caseythefalcon

I have the basic f22a1. The temp gauge will go up to the halfway mark at a steady rate. And hold there. It never goes to 3/4's. But lately some odd things have been happening. A couple days ago a stong coolant smell occurred but when I pulled over and looked under the hood there was no steaming, no coolant was leaking, nothing. I went to buy coolant right then to fill the resevoir. It drove fine. But everyday since then the upper radiator hose has been getting really hot and almost feels like its boiling in there. But it could be just flowing through? The lower hose doesn't get near as hot. So I put a new thermo in. Still does same thing. I tried bleeding the system via bleeder screw but when I open nothing comes out at all. I pull the throttle cable a bit and after it drops back to idle coolant spurts out. No steady at all. It sprays about 60% air 40% coolant. I eventually got it to a semi steady stream after 30 minutes of trying to bleed it. Last night after driving for about 20 minutes coolant was forcing itself out of the reservoir tank. Any advice on what to do now? Also I saw a little black debris in the coolant when removing the rad cap.

caseythefalcon

Keep in mind throughout all of this the temp gauge stays at half way..

caseythefalcon

Bump. Please help.

AudioFunk

Combustion gases getting into the cooling system perhaps?

preludeNApower

Do a compression test to check HG. Stock coolant gage? If so not to accurate, hook a meter up to a sensor to view the temp changes or just invest in aftermarket gage.

caseythefalcon

Okay so I did a couple things today. I flushed the radiator swapped the radiator cap and bled the system. Quick question is the upper hose supposed to be quite a bit hotter than the lower at operating temps? Also the hoses both upper and lower seem to have quite a bit of pressure as opposed to just the upper having pressure. I ran it for 20 minutes at idle and reving it throughout and it ran fine. No boiling. Would yall say I'm all good now?

AudioFunk

Keep driving it. Might just needed a new cap. And yes, lower should be colder since it carries all the cooler coolant to the engine. And my hoses had pressure too, but I over filled the system that's why lol. But keep driving it and see what happens.

preludeNApower

How do you overfill the system?

AudioFunk

I used a spill free funnel and got it to temp I guess the themo opened and coolant level dropped and got some extra in there. Hoses had pressure opened cap when cold and coolant came out. Took some out and It's all good now.

1funryd

Did you replace the thermostat???

holmesnmanny

its physically impossible to overfill the system

caseythefalcon

Okay one issue that came up. Its probably due to improper bleeding. I got one of those pressure release lever radiator caps. Well last night when I got done driving it the hoses were hard as rocks and buldging a lot. I lifted the pressure release lever and a mixture of air and coolant spewed into the reservoir quickly. Do yall think this is due to improper bleeding? I read that it may be combustion gases but hope not ha. Otherwise I'm just gonna get an h22

AudioFunk

Get one of those combustion leak tester kits. Maybe 35 bucks at walmart

holmesnmanny

It's completely normal for the hoses to become hard as a rock. Get rid of that junk cap and get a regular cap.

You can't really improperly bleed the system.

Just compression test your motor to see if you have a bad head gasket. Costs $20 for the tester. Remove the ecu fuse in the engine fuse box assembly to disable spark and fuel before testing. Don't use any of the adapters, just screw it into each cylinder and crank it until the gauge stops going up.

1funryd

Again...Did you replace your thermostat???

E_Turtle7

I own a 94 Honda Civic DX 4cylinder 1.5L Automatic. I was experiencing an issue with my car where there was a coolant leak, engine was shaking violently, overheating and a fluctuating idle rev. I know my car was overheating because the fan was not kicking in due to a bad coolant temperature sensor so I decided to Replace the sensor, radiator, radiator hoses, Thermostat, and cleaned the IAC valve. Heater kicked back in, also the fan started to work and there was no leakage afterwards. After cleaning the IAC valve the car started smoother and the engine was no longer shaking violently. Although the car continued to overheat and fluctuate idle so i decided to purge the air by bleeding it and top it off with coolant. Afterwards the car was no longer reving in and out so the fluctuating idle was fixed by removing the air pockets in my cooling system. I took it for a spin around town for a good half hour and it did not overheat nor fluctuate idle what so ever. Ran like new but as soon as i got back home and turned off the car i heard a boiling sound coming from the coolant reservoir tank. i popped the hood and noticed it leaked out everywhere due to the boiling overflow. I wiped everything dry and tried to start my car but it would only crank and wouldnt start as if it was getting no spark. I dont know if it has anything to do with the coolant leaking all over the engine as if something like the spark plugs got wet or the cooling system still not working properly but the odd thing was my car wasnt overheating, the reservoir tank was still full to the max line and it was blowing warm air so i know the waterpump and thermostat must be functioning properly, what could it be? I also tried to jump it and that didnt work so i know the battery isnt the issue niether. i would like to do a compression test to see if its the head gasket but the car does not have white smoke coming from the exhaust or discolored oil so i dont think its the head gasket. Please help much apprecatied thank you!

holmesnmanny

First things first. Do a compression test. Make sure to remove the distributor connectors to disable spark. I have a feeling you let the temperature gauge get to full red and the head gasket is leaking now.

Lets us know what your numbers are. Cylinder 1 is on the driver side and cylinder 4 is on the passenger side. Normally cylinder 4 is the first cylinder to go when the head gasket leaks due to overheating.