So I'm a delivery driver by profession, and as such rely on my vehicle daily.
A month and a half ago my car severely overheated on the interstate because it didn't have any oil. It has a slow leak in the main seal, and I didn't pay attention to it for a bit too long, apparently. >Hasn't happened again (from the fluids - at least)

Around a week ago it started overheating again, and I ended up replacing my thermostat, and the radiator since it was leaking & under warranty. The fluids were fine this time
I left the mechanics and my water pump broke 2 miles down the road ( talk about some bad luck - but that was under warranty as well so w/e ).
Afterward my car was still losing fluid from the radiator- the overflow tank stayed full.


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I brought it back to the mechanic this morning, he gave it a pressure test, etc,etc. Ended up putting a plug in between the radiatior and water tank, ( they aren't connected anymore) so that we can see if it's something internal from my car overheating on the interstate, or not.


At the same time all of this happened, my engine started making a little "putt-putt" noise <insert honda joke here> , on startup. Sometimes.
Although it has slowly escalated, Today since the plug was put in, my car has taken it from a "putt-putt" to being very diffcult to start , sometimes.

When leaving the gym earlier it sounded like the engine was turning over , but when I let go of the ignition nothing happened. I tried starting it again, and had to hit the gas for a few seconds in order for it to startup. I figured I probably had just flooded the engine by letting go of the key too soon.
3 hours ago, I went to Redbox to rent a movie and it started fine. Then the gas pedal didn't really respond right. ( they're seemed to be a latency between when I pushed and when it went.) , and it left a could of foul-smelling smoke down the road once I let it run for a little bit.
Just now, I left my girlfriends house and it didn't give me any problems. Whatsoever.

The starter and battery seem to be working fine, and none of the problems are electrical. At least I don't believe so.

My questions I have at this point ( willing to give some FG for well thought out responses to those who survived this wall of text.) ;

1) Do you think the overheating radiator and the car starting are two separate issues?
2) Do you have any clue what could be causing the car to not start-up reliably but work 100% fine once on the road?
It doesn't mess up when idling. Or when I'm driving. Only the first 30 seconds after I start it.
I feel like what I'm experiencing wouldn't be caused by an internal problem in the engine causing it to burn water, because it'd be doing it consistenly, no?

E: I have already come to terms that this vehicle is going to become a money pit really soon, more than likely. And within 6months- 1 year it'll be gone probably.It's had a lot of hard miles between my older brother using the vehicle, and then it becoming my vehicle @16 years old sure didn't help it's lifespan. With that in mind, let me know what you guys have to say about it. You won't hurt me if you say it's about time to get rid of it, if it's something real serious.

This post was edited by Keasbey_Nights on Jul 8 2014 02:42am

1) No - it's unlikely that they are - especially if it's giving you a hard time starting cold and warm.
2) Alternator/battery seems like the most obvious thing to me.

Could also just be something with your ignition system if it's just the startup

Anything above is relatively inexpensive, if it's anything else you'll be sinking a lot of money into it.

Your overheating engine and being out of oil are unrelated. It does not sound good whatever it is....

So your car is still under warranty but it is severely overheating and having all these issues


Sounds like a badly blown head-gasket and now you have been lubricating your engine internals with water instead of oil. I would assume the engine needs a complete overhaul at this point.

Edit- Ok its an 03 civic with extended warranty.. sounds like someone sold you a lemon.. sorry bro

This post was edited by Killerme99 on Jul 8 2014 11:53am

Yep blown head gasket

Check your oil, if there is white in the oil on the dipstick, its water in your oil and that's either condensation or head gasket. some condensation is a normal by product of a combustion engine and if you aren't getting it hot enough it wont evaporate, but if its overheating I would guess you are getting it hot enough. Usually a head gasket will make your exhaust smoke white too after it gets warmed up especially.

You serious? When you run out of oil your motor runs hot....

hahaha hard irl

Am I wrong? No lubrication causes friction which creates heat, no?

This post was edited by CarsAndKush on Jul 9 2014 04:31am

In theory but if the car was low enough on oil to get hot(doubt that was the cause) the thing would have been knocking, banging, and clanking its way apart. It other words there is no way he would have kept driving it with it being that low on oil unless he is an absolute imbecile.