Hi guys..

Ok so this is how it started.. driving to my girlfriends house and then suddenly the car starts over heating! So i pull over in a shell petrol station and i find the lower pipe of the 2 radiator pips is colder than the other. I thought ok it must be the thermostat so i called AA and got it double checked.

When the AA guy came he looked at it and said yeah it's the thermostat, he said he could fix it temporally so i could get home (he basically hammered the top so it would stay open.

Once done the car drove ok but the temp stayed down for longer than usual, makes sense as the coolant is being pumped round and round.

So the next day i got myself a blueprint thermostat. Checked it to see if it worked, boiling it, and it worked fine. So i replaced it.

I proceded then to bleed the system with cap off, heat full blast and bleed nipple open. It bleed fine for a moment then it just stopped! Shocked No more coolant coming out.. I thought it could be a massive airlock but after waiting a while i doubt it's this.

The car is overheating when i use the air con, but i seem to be able to drive it with the temp staying in the centre. But if i hit any sort of traffic it will overheat!

So... to recap

1) old thermal stat bashed open and worked fine.
2) new thermostat
3) bled the system, but it stopped by itself
4) car still overheats esp. with air con

Sorry about the long post but i'm heatbroken that my beloved prelude is not working right!

Thanks for all the help!

p.s. it's the original water pump...

 

How many miles are on your lude?

 

88,000 miles... some people said it could be the head gasket but theres no oil in the coolant.

Could it be the cap? not holding enough pressure?

or maybe a blocked radiator?

but it's probably gonna be the most expensive... the water pump...

 

ok so i woke up early and tried again. I tried the bleed bolt again, it bleed but very slowly, not a steady stream. I think it's only bleeding cos of the heat from the engine pushing it out.

The radiator is cold!

The radiator cap seems fine.

The lower radiator hose is cold but slightly warm at the top of it (I think it means the thermostat is opening right but nothing is pushing it along.

Fan is not coming on, understandable as the radiator is cold.

Another thing, with the old thermostat that was bashed open, the fan came on. but overheated whilst stationary.

Im thinking everything is pointing towards the waterpump

 

At 88k, even if it isn't the waterpump, it's time to do the waterpump and timing belt anyways.

 

the thing is the timing belt has been done... but the water pump didn't get changed... oh regrets...

 

It shouldn't be the water pump; but that doesn't mean rule it out.

How long did you let it sit bleeding out before giving up? I've had a Prelude take 15 minutes to completely bleed out once, and it was fine. It just had a lot of air in the system, I guess.

 

been bleeding for like 2 days!!
I'm gonna check the radiator tomorrow.. gona take it out and run water through it to see if it's blocked or not...

 

You can try having the cooling system pressure tested by a professional also.

 

ok.. taking it to the garage tomorrow.. so they can pressure test it..
there could be a blockage in the system somewhere..
its not the radiator though cos i checked it today
will update with the results tomorrow cos i know theres not much info on this..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LudeyKrus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How long did you let it sit bleeding out before giving up? I've had a Prelude take 15 minutes to completely bleed out once, and it was fine. It just had a lot of air in the system, I guess. </TD></TR></TABLE>

My guess also

Don't feel bad if you find out you didn't bleed it correctly. The cooling system can be a major pain! And sometimes even only on SOME cars... very odd.

 

i tried every single way of bleeding.. the thing is water coming out of the bleed hole is coming out really slowly!

I bled it for 2 days!

 

I have the same problem bro.

But it's an older Lude. 91 2.0 si.

I dont want to put any thoughts in your troubleshooting, but here goes:

Here's what I replaced:

=Water pump *my number 1 item that came to mind after the typical troubleshooting.
=timing belt
=thermostat
=gaskets
=hoses

400 buks later (took it to the shop since i was incompetent to solving this problem), goin in stop and go traffic..or even the slightest stop light traffic.. the ***** shoots up. Turning the heater on doesn't help worth of ****.

I'm stumped.. last thing on the list.. Clogged radiator.??

Please do post your resolution to this problem, as will I.

Good luck.

Peace.

 

Ive already checked my radiator and it's not blocked. IT's really easy to check so you should try it yourself.

Just disconnect the top and bottom hoses and run a water hose through it and see if there's any flow..

Will definately update what the problem is..

 

ok guys the car is back from the garage and it's all working fine now.. no more overheating! The radiator is now hot after a drive and the lower radiator hose is also hot instead of ice cold.

I asked the garage what he did and he said at first he thought it was the water pump then after further investigation he found it was the cooling fan! :-? he said he just cleaned it and put it back in.

He also put fresh coolant in and bled the system and now it's all fine..

He must have magic dust or something but how could the fan stop the water from flowing before?

He said he also checked all the hoses and they were fine...

Oh well at least it's all in working order... i'll update if the car blows up.. :lol:

 

Glad to hear it works now. I would still get the waterpump replaced sooner or later. On my car, (the water pump needs to be replaced), everytime I refilled the coolant and bled the system, it worked for a couple days and after the waterpump leaked the coolant out again, i would overheat again. Keep an eye on the coolant levels