weaponsgrade

I have a 95 Honda Civic Ex. Coolant seems to be blowing out of the air intake nozzle that's located behind the passenger side headlight. I filled up the coolant reservior, drove about 50 miles (which went fine), let the car cool, and now the reservior is almost empty.

Any idea what could be happening?

I don't see any white smoke coming out of the tail pipe and at least the upper radiator hose seems fine. The pump seems to be working since the upper radiator hose is hot while the lower one is cool.

Simkin314

I'm not certain what "intake nozzle" your referring to. If you see coolant where you know it doesn't belong, I need more info to figure out where its coming from (pictures would be optimal).

Did you bleed the coolant lines? (the coolant could be "filling the air gaps" if you recently drained your system).

Is the "nozzle" located on the diagram below, or intake manifold area?

weaponsgrade

Thanks for the quick response. I'll get some pics tonight, but the coolant seems to be blowing out of part 13 in your diagram. I haven't bleed any of the coolant lines (and the system hasn't recently been flushed).

Simkin314

13?, wow that's just too weird. Make sure all your coolant lines are in their appropriate locations.

Quick check, If you pop your air cleaner open, can you see coolant in that area as well? Which side of the filter? (closer to the engine, or further away).

Check to be sure that part 13 (Fast Idle Thermo valve) in this next diagram is on tight and the gasket/o-rings (parts 4, 5, and 6) in between the FIT and Throttle are in good condition.

weaponsgrade

OK, I'm at work now, so I'll have to do those checks tonight. Assuming I find coolant in the air cleaner, what would that indicate?

Simkin314

That would help find where the coolant is coming from.

If the coolant is coming from the engine side of your filter, I can only guess that your O-rings on your Fast Idle Thermo valve are leaking allowing coolant into your intake tube (that is my best guess with the info provided).

If the coolant is not coming from the engine side, then it is likely that there may be a tubing mis-match(?). Alternatively, is it possible that the coolant made it to the breather chamber (part 13, first diagram) because of spray within the engine compartment (i.e. not from inside the intake tubing)?

weaponsgrade

I checked the air filter and it's dry. Here are a few pics:

Pic 1: That part 13 is off on the passenger side (between the reservoir and air filter).



Pic 2: This is the area below part 13 which is wet.



Pic 3: This is the opening. You can see that it's wet inside.



Pic 4: Part 13 removed.



Pic 5: Coolant

David12

how's the coolant level inside of the radiator?

Simkin314

Well, that pushes the FIT theory out of the option list, good.

All I can figure is to check for hairline cracks along the coolant tubes, mainly the lower radiator tube. Also check for cracks in the backside of the radiator (passenger side area). Some hairline cracks anywhere along the coolant lines can spray pretty hard while the engine is under load (possibly getting redirected by components such as the reservoir(?)) There is only a few drips getting in the air intake resonator which leads me to believe that the coolant is coming from an alternate location within the engine compartment and 'splashing' in.

I was hoping someone else might chime in with other ideas to spur some thoughts or have better suggestion.

If you see nothing, put everything back together, add coolant and warm up the car (enough so that the lower radiator tube is hot to the touch) and turn the throttle plate by hand to rev the engine up while looking for the fluid leak (without part 13, it is unnecessary to diagnose). Be Careful, maybe you should wear safety goggles or something in case of coolant spray...

weaponsgrade

I think I found out what's going on. Check out the pics below. They're taken look up from the bottom of the car, passenger side. Your theory about some cracks on the backside of the radiator, passenger side seems like it might be right. The coolant leaks out the bottom of the radiator sprays up and the air intake is sucking some of that in.

I didn't think the coolant could spray up like that, but I guess it makes sense when it's under pressure.





The lower radiator hose seems fine, but I suppose I'll go ahead and replace it along with the radiator. Would it be a good idea just to replace all the hoses (upper hose and ATF hoses) too? The car has about 175k on it.

Simkin314

Good find man!

What I personally would do first is just get a new clamp (with an adjustable tension size) and clamp the hose down harder to see if it just isn't holding tightly enough (I'm not certain from the pictures if it is just spraying past the clamp, the hose is bad, or the radiator is leaking). Hopefully we can save you some money, if luck is on your side, by just replacing the clamp with an adjustable clamp instead.

To me, it looks like your radiator is in better condition than my own (but looks can be deceiving).

boxeocampeon

get a new clamp or maybe a new hose and that should fix the problem good find tho

1grex

You need a new radiator and top hose.
dang old thread my bads

DelSolGirl75

I have a similar problem.. however I have water leaking from the reservoir? It is not coolant.. the coolant reservoir is ok and my level in the radiator is ok too. Any idea what this could be? I’m not even sure what that reservoir is for? Any help would be greatly appreciated! I’ve already had to replace the motor, the clutch and the radiator. Whomever had it before me must have been hard on him. LOL it’s the 1.4 liter S model

TomCat39

You should start your own thread instead of bumping a thread from 2009 (12 year old thread).

What you pointed at is a resonator, it is for air sounds to be quieted down so your car isn't so loud. Possibly yours is cracked somewhere letting road water get into it on wet days and then it draips out later.

I cut a hole in mine on one car to help bring colder air to my short ram and made sure to drill holes in the bottom so any water caught in it would drain out.