Thanks
Honda. I have a few WYIT plans floating around the back of my mind from reading so many threads here.
1. Today I went to O'Reilly's to get CRC, Seafoam and Assembly Lube to follow the suggestions from EZRA on cleaning piston tops. Right now the engine is at TDC and I can see no problems with the sleeves for #'s 2 & 3. After I clean and secure any harmful carbon chunks at #'s 1 & 4, I will rotate the crank until I can check their sleeves (checking for cracks that might allow coolant into a wrong place). I have drained the coolant from the block with the passenger side bolt and have gotten most of it out with your paper towel method, down below the passage up front that goes to the water pump.
2. Please keep that in mind as I tell you that I am still getting coolant rising up the oil cooler drain hole to the oil filter attachment point. In my mind it must be coming from coolant being held in the water pump by the thermostat and allowed to seep past oil cooler seals, .... or ...SHUDDER! ... a hole in the block at that level. It seems impossible, but to be thorough, I am not committing to any WYIT options until I have removed the oil cooler and have become confident that any monies spent will not be wasted. Being on fixed income and having been really burned by dealers and "professional" technicians over this car for the last 26 years have taught me to take things r..e..a..l..l..y s..l..o..w. I have spent more money at dealerships since 1983 than this car originally cost. So far all I have spent is for a few sockets I was missing and some cleaning materials. If all goes as I expect, I plan to do a head gasket set and oil cooler seals. All the front end stuff was done less than 2k miles ago by a local rip-off Porsche dealer (Ouch!)
..don't get me start about the elitists.