Stupid D-Series Overheating Question.

[notK-]

I just bought an EX w/ a D in it. No Vtec. I noticed a little puff of white smoke right after start up, it goes away quickly enough (4 to 5 minutes after starting)

The person I purchased it from claimed he had changed the water pump and timing belt recently.

Also the car did overheat during some joy-rides on the block yesterday, no heat was running.

Can I safely assume this is a head gasket or should I fuck around and change the thermostat right quick?

[LowNsloW]

If it was head gasket I think it would continue to blow smoke I may be wrong though def would test thermostat for the heat problem take it out and throw it in a pot of boiling water and see of it opens properly

[notK-]

Thank you for the quick response.

I'm going to give that a shot this weekend then.

[evo-mentalites-cc]

try the cheap ways first lol then u go from there swap the thermis and see what happens and if U see it over heating turn it off dont let it over heat lol

[notK-]

Yeah thats what we did Turned it around and went home, as we drove, the temp dropped which also tells me the cooling system may just need to be bled. We got it back to the house and just shut it off.

[LowNsloW]

Yeah I'd be checking thermo stat then bleed the system make sure fans work etc does the motor always smoke when started or just that time? Could of just been some shit in the exhaust

[GhettoJay]

check the therm. but heres a simple way to know if its your head gasket. open the radiator cap and see if you get bubble while the car is hot or look for muddy oil in the dip stick or oil fill cap or check the reserve tank for oil. thats an easy way to know if you have a bad head gasket. other then that check the thermostat or if the fan is turning on

[notK-]

Cool. I'll check all of that ASAP and let you guys know what I find.

Thank you to everyone who replied with a direction to go in, I appreciate it much.

[jdmdikk]

Could be several things.remove the thermostat and place some vice grips on it and heat it up with your stove and see if it opens.I did this before and the thermostat opened but the spring was stretched out so I decided to replace it.make sure your fan is going on as well.my Ek was recently overheating and I noticed that It was dumping coolant out the head (header ports). I took it all apart and noticed that it was missing a dowel pin.someone replaced the head gasket and didn't place both dowel pins and they torque'd the head down but the gasket might have slightly moved.that was my issue. Your radiator cap might be bad as well.