Hi every1, my first post here and my first Honda (if you don't count an integ). Anyways when I bought my 94 Prelude Si the seller told me it had an overheating problem and that the engine was new, well, new to the car. The first week I started driving it it did start overheating, the coolant in the radiator would "disappear" after a few trips across town and white smoke came from the engine, the resevoir to be exact, I believe. It is an F23 A, according to the receipt. My friend told me it was probably a problem with the thermostat so a few days later I removed the thermostat casing to find that there was no thermostat in the housing. I went to Kragen and I told them the engine was an F23 and they said it is an Accord engine. They gave me the thermostat which matched their information but it didn't fit. I figured it was because I forgot to buy the matching O ring so i went back and bought that too. The O ring didn't fit the housing but I tried tightening the case to it anyways, the case cracked. After this I went to my local Honda dealership and ordered an identical casing and a new thermostat, which they said should be the correct one for my F23 engine. Once again the thermostat doesn't fit. I just looked around on the net at some diagrams for stock Prelude engines and found one that had a casing that looked like mine. It didn't have a thermostat between the casing and the housing. So now I'm thinking that the F23 is a Prelude engine and it isn't supposed to have a thermostat inside the housing. Am I correct? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

edit: This is the address for the diagram I found: http://www.hondaautomotivepart...3.gif
My casing looks like the one on the top right


Modified by adragen at 7:43 PM 11/2/2005


Modified by adragen at 7:44 PM 11/2/2005

 

Are you sure its an f23 , if its a 92-96 base model prelude it should be an F22a1, the engine code is on the front of the block by the slave cylinder. . You said your cars a 94 si, if its an si then its a h23. Check your engine code and yes it should have a thermostat.

If your coolant is disappearing and you have no leaks then i would guess your headgasket needs to be replaced. Do a compression test.

Tip- the thermostat fits inside the o-ring inside the litte groove.

 

The seller said they put a new engine in the car and on the receipt they gave me it says it is a Honda F23 A.

 

They must have been bored but whatever floats your boat. Usually people swap in h22's but you can boost that sucker later on. Check the code just to be sure( not calling you a liar or anything just be sure its the right engine or you'll never get the right parts).
O-riellys gave me the wrong thermostat for my h22, its either smaller or larger. Just keep going back or try somewhere else or hope the one on that site is the right one.
Good luck

on that link are you talking about #'s 7 and 10 that cracked?

 

Thanks, but yeah, the code confirms it, it's a F23A.

 

k

 

Is the F23A an engine made for the prelude or the accord, because that's the main thing that confuses the stores.

 

The #11 up there cracked clean off around the top hole, I bought a new one tho. But notice how there's no thermostat between that piece and the housing on the block. Should there be?


Modified by adragen at 8:23 PM 11/2/2005

 

It originaly comes in accords. Ya be really carefull with aluminum it cracks easy as you know.
You know #4 is the thermo right, just making sure. Some people think the themo is located in # 11.

Be sure when you get it all back together to bleed the cooling system, # 14 looks like the bleed screw.
Anything else?

 

Yes the thermostat is between #s 7 and 10.Thats it.