[delaceyb]

My 97 Civic started to sputter under heavy load, like when your trying to go up hill and you have to down shift, or you go to pass on the highway. A day or two later the temp gauge went up and up almost to redline and the sputtering go worse with lack of power. Popped the hood and at the seam where the metal part of the radiator clamps onto the plastic part on the top, there was some leakage. Let it cool and opend the cap to find I had to fill it with about a quart to a half gallon of water. Also the coolant resivior was still full to the max line. And my oil level was fine. Drove the car, problem went away, ran cool, drove it 10miles. Let it sit. Noticed the seepage at the top again, and saw a little bit of water dripping, then stop. A few hours later, drove back, and 3-4miles into the trip, issues started again, made it home, checked the radiator again, same thing. Filled the radiator with almost half a gallon of water, resivoir still full. Filled it again... worked OK, drove to the gas station to pick up anti-freeze. On the way back, same sputtering under heavy load. There is no white smoke from the exhaust. Just the seepage from the top seam of the radiator. After I drive it, you can see small puddles of coolant on the fan housing just below the seam.

Is it JUST the radiator and its leaking that's the problem? Could it be the water pump? Or my worst fear could it be a blown head gasket, as I like to do as much of the work on my car myself but don't have the tools to replace it and plane the head and block if its warped.

Im hoping its just the fact that the radiator leaks and since the pressure isn't there the water can't circulate and then boils off, and a radiator replacement is all I need, or maybe the waterpump went and that will fix it as well. Not going to drop $600-$700 to get the head gasket replaced because its not worth it when you can get a used engine put in it for about $1000. But on top of that, the car is 753miles short of 300k,lol I set a goal of hitting 300k with it before I bought a new one, and really want to at least hit that mark without dropping a ton of loot on it.

Any ideas as to what to fix first?

And I know I know-most will say just to get rid of it and move on, but I love Hondas/my car.lol

[TxGreaseMonkey]

Why don't you start by going to a salvage yard and buying a replacement radiator and see how it goes? Honda radiators tend to last around 150,000 miles and then the problem that you experienced appears.