Lately, I've been having problems with my thermostat rising above normal temps and everytime, I would check my radiator I'll find that it's low on coolant.

I fill her up and let her run and everything would be fine again and after a day or so, same thing happens. I've checked for signs of leaks but found none.

Finally today while on my way home from the drugstore, I noticed my thermostat started to rise, so when I got home I let the car cool down then checked my radiator only to find her to be low on coolant again. So after filling her up, I started my car, let her sit in the garage with the a/c on...rev'd her a couple of times, let her idle a bit then rev her a couple of times again.

After a few minutes, I noticed that I started to build a small puddle underneath the car. I checked for leaks and found that there was coolant dripping from below the neck of the radiator(area circled in red of sample radiator in picture below).

I've had the radiator for maybe a year and a half and never had problems until after I swapped my engine, drained, flushed, filled and bled the system.

Could this be the radiator going bad, or is it just a matter of over-filling the radiator with too much coolant or could it be something worse?

Appreciate any advise.

TIA

 

Normally overheating is caused by a bad headgasket. But in your case you may be leaking coolant from were you said you saw it. I'v also seen cases were overheating can be caused by a faulty radiator cap. Just some ideas

 

radiatorbarn.com

 

hopefully its just the radiator, because you're losing the water better that its leaking from the radiator than a bad headgasket.

so do the routine by replacing the radiator, thermostat and radiator cap, bleed the system and see what happens

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TurboTagTeam &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Normally overheating is caused by a bad headgasket. But in your case you may be leaking coolant from were you said you saw it. I'v also seen cases were overheating can be caused by a faulty radiator cap. Just some ideas </TD></TR></TABLE>

I have seen this all to often. People replace their spark plugs, wires, oil, but these rad caps never get rewplaced and they don't last forever. The rubber breaks down and prevents the rad from push or suck coolant from the overflow tank. Is it leaking from the rad cap or just near the neck of the rad? The rad could be fualty from the factory and the top of the rad might be seperating from the cooling fins and body. Don't forget the rad is under a good amount of pressure when your at normal operating temp. You should get it pressure tested to see if it is really leaking or if it's coming from the cap, hoses, etc.

 

just changed the entire radiator, u are due.

 

most likely just a leak like you;ve mentioned, not necessarily an HG problem... is your coolant overflow tank filling up that nusual? is there white smoke coming out of the exhaust?

 

Same **** happened to me recently on my brother's girl friend's D15B auto Civic. The radiator took a ****...almost all of the inside melted over time and it just crapped out. Autos are more prone to heat soak in the radiators because of the tranny fluid loading their bottom hollows.

 

Thanks for all the replies...In any case, I don't have any symptoms of a bad HG. So I'll start looking into a new radiator and hope that solves the problem.

Thanks Again!

 

bump for same problem, and my fan doesnt spin and i see tiny specks of green liquid under my car every so often and my car overheats when in stop and go traffick, but on freeway over 50mph it's a-ok

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jay-Dee-Em &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">bump for same problem, and my fan doesnt spin and i see tiny specks of green liquid under my car every so often and my car overheats when in stop and go traffick, but on freeway over 50mph it's a-ok</TD></TR></TABLE>

Your fan isn't working and that's causing your overheating. In stop and go traffic there is now air flow, but on the highway there is lots of air flow, so it keeps nice and cool. Air in you coolent will prevent the fan from coming on aswell as a whole bunch of other things.