IntegraR0064

I have done hours of searching, and I can't seem to find a definitive answer here, so hopefully someone can help me out.

I had a problem where my car (2000 ITR) wouldn't warm up. It's pretty cold here this time of year (15-30 degrees F), and my car basically would only just barely get to the "C" part of the water temp meter when it was fully warmed up. So, I suspected the thermostat, and changed it. I replaced it with a Gates 33568 thermostat from rockauto.

Everything seemed fine. I replaced the lower radiator hose, and replaced the thermostat itself which was attached under a housing attached to the lower radiator hose.

However, at the end of the Helm procedure, it says something like "Turn on the car and let it warm up (radiator fan turns on twice) and make sure the coolant is still topped off."

Well, therein lies the problem - I left the car running for a good half an hour, and the fans never kicked on. The upper radiator hose is now hot to the touch, while the lower radiator hose is cold. The temperature seems to be working now according to the gauge on the dash, which is great - it reads about a mark below the middle, which is what I remember it doing before I started having problems. The heat works great inside the car. I drove it around for a while and the temp meter didn't budge.

So I did some searching - and there were some comments that the cooling system needed to be "bled". To do this, the internet told me to take my radiator cap off and run the car.

Well, I did that.........but all it seems to do is slowly pour coolant out of where the radiator cap goes, and I still can't get the fans to kick on. The longer I leave it running, the more the coolant level steadily slowly raises (onto my garage floor). If I squeeze either the upper or lower hose, I can see the effect on the coolant in the radiator (goes up for a second when I squeeze the hose).

So now my question - do I have a problem? If so, what?

Redcoupe

So when you take the cap off it continues to pour out?

What you need to is.
Start the car with the cap off while the car is COLD.

Let it fully warm up with the cap off.

Your car may not open the thermostat right now since it's so cold outside. If the heat is working and the needle on the cluster is warming up, then you should be fine.

Do you see any bubbles or anything like that coming from the top of the radiator hwen the cap is off? If not, good. If so, not good.

BRICKHEAD

Well if you let the car run for 10 to fifteen minutes with the cap off the coolent will bubble up and overflow as you mentioned. After the 15 minutes turn the car off so the remainder of the air escapes. Put the cap back on and then re-start the car. Hold the throttle cable with your hand in the engine compartment untill the rpm's reach around three thousand. After a few minutes with the car warmed up and the rad cap on you should see the fan kick on if not check fuses or possible bad thermostat. Just because its new does not mean its not bad i have seen it many times before. Turn the ac on in your car and see if at least that fan is working to try and rule out the obvious. Always start with fuses whenever there is wiring/electrical. Hope this helps

P.S I really miss my old R's every day! (sorry just venting)

Redcoupe

It will? I've left caps off for alot longer than that and nothing. Unless you are talking about the cycling of the water through the motor(i.e. your thermostat is now open and doing it's job)

The fan will cycle on if the cap is off. It doesn't need to see pressure built up to initiate the fan to turn on.

I agree. Also, if you doubt you did it correctly, pull it apart and make sure it is sitting it correctly. The pin should be at the stop IIRC.

Just trying to clearify a couple things for the OP, not tryin to pick your post apart.

IntegraR0064

Thanks for the replies...

I forgot to mention, yes I tried turning on the AC and the fans went on right away, so the fan is working.

I did start it with the car cold, with the cap off. I didn't really notice bubbles, just the vibrating of the radiator from the engine. But slowly, the level would creep up until it was overflowing. I kept rags under it to catch it, and it just slowly kept creeping up more and more. The coolant was obviously getting hot, because it was starting to steam after 5 or 10 minutes.

I will try to warm the car up with the throttle cable.

Does anyone know what actually causes the fan to kick on? Like, if my thermostat is bad, could that cause the fan to not turn on, or are they independent?

I also noticed that I think the original t-stat was a 170 degree one...the one I ended up with was a 180 degree one.......but I don't think that makes a big difference, right?

Mashimaro

iTrader: (1)

It could be another bad thermostat.

Perhaps you should purchase an OEM Honda one. they're not that expensive and you might want to get some Honda coolant as well (Type 2, blue fluid).

Usually when you've installed a new thermostat, the upper rad hose will be a colder than the lower. after about 20mins, the thermostat should open up and the fan will turn on. when that happens, you'll notice that the fluid will drain into the rad and you'll have to top it up with more coolant. Also, switch your climate control heater to the 'hot' setting and leave the fan control off.

keep squishing the upper hose a bit to help work out some of the air bubbles. it'll make a mess but once all the bubbles are gone, turn off the car and put the rad cap back on and hose down the mess that the coolant left on your rad and front bulkhead.

you should be good after that!

for what it's worth, i'm using a Koyo full size rad with a single Fal fan, samco hoses and a mugen thermostat on my EG (with an ITR motor). Temps are pretty much the same in terms of warm up time as my stock setup eventhough it's a lot bigger than the stock D-series stuff.

good luck

BRICKHEAD

Yes the coolent will overflow in this instance since the hose and thermostat were replaced and the system was opened. If you have let the car warm up with the cap off from a cold start and the coolent has gone down when the fan kicks on as mentioned and you have topped it off after that then turn the car off as stated. Put the cap back on and re-start the car if the coolent is full to your knowledge and the fan is kicking on and the heater is still not hot at the normal operating temp than its either a bad thermostat or there is still air in the lines. Sorry if I was unclear the first time I am always doing radiators at work and I have a snap-on rad vaccume tool that does all the hard work for you. Good luck and I hope you get her working.

01_ITR

Dont mean to thread jack but im kind of having the same issues. Both hoses get hot, and blows out hot air, but even after 30 min of driving the needle barely lifts of the C mark. Could this be a bad thermostat?

Devon M

iTrader: (4)

Not trying to thread jack either but my car never gets up to temp. on the guage. I was thinking about changing thermostat to a new stock acura part.

Mashimaro

iTrader: (1)

^^^sounds like both of you are having thermostat problems as well.

Get yourself a brand new OEM Honda one and you should be good

Redcoupe

I'd look into your thermosensor on the head for your gauge cluster. It is the one pin plug under the distributor.

As do I, haha.