phillyphan

My daughters car is currently overheating. After reading some of your other posts I realize I broke a major rule driving the car while it was overheating. A little history with the car. Bought it in September and had some coolant loss after a few weeks of driving and the car would start overheating a little over halfway of the temp gauge. Would fill it up with coolant and it would run again with no problems for a while and then the problem would return. Realized I was losing coolant from the radiator cap. Replaced that and that problem went away. A couple of weeks ago I was driving with my daughter and the car overheated again. This time it was pegged. Got home with all the coolant gone and the hose for the reservoir blown out of the reservoir tank. Went ahead and flushed the radiator. Replaced the thermostat (170deg from AutoZone). Filled it with coolant and purged out all the air. It had been running fine until yesterday when I started seeing the temp gauge rising again only when I was stopped. I turn off the A/C and it would drop back down. When I got home I could here the reservoir tank boiling and noticed coolant leaking out of the top of the reservoir tank. Let it cool down and filled the radiator back up and purged it again. Drove it today and while it wasn't overheating when I got home I could hear the reservoir tank boiling again and noticed coolant leaking out of the top of the reservoir again with coolant under the car. Reservoir tank was completely empty. I haven't been able to check the radiator yet since I'm letting it cool down right now.

Sorry for the long read, but I wanted to make sure I added all the details since I made that mistake in a previous post of mine. FYI I live in Phoenix and temps are already 106 today.

sikefcrx89

iTrader: (1)

Blown headgasket. Replace it and you'll be good to go.

phillyphan

If that's the case I'm gonna have to decide if I want all that work done or just find a used or rebuilt engine. I just got a quote for the head gasket job and if it turns out to be that, the worst case scenario would put me at $900. Plus I might have an AC compressor going out. I've purchased a money pit. Thanks for replying.

Former User

Letting the engine temp peg on the gauge obviously runs the risk of warping the engine and destroying the bearings. If this happens, you would save yourself time and money by installing a replacement engine. I can't say this happened with certainty, but I would be very concerned that it did if I were you.

tony_2018

My bad, two 98 lx posts but different owner. Same suggestion though, find competent mechanic for the job and ask about warranty.

phillyphan

Thanks for the help. I can't get it down to the mechanic until Monday. In the meantime I went ahead and replaced the thermostat again just for ***** and grins since it was under warranty. I'm currently bleeding the system. Have the car at an angle, filled with coolant and heater full blast. It's been going for about 15 minutes now and I still haven't seen the fan kick on. It's 106 here in Phoenix right now. The temp gauge is reading where it should for now. Last week I ran power to the fan from the battery to test it and it was good. Not sure why this fan won't kick on though.

tony_2018

Hmmmm.... on the thermostat housing there is a 2 pin plug, jump it and see if the fan kicks on.

Former User

Good luck and keep bleeding like this:

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showth...1#post39830585

phillyphan

Okay jumpered it and the fan kicked on. Guess that tells me that switch is bad? I wanted to add that the fan works when I turn on the A/C. Don't know if that means anything, but when I bled the system last week I did it with the A/C on not the heater and the coolant fan ran (realized I did it wrong after joining this forum). Not sure if the A/C controls the coolant fan and condenser fan at the same time.

Former User

Not necessarily. There could be air still trapped in cooling system.

phillyphan

I let it run for over 20 minutes with the heater full blast and it never kicked on. Do you think I should let it run longer before replacing the switch?

Former User

Was coolant in the reservoir still bubbling?

phillyphan

It didn't get to that point but the radiator cap was off so I don't think it would sinse the coolant will spill out of the radiator before it would move into the reservoir. Maybe I should do it again when I get back home tonight and measure the resistance on the ECT switch while the engine warms up. That would be a way of verifying the switch is bad before just replacing it. What do you think?

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

I think you need to absolutely verify that there is no air in the coolant and that you see no bubbles. This is a critical step that you seem to not be performing properly/thoroughly.

phillyphan

Okay I'll try it again tonight. I'll let it run for 30 min, with heater on high at an incline and will report back what I see.

jonsey1886

Also if pictures/video are what you need try this link:


Consider investing in the spill free funnel shown in that video-makes burping the system a LOT easier!

phillyphan

Just started the bleed process again and an on running it for 30 min. I measured the sensor resistance and it reads open right now. After the 30 min passes if I still have read an open on the sensor and the fan never kicks on is it safe to say the sensor is bad at that point?

phillyphan

Okay here's what I got. Ran the car a little over 30 min with heater full blast. Radiator fan never came on. I ohmed out the ECT switch throughout and it always read open. Figured switch was bad. Decided to try it with AC running cold instead to see what would happen. Within a minute the radiator fan kicked on. It cycled on and off three times within three minutes. The last time I disconnected the ECT to check the resistance and it finally read 0 ohms. Why is this working with the AC on but not with the heater on like everyone suggests doing to bleed the system? During the initial bleed with the heater on, the entire time I would rev the engine a few times and see a lot of bubbles coming from the radiator and one point the coolant seemed to turn yellow instead of green but don't know if that was because all of the bubbles.

Former User

The head gasket may be blown. Rent the AutoZone Block Tester Kit.

phillyphan

Okay rented the block tester kit and the fluid stayed blue. So according to this test kit the head gasket is fine. Any other ideas.

After the block test I turned the AC on and i started getting a lot of bubbling again out of the radiator and the radiator fan turned on. I then turned off the AC and performed the block test again and without the AC on the radiator fan finally came on. So I'm guessing my 30 min test last night wasn't long enough for the engine to get hot enough to turn the fan on or the ECT sensor is taking to long to activate the fan.

I took some video but don't know how to upload it. At this point I don't know what to do. What it looks like to me is the car runs fine as long as we don't run the AC. If we start running the AC it's starts bubbling and causes overflow of coolant into the reservoir which ends up slowly leaking out of the top of the reservoir causing me to lose coolant. After about a week the car starts overheating due to the lack of coolant in the system from what I'm guessing.

tony_2018

Well, during the process of bleeding air out of the system what I do is open the throttle a little bit so it can cycle the water pump. Not too much or fluid will come gooshing out of the radiator.

phillyphan

Yeah I did that too.

phillyphan

Do you think the thermostat might be the wrong temp? It's a 170deg, but I've heard some people out here in Arizona say they run a 180deg. Also the reservoir is brand new and it's now starting to collect black particulates. I figured that was normal, but thought I'd that piece of info.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

That is not normal. Still sounds like the headgasket even after you did the tests.

phillyphan

I agree. I was able to drive it around today with no issues, but when I turn the A/C on that's when the reservoir starts boiling and coolant leaks out the top of the reservoir. The temp gauge never changed though. It stayed just below the halfway point. The only time the temp gauge starts showing signs of overheating is a few days later when I believe I start running out of coolant. It seems like this thing will run forever as long as I don't run the A/C.