Fink2iCe

Hi guys I'm wondering if anyone can give me a hint or advice about the heating/cooling issue my ITR has developed as of this morning.

As I started up the motor, I drove off at low revs as in a hurry and didn't let it idle for a few minutes (I usually let it warm up a little in the winter). Well anyway, first unusual thing i noticed was that the temp gauge was showing the needle at operating temperature much sooner than I expected. So as it's quite chilly, I turned on the heater only to find it blowing cold air instead of warm/hot. So I switched it off for a few minutes.

Then when I turned it back on I noticed that it was blowing hot air.. actually it was feeling hotter than it normally does.

Anyhow me and a buddy did a round trip of around 80 - 90 miles in total. During this time I didn't see the guage at an abnormal position but the heat from the heater was hotter than normal. When I pulled up at his house, and left the engine idling for 5 minutes or so, I saw the temp needle shoot up way towards the red and I immediately turned the engine off.

After popping the hood, I saw the the resevoir container was almost empty, and I checked for leaks - though I saw no sign of a leak. Anyhow, after moving the rad about a bit, I saw some water seep out from near the top of the rad though it's dark and can't make out where exactly its coming out from.. it's mostly steam.

The car was in a collision earlier in the summer, where the slam panel got pushed down and in. My old man fitted this secondhand rad in, and reckons the housing is a bit off and he thinks some knocking around may have caused the leak. To be honest, the rad I had in before the collision had been in the car for 9 years - it moved about a lot more than this one and it had never had a leak.

Sorry about the long post. But I dont want to put in another radiator only for it develop a leak again.

Any ideas where I should start looking?

Many thanks....

UPDATED:: Okay I started the motor this afternoon and let it idle and warm up. I started topping up the rad because of the leak I discovered last night but I noticed a lot of bubbling. My car was serviced 2 months ago and the coolant was change.. is it possible that the garage didn't let the bubbles out causing the rad to develop a leak?

As the temp needle started rising (stil below operating tremp) I checked the heater and it still blowed very cool air. Upper and lower radiator and both heater core hoses were still cold. But as the engine got very hot the upper rad hose heated up a lot while all other hoses were still cold. The heater still blows cold air, until a few minutes later I noticed the hose from the block going into the wall got warm/hot, only then did the heater start blowing hot air.

During this time the fan did not come on and the lower rad hose was only luke warm.

I guess I'll change the radiator because of the leak and the thermo because of the weird behaviour of the heater..

Tooburns

sounds like thermostat !

Little_Nolan

iTrader: (3)

possibly the radiator fan or thermo

Fink2iCe

How can I make sure.. is there a way to test the thermostat?

andyz

Guys at the shop use an infrared thermometer. If you warm the car up nicely and measure the two hoses on opposite sides of the thermostat, I think it should be pretty close in temp. If not, thermostat is stuck and one side will be scorching (250F?) and the other 120F. Something like that.

Pretty cheap tool at a department store tools shop, though a professional one can be expensive.

If you're really hacking it, try to tap on the thermo with a light hammer or pliers or something. It might get it unstuck.

IN VTEC

iTrader: (3)

In a nutshell...it's low on coolant, the sensor is reading the steam temperature, spiking and you're flipping your skull cap.

Interim fix: Put coolant in it.

Permanent fix: Replace the radiator.

If you want a confirmation, check your coolant level in the radiator when it's cooled down.

J_Edwards

If you were seeing a lot of bubbles, that could also lead to your heater having issues. The heater core doesn't work if it is full of air rather than hot coolant.

Kris

Don't change the radiator on suspicion alone,nobody on this forum knows what's going on because nobody has been able to do any tests. Do a pressure test to find a leak.

As andyz stated, if the upper radiator hose is getting hot and the lower radiator hose never warms up, then the thermostat is getting stuck. To test this, let the car idle until you see the temperature gauge rise above normal, if the upper hose is hot and the lower hose is still cold, then you need to replace your thermostat. If the thermostat never opens then the radiator fan will not turn on thus causing the car to overheat.

I hope this helps, I fix these kinds of problems all the time.

Fink2iCe

I updated the post earlier. The steam rising out the front is obvious and I can see coolant slowly dripping on to the ground below. So theres def a leak but I think the thermo must also be buggered because its not letting hot coolant into the heater core even when the engine is properly hot.

For all I know the thermo could have caused the leak by refusing to open until it was too hot, then the pressure in the old rad could have cracked a weak point...

Thanks guys. I'm gonna look for a brand new OEM radiator and thermo.. may change the hoses while im at it. The car's done 76k miles over its 10 year life.

andyz

With a coolant leak, its almost impossible to diagnose anything else. The leak will result in large influx of air and that will cause all sorts of other weirdness, including erratic heating, erratic temperature gauge readings, and theoretically, lots of problems idling because the computer uses temperature sensors, also lots of throttle body pieces are kept from freezing or warmed to operating temp by warm coolant.

Gotta fix the leak.

You can bleed using the bleeder. The best is to get a length of 3/16 vinyl hose from Home Depot and put it on the bleeder screw, then push the end right back into the recovery tank. Then open the bleeder with a box wrench (put wrench on first ...) and then rev the heck out of it until the bubbles stop coming out of the tube. Turn the heater on full blast. just keep revving it until no more bubbles. close the bleeder.

The lazy way is to just keep filling recovery and radiator when you have time. Air will generally work it's way out if you keep it all full.