Freeze plugs?
 

You were all EXTREMELY helpful to me yesterday, so I'm back!

So I just fixed my ignition switch yesterday, and then it started leaking coolant. It recently froze here, and I have never lived in a cold climate until now. I have had some guess that the problem is due to my freeze plugs being out.

My car is overheating and losing fluid, which it has NEVER done, and idles ok at first, but after overheating, the engine lopes pretty bad, surging from about 1500 rpms to about 2500 rpms.

I can not find anything in my Haynes manual or online that really gives me the rundown on freeze plugs. Can anyone give me a crash course in them, and with the overheating and leaking, paired with the engine loping, could this be the cause?

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

can you see where its leaking from?? i believe the only part that has a freeze out plug is the intake. the reason why its surging is from the low coolant level in the iac valve.

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

I could not find the actual source of the leak(it's late and dark), but the fluid loss is on the side of the engine that(I think) is home to the water pump, right below the distributor cap.

When it overheated, the engine was "smoking"(I think it was actually steam), and my passenger-side fan(behind the radiator) was also soaked in coolant, and it seemed to have blown the stuff everywhere in the vicinity.

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

1) The water pump resides on the driver's end of the engine (under the timing belt cover)
2) Most likely, your radiator has sprung a leak facing front, in the space made up between it and the A/C Condenser. That's why the coolant fan was soaked (blow-back) along with everything on that side of the engine.
3) The freeze plugs hardly ever fail*, unless the car has been operated without coolant (antifreeze) sinse it as new.

P

*I'm out on a limb here since you see fit to not include a vehicle year/model discription with your sig, but the F22 series of engines do not use conventional freeze plugs. Honda uses threaded caps and gaskets for access to the water jackets. Refer:
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...R+HEAD+%281%29 and:
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...+BLOCK-OIL+PAN
#17 and #28

P

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

Man, I'm sorry, It's a 1990 honda accord DX 2 door, 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual.

How could I check to verify/find that radiator leak?

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

Once the level of coolant reaches the leak, it's hard to detect since it leaks as steam (vapor).
Refill the radiator, grab a flash light and start the car. Once the engine temp rises, you should be able to spot it.
If you can rent a Radiator Pressure tester locally, you can forgo the hot, steaming coolant issue, pressurize the system and inspect it at your leasure.

P

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

Ok, awesome thanks! So does that "radiator stop-leak" stuff work for this kind of thing? If it doesn't, I'll have to get to a junkyard and replace it. But like a lot of Americans, I lost my job and I'm tight on money these days.

BTW Thank you for your help, it's seriously great to have someone that can/will help me out.

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

also check out your bypass hose that runs directly under the distributor

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

Thanks for the kind words. Yeh, we're all paying the price for the idiots in Washington playing footloose with out future....but let's not digress.

I don't like Stop-leak. It has this tendency to pool in places like the heater core and cause all manner of havoc. I've actually used a raw egg one time when I was blessed with a radiator failure after shopping.

But really, have the radiator addressed. When you do find a job, you're going to need the car; and patch jobs are just that patches.

P

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

So I got the Pressure Tester, it was a large deposit, fully refunded thanks to my nearby O'Reilly's.

It was my intake hose from the heater core! Someone had overtightened the hose clamp and when it froze hard, the clamp shrank on the already old hose and busted it. I also found out afterward that my radiator hose needed to be tightened by 1/2 a turn.

Lordy those things are handy!

Thanks again! My car and I salute you.

Re: Freeze plugs?
 

I know when my radiator cracked I could SMELL antifreeze evaporating on parts of the engine that where up to op temp.

There's a line that finds it's way to the heater that went out on me, check that one.