Saltine Box Racer

Okay here's what happened with my 91 Prelude Si this evening. I noticed my temperature gauge rise and so pretty much as it was overheating I pulled over. It spewed the nice smelling coolant smoke and all of that crap. Soo, I let it cool off for like 15 minutes and start driving again once my temp gauge goes back to halfway between cool and hot. After another quarter mile or so the temp spikes again, so I pull over and let it cool down again, this time longer. To make a long story short this happens until I get to where I was supposed to be going. I asked some guys watching cars leaving a car show if they could help me. We figured out that my main fan was not turning on with the motor. The auxilary one was working, and when I ran my AC the other one started up. I let it run for awhile, and then I shut it off and didn't touch it for over a half hour. After that I proceeded home, stopping and letting it cool off each time the temp gauge maxed out.

I got a check engine light towards the very end of driving it. One thing that really creeped me out is that the radiator was almost totally COLD. You could rest your hand on it. The overflow reservor was full as it should be with coolant. I haven't had any leaks at all that I can recal, nor have I ever had any radiator hoses go bad or any other problems with the cooling system before.

What I'm asking you guys is what could cause this? A fuse for the fan? A computer problem? Some malfunction in my water pump? Also, WHERE and WHAT am I looking for engine trouble code wise? Any help would be appreciated. I'm hoping I'm not screwing up my motor while I'm doing this, but it seems to sound and run fine, except for a hard turn over at starting up.

Jason
91 Si

*desperately hoping his JDM B20A swap doesn't come much earlier then he had hoped for.*

meept

Sounds like your water pump has shed its impeller. I got the same symptoms when the water pump impeller on my LX's D15 lump disintegrated.... There's also a chance it might be the thermostat, so check that as well, but my money's on the water pump.

Saltine Box Racer

thanks for replying. Would you advise against running it period, or am I okay for short distances as long as I really watch the temp gauge?