i recently pulled my heater out of my car. so i had to drain the radiator. i followed all the proper steps (helms) to drain and fill the radiator(bled and bubble free). now here is the issue.

at first i threw a code 10 (IAT) so again i followed the helms on how to diagnose the code. well the code went away. the resistance on the IAT though was 0.3x. so i think i may have to replace it?

after warm up my idle starts to sputter, almost like its burping, at the high point of the "burp" a little liquid and a little bit of white smoke comes out the tailpipe. steam is also coming out of the radiator but the radiator fan never comes on. all the hoses were hot (upper, lower, and the "loop back" hose for where the heater hoses used to be). i also was heating up in stop and go traffic and ran out of coolant from the reservior, which i refilled.

i no longer have any code(s) but still have the burping? any ideas?

TIA
edit: motor is a d15a1

 

Maybe a headgasket, what does the oil look like?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by S2R Honda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe a headgasket, what does the oil look like?</TD></TR></TABLE>

how should i check the oil, from draining it or via the oil cap?

 

If the oil under the valvecover or on the dipstick is milkie white then there is water in the oil.

 

i took a look at the oil, and all looks normal...

 

up for assistance

 

your head gasket may be in the beginning stage of blowing. in this case a small amount of coolant is is leaking into the cylinder and has not yet leaked into the oil gallies. this will result in white puff from the tailpipe but still have clean oil.

 

okay i think i may have to do a leakdown test and a compression test while im at it. i will post the results.

 

Doesn't sound good.

You did refill it with coolant after you drained it right?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DenzComp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Doesn't sound good.

You did refill it with coolant after you drained it right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yup. all hoses were hot also.

 

okay a little update with my issue:

sputtering/surging idle:
- i finally got a tach to see what exactly was going on and idle was bouncing between 1000 and 1500.
- what i did was cleaned the iacv and that issue went away and idle is now at 1000

overheating:
- it came down to me not bleeding and letting out all the bubbles within the coolant system. after 3 tries of doing a drain and fill the overheating went away. my issue was not letting the radiator fans turn on for 2 cycles. i guess it must have been the fear of the coolant coming out like a volcano out of the fill tube. but in any case i now have a non-overheating but i do have coolant stains in my driveway.

thanks for all your help and im glad it wasnt the head gasket because i no longer see puffs of smoke out of the tailpipe. must have been condensation from the car not being started for 2 weeks.