any white smoke from your exhaust. Dunno if this would apply to you but its what I saw when my head gasket went.

[HondaR]

Thanks for replying.Back of my mind's also telling me its the gasket.So far i havent seen any bubbles in the radiator and no smoke as far as i can tell from the exhaust.

Was ur coolant only disppearing when cold or hot as well?

For the moment I'm taking a breather and the car is parked.Its not my daily driver so I'm lucky.Car has me really frustrated as i babied this car with only 120000 on the odometer and this is what happens.I'm going to get it looked thoroughly when my mind freshens up and I'm in the mood lol, just taking a break for now as I've dealt wid the mechanic on 2 occasions already and I'm tired of it so for now just searching for some answers to see if anyone went through same thing I did.Thanks for the input very much.

Btw how did installing the gasket go.Was it a lot of work as I've heard some ppl say and any problems since it was installed.

[vtec-ghost]

the coolant would go down whether the temp was hot or cold. If you had the car for a while and never changed the head gasket, it may also point to the need for it to be changed. If your mech is stressing you, check the honda forums for another one in an area convenient to you, there are a few who really seem to know what they are about from the reviews, it may save you in the long run.

As for installing the gasket, my mech didnt have much trouble and my coolant is acting as should since then, which was about 4 months ago. It may be something else though, I posted here as well and got some good advise. There are alot of ppl who know about these issues, so i am sure they will post too

[embryo]

PROB THE WATER PUMP NOT CIRCULATING THE WATER

[strykr]

try this...
1. top up ur radiator as u'd normally do.
2. run ur can as ususal or until its hot.
3. check ur overflow bottle to see if it over-flowing
if so ur problem cud be the radiator cover or the thermostat has been removed...
4. when d engine is cooled and ur radiator has pulled the coolant run ur car until its hot
5. then check ur overflow bottle again see if it has coolant
if not the it maybe the head gasket...

[HondaR]

Update:-

Realised since 2-3 days it stopped disappearing after reaching a certain drop, thought that was weird.So left it to see if by today if it wud go down any further.So checked back today to see it is at same level and also checked radiator, to find a very slight drop but is not disppearing pass that drop, thought this thing is very weird.

Ok so topped up to max level in the bottle and started it let it run hot to see if it wud drop.And one thing i realised this morning is the differene in the pressure, the radiator top tank and the top hose were not getting as hot as before , infact it felt normal before all this began.So i switched off the car, came back 4 hrs later to check level and this is the most baffling thing the level hasnt dropped at all.This thing got me stumped as if the problem decided to correct itself on its own.

Am gonna drive it tomorrow and see how it goes and report back.Thanks everyone for the feedback so far.

[HondaR]

Sorry for the double post,internet playing the fool!!!

[HondaR]

Yeh men reporting back.Happy to say everythings back to normal again.The extreme pressure in the cooling system has returned to normal again, weird, top hose isnt hard as rock when it's hot like it was before.Coolant I was seeing at the top of radiator seeping from the seams is once again dry like it shud be.No more disappearing coolant,weird,can't explain it but glad it wasnt a head gasket problem.Thanks everyone for trying to help.