91 ZC Wagon Overheating: Losing Oil and Water
StylEmon
Wagonist
Hey guys, I just purchased a 4WD wagon and joined this forum. I've always like these wagons for a DD, and did research on them for a few months before buying.
I test drove the car twice and it drove well. I opened the hood and noticed a pretty nasty oil leak coming from the valve cover. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, so I talked them down on the price and bough the car anyway. While test driving the car, the temp was steady and cool, like I expected and the oil seemed fine, other than the leak.
On the way home, I took the highway and got the car up to about 85mph. I was in a huge hurry, and against better judgment, pushed a car I knew little about harder than I normally would. I live about 25 - 30 miles away from the seller, and the car was great until about 5 miles from my house. The temp gauge rose and continued to rise, even after I put it in neutral and coasted to a stop. Never overheated, but the oil was really hot. I limped it home and was late for my appointment...
Long story short, I had to put water and oil in the car, and now the car gets too hot even on short, 5 miles trips. (I've only taken two since I bought the car) The oil seems a little too thin and smells burnt. And the car is losing coolant. There is no visible coolant leak, and the only oil leak is the valve cover. I suspect blown head gasket. When I called and asked the seller if they ever noticed the car losing water, he said "No" ... and that was all he said.
I also think the water pump may have been defective, but this is just a guess based on how it all unfolded.
Anyway, it's a SOHC ZC motor, some of you have told me that this means the motor was swapped at some point. I'm assuming the ZC was available only in Japan...?
Here are the items I will be purchasing this week, and am planning on doing the work this weekend.
water pump
timing belt
valve cover gasket
thermostat
head gasket
plugs / wires
oil / air filter
I'll take plenty of pics and let you all know what I find. The main reason I decided to make this thread is because when I searched, I found a few similar threads, but none with pics, and most didn't have a conclusion. So I hope this will be a helpful guide to a common problem, and I hope to get plenty of feedback from all of you.
I am a pic junky so there will be plenty More pics to come!!
I test drove the car twice and it drove well. I opened the hood and noticed a pretty nasty oil leak coming from the valve cover. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, so I talked them down on the price and bough the car anyway. While test driving the car, the temp was steady and cool, like I expected and the oil seemed fine, other than the leak.
On the way home, I took the highway and got the car up to about 85mph. I was in a huge hurry, and against better judgment, pushed a car I knew little about harder than I normally would. I live about 25 - 30 miles away from the seller, and the car was great until about 5 miles from my house. The temp gauge rose and continued to rise, even after I put it in neutral and coasted to a stop. Never overheated, but the oil was really hot. I limped it home and was late for my appointment...
Long story short, I had to put water and oil in the car, and now the car gets too hot even on short, 5 miles trips. (I've only taken two since I bought the car) The oil seems a little too thin and smells burnt. And the car is losing coolant. There is no visible coolant leak, and the only oil leak is the valve cover. I suspect blown head gasket. When I called and asked the seller if they ever noticed the car losing water, he said "No" ... and that was all he said.
I also think the water pump may have been defective, but this is just a guess based on how it all unfolded.
Anyway, it's a SOHC ZC motor, some of you have told me that this means the motor was swapped at some point. I'm assuming the ZC was available only in Japan...?
Here are the items I will be purchasing this week, and am planning on doing the work this weekend.
water pump
timing belt
valve cover gasket
thermostat
head gasket
plugs / wires
oil / air filter
I'll take plenty of pics and let you all know what I find. The main reason I decided to make this thread is because when I searched, I found a few similar threads, but none with pics, and most didn't have a conclusion. So I hope this will be a helpful guide to a common problem, and I hope to get plenty of feedback from all of you.
I am a pic junky so there will be plenty More pics to come!!
Comments
In my experience, ZCs love to leak, mine currently has a leaking rear main that soaks the clutch on long drives. I also have a coolant-burning problem, but if I top it off once a week it's good. I've noticed the ZC loves to create air bubbles in the coolant system and overheat. I've noticed this with the last 4 ZCs I've owned/worked on.
I'm sure a fresh rebuild like you've got planned will do well for it. They're stupid simple, just about on par with a rotary, which I too have owned too many of.
PS, pics of the FC, please.
I'll admit you have to bleed the crap out of the DOHC version when filling with coolant but the SOHC version should be no different to the regular D16A6.
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=7039
I just hope I can get the wagon to a reliable status without spending an insane amount..
Haydz, sounds like the ZC has the same reputation as jspec 13b motors. I can't understand how people get a motor from a junkyard (in the states or overseas) and just slap it right in! I won't even do that with a junk yard door panel, much less a motor!!
I am also going to pick up a manual for this car. Will the Chilton book for a 91 Civic be what I need?
What is the dizzy seal?
Thanks all.
So true. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if my ZC has 150,000+ miles on it.
I went to Checker and spent about $250 to get all the parts I needed. I was stoked when they had them all in stock! That never happens with a rotary!
Anyway, I didn't get as far as I would've liked yesterday... I wanted to get half way, so everything out and ready for the new. I got stuck in the crankshaft pulley nut. I can't seem to get that off. Does anyone know if it comes off clockwise instead of counterclockwise?
So here are the little things I've noticed so far:
The distributor is missing a bolt
The valve cover is leaking and the timing chain might be
I'm assuming this greenish color is coolant...
There was oil on the sensor clips underneath.
Also, would ya'll recommend new head bolts? Or will the old ones be fine (assuming there are no obvious defects in them)?
Here are all the tools I broke
Here are the ones that did not work
Here is what finally did it!!
I took the long way around, and removed the protective cover on the flywheel. Crammed a couple flatheads in there and put a breaker bar on the nut. Then I hit the breaker bar with a small sledge. My neighbor held the socket on with his foot and after 3 whacks, it came loose!!!
Hopefully I'll be able to slowly work on this through out the week and have her done by next Monday at the latest.
Head bolts are fine to reuse, they're not torque-to-yield bolts. VERY IMPORTANT though: chase the headbolt holes with a tap, or a clean bolt at least. Blow the holes out with compressed air just before you set the head on to make sure no water or oil is in there. Clean the bolt threads with a wire brush or wire wheel on a grinder, then LIGHTLY oil threads before installing. Make sure there's a drop of oil between the bolt head and the captive washer, too.
Today, I got the water pump, timing belt, thermostat, and head off. It all went pretty easy and fast.
Here is a little reminder why you should NEVER use tap water in your radiator...
This might have happened while I was taking the head off, but I am pretty sure it didn't... Suspiciously, this looks on par with the amount of water I was loosing.
And this looks a little fried; although I am not sure if this could cause a leak.
Does anyone have a suggestion to cleaning these little barnacle things out of the block? I've never seen this before...?
Last but not least, do ya'll think these blemishes on the deck will be a problem?
Barnacles- I've seen them in my boat engines... really not barnacles, barnacles are actually little animals. That junk is just scale. You can try to pick it off or not, I don't think it'll make much difference. The only REAL way to get rid of it is to hot-tank the block, and I don't think we're headed there right now.
The blems on the deck- that's a tough one. If it were me...well, scratch that. (If it were me I'd probably rip the whole thing out and go from the ground up, I'm a nut like that)
To seal that surface, see if you can find a composite headgasket (as opposed to MLS- multi layer steel) I know they exist because I've removed them from these engines. The soft gasket is more forgiving of surface irregularities. You might also spray the gasket with some copper-coat just for luck.
edit: I wasn't paying attention, that was a comp. gasket you took off.
Deck prep- I wouldn't recommend this to just anybody, but you seem like an old hand at this.
Take the biggest, heaviest, coarsest flat rasp you can find and dress the surface. I use an old lead rasp. You just want to lay it flat on the deck and geeently run it across. It will show you high and low spots, and sometimes bits of gasket you may have missed. Do NOT use a power disc/Scotchbrite tool to try and smooth it.
I'll try the coper coat and flat rasp and see where I land. Thanks for the tip. I'll be gentle
I'm now just washing parts, and trying to clean all surfaces. But ya, the head gasket in the composite type. Once it's all clean, I'll check for warpage on the two head surfaces.... wish me luck.
PS. You can always see larger pics of the project on this blog, I'm using it to host all the pics..
www.91civicwagon.blogspot.com
Goddamn, I didnt even like showering or brushing my teeth in that shit lol
I am not going to buy a CR-V driveline, and I want to stick with the tranny I have.
I think the motor I have will be fine. Those little blemishes are on the outside of the water jacket, not in or on the piston sleeves. Also, as I look at where the gasket was damaged, I could see exactly where the mixture was blowing through. There is NO correlation between that and the blemishes.
I did clean the head up, and found gouges from where someone tried to pry the head off previously. So, I am going to have to send the head out for milling.
I guess this means I'll have higher compression in my motor now
As I look at the pitting on the head, right by the gouges, I was a little worried. But there really is nothing there, except gasket so I am going to go for it...
AFTER
Should be back together by Monday-ish!!
You can see the HUGE difference in the head surface now that I've got it back from the machine shop. They cleaned, disassembled the rocker arms, milled it down 10\1000, and reassembled it. All for $80. Totally worth it, and much better than having to buy a different head or block that could have the same issues... now I know this head is straight!!
There is no evidence of those scratch marks, and even the pitting area is almost completely gone. This should work out well.
I actually am returning the valve cover gasket and seals to Checker and going with the Honda OEM ones; thanks to the suggestion of the forums.
I am also sending the valve cover out to get powder coated tomorrow. I think I'm getting it coated red... what do you think?
I'm kinda thinking some SportMax or similar, Koni Yellows with the Skunk coilover kit, a Honda lip, Yakima roof rack, tint and a brake system upgrade. Maybe some HIDS too.
I don't want anyone to try to race me in the wagon, so I may try to find some Honda rims instead, but the roof rack should deter the ricers... I hope.
Opinions?
Oh, and if you have any of the above parts for sale, let me know
I want to paint the raised letters Red, if I can find a way to do it without the paint dripping.
http://www.google.com/products?q=2%22+s ... CD4QrQQwCg
for the battleship part...
yarrrhh...
I got the car all back together yesterday!! It was a long day, from 9am to 7pm.
I had two friends helping out. Around 6pm, we tried to start it and she actually fired up!!
There are now two problems:
• the car won't idle
• the thermostat housing is leaking at the seal... I put a brand new t-stat in. I did notice that one of the bolts isn't tightening.....
Any ideas?