Frank V. Adames

Hey all,

I recently bought my 2006 Honda Accord with 146k and have driven it quite a bit with the most miles being from a trip to Virginia from Florida.

I flew to Florida on Monday and nobody had touched the car until yesterday when my girl tried to come pick me up at the train station. It was a frigid night (11 degrees F), but only a 15min drive so it was no big deal. She said due to the cold the car took a bit to turn on, but that's typical of older cars in the cold, especially yesterday night being THAT cold. She left it idling for about 10mins and then tells me that the heater isn't working and it's blowing freezing air. I suspected the thermostat got stuck, but she verified that it was fine as the temperature gauge on the dashboard read just below halfway. She left it idling for a bit longer waiting for the heater to "kick in"; however, it wasn't until she drove off to come get me that it actually kicked in. At the 10min mark, she calls telling me that the car was making a really loud noise, like a rat scratching at stuff inside of the car, and the heater stopped working again. She pulled over. I walked over to her and drove back home. The heater wasn't working, but not entirely. It blew cool air, but not as cold as the air outside. There was no noise, just a weird smell like dead animal; however, the car ran and sounded mechanically normal. Here's the thing, as soon as I pulled into the parking lot and shut the car off smoke/steam started coming out from under the hood. I popped it and saw that it was coming out of the radiator cap along with a hissing sound.

It was way too cold and dark for me to check the coolant reservoir level and/or leaks, etc so I'm not sure what's wrong. The last thing I want is to pay an arm and a leg to have my car checked just to realized it was a relatively simple fix. That's why I came here. I checked some posts and you're all really knowledgeable! Some hint as to what's wrong would be greatly appreciated, and maybe you can help a guy save a couple of bucks.

Thank you,

Frank

Guards

I think it might have something to do with the fans. Were you able to see if the fans work when you turn the car on and let it warm up?
The scratching sound combined with the boil over when you shut the engine off leads me to that and the fact that the steam was coming out of the radiator cap makes me thinks there isn't a huge leak. Was the temperature within normal range during the drive? That indicates to me the pump is working. I'm not sure about the heat issue, but I will say my last car required a bit of driving before the the air coming out of the vents got warm. Could also have something to do with the antifreeze/water ratio. Maybe there are multiple faults.