My husband has been driving my father's 96 Accord 10 miles round trip to and from work. It started overheating 5 days ago, so we took it to Pep Boys the next day. My husband noted that one of 2 fans he saw was not coming on, so he let them know. On a side note, we discovered from my brother after the fact that the fan he saw not running may have been the AC fan, as the AC was not on. They replaced the radiator (said that it was empty and cracked), the hoses, and the thermostat 3 days ago, but said it was continuing to overheat, I again mentioned the fan, so they replaced that the next day, as well as 7 sensors and tried 2 more thermostats, including OEM. The car still overheats and they don't know what is wrong. They told us to drive with the AC on, which currently doesn't work, as it leaks coolant and leaks condensate out onto the passenger floor boards, but they filled it with coolant and told us to drive it that way. Their other recommendation is to take it to the dealer. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what it might be, as we really don't have the $ to take it to the dealer? Thanks in advance!

 

I dont want to say the obvious... but NEVER go to pepboy's.

I dont know why they had to replace so many sensors... thats redicuous. Find yourself a good honda shop, but for your bank accouns sake, do not go to the dealership.

 

has the operation of the proper fan (cooling fan) been checked since it's replacement? If it isnt working it could be the thermo-switch. Is it maintaining proper coolant level or are you still losing coolant? If you're losing coolant, you may have a water pump on the way out or a busted head gasket.

 

If it leaks coolant INSIDE the car then there is something seriously wrong with your HEATER CORE. That would indicate the heater core is leaking coolant and the overheating you are getting is possably air in your cooling system.

 

thermostat need to be HONDA OEM. After you fix that and flush your rad come back with the results.

 

if you're telling him he needs a genuine honda thermostat, why? the only difference in them would be reliability...the non-genuine ones just fail faster...I've used many thermostats from auto parts stores in my hondas before with no problems at all.


Modified by EASY101 at 5:19 PM 7/27/2006

 

why? because this forum is full of people who used aftermarket parts and the car still overheated until they put a honda part in

 

chk this out

http://www.hondaaccordforum.co...m.htm

 

When the AC is on, it leaks condensate, not coolant. I have since found from another forum that it is probably due to a clgged condensate line, which we will get fixed.

 

They tried 3 different thermostats. The final thermostat, the one that is currently installed is OEM.

 

Thanks for the info! I have printed off everyone's suggestions and will have my brother, who knows a whole lot more about cars than I do, look at everything and hopefully decipher what has been done and still needs to be done. Pep Boys had told us that the thermostat was supposed to open at 220 degrees, but was opening at 260 degrees on our car. My brother said that is was actually supposed to open at 160 or so(can't remember the exact #, but a lot lower than what Pep Boys was saying.) Thanks again for the assistance!

 

I've never had a problem with them except for the fact that they dont last as long as a genuine thermostat. This is my 3rd honda over the last 9 years.