I just bought a 95 Honda accord yesterday. It was running and driving fine, but the radiator was split. So, I went ahead and bought it because it was a good deal and put a new radiator in.

Filled up the coolant, drove it a few miles. It ran great, but then started to overheat.

I pulled over and turned the car off BEFORE it red lined on the temp gauge. I thought that perhaps an air pocket or something had been in the cooling system and that maybe I hadn't put in enough coolant so I pulled the cap off. Thinking that for sure the fluid was low and it wouldn't spew out, but it did....spewed all over.

Put the cap back and tried to start it and it just turns over. It will fire every now and then, but never actually starts.

Blown head gasket??

 

Did you open the radiator cap while the engine was hot?
If so, the system was just relieving pressure.

However if you remove the radiator cap on a cool engine, then start the engine and coolant spews towards the sky, then you could suspect a bad head gasket.

Any white exhaust smoke when the engine is running?
Also you can let the engine cool down, remove the spark plugs and shine a strong light in the cylinders to look for coolant.

 

Oh yeah, it was still hot. My arm can attest to that!
Anyways, I went back to the car this afternoon (about 6 hours later) and it started right up. I was able to make it back home without it overheating. It ran fine, but I'm worried that it will overheat again. There are no leaking fluids so i don't suspect a bad water pump...possibly something as simple as the thermostat?

Also, no smoke or anything like that.


I suspected that if I was lucky the reason for not starting could have something to do with the water/coolant being sprayed all over the engine, so when I got the car home I shut it off, then restarted it, started up fine. Then I doused the engine area with water and sure enough it would start.

I find this strange, because I will regularly spray off and even pressure wash the engine compartments on my other vehicles....what do ya'll think???


Hopefully all is well internally!


Modified by shad9876 at 6:01 PM 8/29/2008

 

'Nother update:

I pulled the thermostat (which for future reference is to be found by following the LOWER rad hose). I put it in a pan with water and a cooking thermometer. At 230 degrees F, it still hadn't opened. Bought a new one, tested it in the pan, it opened right about 185F.

I also checked for the culprit for the "not starting when wet" problem and found that the distributor cap was VERY loose! I don't even see how it ran at all! I took it off, cleaned and dried it.

Now my car runs great and stays cool!

Finally, something went right!!

 

trail and error is when you learn best, might not be the cheapest but it's all credited to you.