My friend and I just put this gasket into my 1997 Integra R with a Mugen Thermostat and a Fluidyne full row radiator.

I'm having problems with it because it leaks from the place where it is bypassed from.

Pictures are courtesy of zip and are used at the moment without permission. I haven't the patience to break out mine.....I hope it's ok for now.



This is the place where we are suppose to be bypassing and I did after the install of the gasket.



The pic above showing the slit hose is where the coolant is now leaking from. It is not SPEWING out by any shot but only when the radiator is full and right after my car shuts off. It just trickles out.

Does anybody have any idea as to what I did wrong here?




And yes I have checked all the intake manifold bolts and they are dead on tight.

EDIT: Nevermind, it SPEWS everywhere now..... when the car is on it just DUMPS.....



[Modified by RagingAngel, 7:25 PM 7/12/2002]


[Modified by RagingAngel, 7:39 PM 7/12/2002]

 

Sounds like a no brainer - just replace the hose with the slit in it?!?!

 

ok, first are these pics of your motor? No right?
Second, did you remove the hose from the intake manifold.

 

I will get some pics up asap...

but I did remove the hose from the IM and that is how I was able to actually SEE the coolant dribbling out of the pipe which should be completely blocked off...

there is no coolant seeping out of the surrounding area. It comes RIGHT THRU the pipe and dribbles onto the thermostat housing directly below....

The gasket didn't fit very well and didn't lay completely FLAT against the cyl. head. Instead it kind of bowed no matter how many times I layed it on. I figured that once I bolted up the IM it would hold everything in place.

Furthermore, the bolt right onto of the coolant pipe which should be blocked off was extremely difficult to insert due to what seems to be the hondata gasket hole being too small. I didn't try to ream it out with some tool but slowly and carefully turned the bolt into the gasket and then finally into the cyl. head and tightened it in place.

 

Check the gasket. If the material has "splintered" or the layers are not pressed together any longer, it will leak.


Jason

 

Welp,

After an hour and a half removing and inspecting the mess I have be able to deduce that the thing still leaks



Here are some pics to show you how I did the install and maybe somebody can point to me where I went wrong.



This was the bolt that was giving me some problems initially because the gasket hole seemed like it was too small so I slowly turned it in to "naturally enlarge" the opening.



Here's how I bypassed and T'd the coolant so everything stays happy. I know there are zip ties being used but nothing leaks at this fitting, it was meant to be temporary anyway. Does this look right?



I got the IM separated and took the gasket out to inspect and there was no visible damage, I also did a "brake clean test" where I squirted some brake clean into the coolant cutout and flexed it a bit and still there was no fluid loss. You can already see a little coolant collecting where it should be blocked off.



This is the culprit, it always leaks from here, it's a steady stream of coolant that juss jets out like...like...like..lack of a better description...like pee.



Could it be the tbody coolant pipe here which circulates into

HERE


And then finally out the pipe which should be blocked off?


One last thing, I let the car warm up while topping off the coolant and watching airbubbles go crazy and nothing spewed outta the pipe, I thought I was home free and was getting ready for a testdrive but tragedy struck and when I put the RADIATOR CAP back on... the coolant started to spew out of that coolant pipe again!!

It seems only when the system is pressurized that it does that. It's a Fluidyne Rad with an ARC rad cap that isn't even the 1.3bar ones but merely a 1.1bar.

Sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping that I've gone into enough detail so somebody can give me a hand here....

 

Yeah, it looks like the coolant maybe coming out the TB coolant hose. Just block that off and you should be set. The SI doesn't have the coolant hose for the TB routed like that which is why it was never part of my Hondata gasket install instructions. Good luck!

 

Hasn't ANYBODY done this on a Teg who can be sure? No diss to ya zip, I appreciate ALL responses.

If I have to block off the Tbody coolant pipe, how would I go about bypassing the coolant to the IAC?

This has gotten me all confused and worried that my car might be sucking coolant potentially hydrolocking itself to death....

 

I FIGURED the damn thing out.

Apparently the coolant DOES flow from the Tbody port seen here:



Into the IM here:



and that is why it flows outta HERE:



The coolant path in effect makes a "U" shape and that is why it kept on dumping out of that port. What I did to solve the problem was to disconnect the Tbody coolant pipe and just for the time being put a cap on the Tbody coolant side.

So far so good, but to bypass the entire system (IAC/Tbody) would necessitate T'ing into the main line somehow. Going from a small 5/16ths hose into a 5/8ths hose I still haven't figured out how to do....

The car DOES overheat if you leave it sitting at idle and the enviro temp slider all the way to the COOL setting. I was rinsing off the car when it suddenly went into a high idle....and I watched as the stock water temp gauge climbed rather quickly to "H"

I jumped into the car slide the temp all the way to hot and blasted the fan and about as fast as the car overheated, the idle settled down and the not very accurate stock gauge settled back into place.

The only way the car will not overheat at idle right now and can engage the fan is if you idle the car with the temp slider all the way to HOT. Otherwise, you might have to revert to drilling the thermostat as Hondata details.

I won't pretend to be an expert, but the tradeoffs for the headache in hindsight.... it might have been easier just to cut off the damn cutout and run the coolant through the "stock" position.

No tees, no headaches, no strange overheating.....

Pics to come.....thanks to all who listened and took the time to read my essays.