Hey guys,
I was driving down the freeway, and all of a sudden my car would not go forward. It was still running, but would not respond to the gas at all. (kinda like whn an axle pops out) I was not boosting at all, infact I was at about 10 hg/in. So I pulled onto the shoulder where it promptly died. I turned the key, and it started right back up. Only now my temp gauge was all the way in the red. SO I turned it off. and got out and went to look under my hood. There was a mist coming from my Radiator fluid resrve tank, causet the fluid in side was boiling, and pressure was pushing steamm out of the threads I suppose. So I called a tow truck, and while waiting for it to come I checked over some things. I checked my radiator, and the fluid was all gone. (I know there was fluid in it when I left) Also my radiator cap was in about 12 pieces. I am not sure if this was a cause or effect.
Today I went out there I checked oer everything again. THe oil was high(car is cool) , but it was still the normal oil color. I proceeded to fill my radiator, and borrowed a new cap. It worked fine, although I did not drive around...the engine sounded fine...reved normal...no smoke...Everrything seemed fine.
So my question is would a busted radiator cap cause it to overheat, or did it over heat and then that caused the cap to break? Any Ideas on what my prob could be?
Thanks,
Josh



[Modified by skrewdlude, 11:17 PM 8/18/2002]

 

anyone?

 

Hmmm i have no idea. But the purpose of a radiator cap is to keep the system pressurized as to prevent boiling to some extent. 12 pieces? I have no clue what caused it to explode. Was the cap like blown off of the radiator? The coolant probably boiled away.


[Modified by speedymon, 7:50 PM 8/18/2002]

 

Do the water hoses looked fatigued? Just a gues but the headgasket might have blown causing the combustion pressures to enter the cooling system. Make sure the oil doesn't have a "chocolate milk" like consistency.

 

Hey,
That was my first guess, but my oil looks normal, as does my coolent after running the car today. I also don't have any smoke coming out of my tail pipe. When I ran the car today, no fluid was leaking anywhere.
Thanks,
Josh

 

I guess saying it exploded is a little dramatic, the metal "cap" p[art was ok...just all the little pieces under it were everywhere(the "corl" and washers and stuff)
josh

 

i'm thinkin...defective radiator cap maybe? i know it's a longshot, but if there's no other damage to the system (i.e. no stretched radiator hoses, etc...) and the engine runs fine, then maybe u just got a bad radiator cap?

 

Hey,
Thats what I was thinkin. I just wasn't sure if a defective radiator cap would cause a car overheat so bad. But I guess it is an important piece of the cooling system. All the hoses look fine. and everything works great.
Thanks,
Josh

 

Might be a little extreme, but it's possibly your headgasket let go. Maybe try a compression test and see what comes up....either that, or just keep any eye on your coolant levels for the next few days. If it keeps going down you'll know for sure then.

Good luck,

Ryan P.

 

i was thinking headgasket also... but one thing, if you drove around with completely no radiator fluid... chances are your head might be warped. maybe you should pay attention to your temp gauge more often. i know i always did, if i sat still for more then 20 seconds i would always glance at my temp gauge.

 

Hey,
thats the thing...my gauge was at normal temperature until after it died, and then once it died the gauge was all the way hot. thats why I was like WTF....Also I have no symptoms of a blown head gasket, which was also my first conclusion. I have not done a comp check yet, but as I have already said...my oil is normal oil cooler...my coolent is clean...I have no smoke coming out of my engine...and I have difference in power. Also I wasn't sitting anywhere...the car was cruising like I said out of boos, I was cruising at around 10 hg/in. I kept it out of boost the whole time. My AC fan was also on.
Thanks,
Josh

 

The fact that the car lost power is pretty disconcerting...I really don't know what could cause that related to the coolant. I believe that the honda engines have a high-temp failsafe and do die if the temp gets too hot. I know this happened in my mom's d15 civic..."someone" forgot to put the radiator cap on properly and about 10 minutes down the road all the fluid boiled out and the car died. it runs like a champ, still.

 

hmm, the loss of power could be related to a couple of things...

you very well could have warped the head. And with no coolant in the system, the water pump bearings could be failing as well.

 

i think you should just go ahead and get a 88 accord with 222,000miles on it like me and drive the **** outa it. check out my avitar (sp)i knew i would learn something that aplies to real life in college!