Not a festiva, but still need some help/advice

[lanemeyer14]

Hey guys, i have a 93 prelude si and i need some help diagnosing a problem. It seems to be leaking coolant under the header and i think it might be from the head gasket. I'm nowhere close to being a mechanic so i thought maybe you guys could help me out. Apparently i'm also blowing blue smoke from the exhaust (just realized this today). I took a few pics so you guys could give it a looksie. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

[Hot_Wheels]

it would be weird for colant to leak out side the gasket and not inside the cylinder wall, check the oil does it look muddy like oil and water mix? i bet seeing how close your thermostat houseing is to your header its leakeing fom there and running down the bottom of the exhaust manifold, use some degreaser (brake clean) clean it up and let it dry before starting the car then observe let it run for a while, if nothing is still visible rent a coolant pressure tester from autozone or and get some dye

[lanemeyer14]

The oil looks good to me. I do have to add oil every once in a while though....sometimes when i apply the brakes hard the oil light comes on and starts blinking. I checked the thermostat housing and it looks like the leak originates there. Any ideas what might be wrong, maybe another gasket? Thanks again for the help!

[Hot_Wheels]

yea replace the gasket and maybe the thermostat well you have it apart, cleak the old gasket off real good use a razor blade and some brake clean, when putting the new one on use a light coating of rtv silicone glue it on the t housing let it set up for a little while so it doesnt move when you go to screw it on, (festiva ones are the worse!!! it took 3 time before i got it not to leak)

[collegeboi]

waterpump? lol idk just throwing it outthere

[Icedawg]

Head gaskets can leak in a lot of different ways, so there does not have to be coolant in the oil when the head gasket has a leak. But the test you have just done says it is far more likely to be the sensor seal. It will have an o-ring or a crush ring or pipe thread, and that will have failed, or it will be leaking through the send itself. Get a new one from a parts store or the dealer. Check for corrosion around where it screws in once you remove it, to see if there is any other season it is leaking.

A blinking oil pressure send usually means that very temporarily the send reads too low a pressure. if its on solid then it continues to read low pressure. So hard braking is briefly affecting the oil pump, or moving oil away from the pickup tube, or causing an intermittent in the wiring to the send. Are you at the oil full line when you see this problem, or is the oil level low? If it is one of the first two problems you could end up with a damaged engine, especially because the pickup tubes are usually designed so this kind of thing does not happen, so it is arising because of a problem with the pickup tube. You should ask someone who knows more about the prelude behaviour, as it could be a very specific issue to the car design.

[lanemeyer14]

Awesome! I knew I could count on you guys instead of the punks on the prelude sites.