So I've had more than my share of coolant problems. Currently, I'm going through a gallon of coolant per month. I've watched it like a hawk and haven't seen a single drop under the car. So it's going somewhere else. Is the head gasket the only possibility?

Furthermore, since replacing my clutch, I've noticed a hiss coming from the TB/IM area. It sounds like letting air out of a tire, but non-stop until I turn it off. I assume it's a vacuum leak but I can't see anything disconnected. When I do turn the car off, it stops hissing within 5 seconds. Like the tire ran out of air.

I do have a slightly bouncing idle on cold starts, but only when it's cold out. I initially figured FITV, but with the other symptoms, I think it might be related.

Help, please.

 

You need to pressure test the system.

 

Hmm, hissing is a strange one. You should be getting a constant bouncing idle if you had a vacuum leak; maybe a tear in the boot between the intake and TB? If you are leaking that much coolant it's possible there's air getting into the system too which could be causing the FITV to freak out, or it just needs to be tightened. It seriously only takes 10 minutes to do; try it and see if it goes away. Your headgasket would have to be severely toasted to be losing that much; I know mines blown but I hardly lose any at all. How does your oil look?

 

at oil change, it's always jet black.

 

you could have a coolant leak near the tb/im area, that would explain both. If the coolant is leaking onto a place where it is evaporating then you would not see coolant. Find that leak first, start the car listen for the leak and move hoses around to find the leak.

 

like someone said above run a coolant pressure test see if it holds pressure...if not look closely where it is leaking out from

 

You might be able to try that liquid you add that glows under blacklight; it would at least tell if you the leak is external or not. Since you haven't seen any and you would likely smell it if it was all burning off, I'm guessing it's internal anyway, but just a thought.

 

do you have white smoke coming out of your tailpipe when u drive?

If it was your headgasket, or a cracked/leaking cylinder head, most likely the coolant would be getting into the combustion chamber and being burned and exhausted thru the tailpipe...which would be visible.

If you don't know, see if u can have a buddy drive behind you for a block or 2, and drive how u normally do. Although it does sound like u have some kind of low/slow leak.

 

Update: I don't have white smoke coming out while I drive. I do have a small leak in the bottom of the radiator, but not big enough to drop a gallon of coolant every 200 miles. After I've driven the car long enough to get to operating temperature, the engine bay stinks of burnt antifreeze.

Today: I was driving back from getting lunch when it started to bog and almost died (car was not yet up to operating temp as the trip was only ½ a mile). CEL came on. So I parked the car and checked my coolant level. Radiator was almost bone dry. I had to add 3/4 gallon to top it off. I turned the car back on and the bogging had stopped but the CEL was still there. I took the car to Autozone to get the code pulled and their reader said P0505 - Idle Control Malfunction. Since the car was running fine, I disconnected the battery to reset the ECU. The CEL has not come back on and the car has not bogged again. Not sure if this is even related, but maybe a guru can shed some light.

 

Well, given that the FITV and IACV are both controlled by coolant temps, if the system ran low enough that no coolant was running through them it could certainly have caused temporary problems. As soon as you restored coolant, the problem shouldn't exist anymore, so I wouldn't expect you to have more problems like that.

If you're burning coolant, it must be leaking/spraying somewhere in the engine bay where it can be getting burned off. If it was just burning up in the cylinders, you wouldn't be as likely to smell it and as mentioned it should be pretty visible in your exhaust. Check around your engine again and see if you can tell where it's burning; it should be leaving a white residue or spots. Definitely fix the leak in the radiator too; they should have something at a local auto shop to patch it up.

 

You need a new radiator first, your probably losing more coolant from there
than you think when your going down the road. This will also pressure up
the system and reveal if you have other leaks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gstrudler &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Definitely fix the leak in the radiator too; they should have something at a local auto shop to patch it up.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is my intention, but the local shop was the cause of the problem instead of being the solution. I had the radiator replaced 10 months ago due to the stocker leaking on top. When the replacement was put in, it was installed without any bushings on the bottom. This caused it to rub against the metal brackets enough to wear a tiny hole in it. Shop is currently closed "due to temporary illness" so getting them to correct their mistake isn't an immediate option. I'm thinking about brazing the rad to plug the leak, instead of paying another $400 for a new rad.

The car has been run warm/hot a few times. Can't help it when driving down the hwy at 80mph and suddenly your car drops every ounce of water/antifreeze in a matter of seconds. I spoke to the dealership and they recommend taking the head off and inspecting the gasket anyway. They also recommend sending the head to a machine shop to have it checked/milled. Opinions on the necessity of this?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kronn 98SH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Update: I don't have white smoke coming out while I drive. I do have a small leak in the bottom of the radiator, but not big enough to drop a gallon of coolant every 200 miles. After I've driven the car long enough to get to operating temperature, the engine bay stinks of burnt antifreeze.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Well, since the coolant system is a pressurized system, YES it can leak that much. Once the car gets to operating temp the system is under quite a bit of pressure. Hence the warning labels on the radiator cap and other places telling you not to open the system until the car cools down. Also the more coolant you lose the hotter the car gets so the more pressure the system is under so, the more coolant you lose. Fix your radiator, and your coolant leak should magically disappear. If that doesn't work try this: http://kalecoauto.com/index.ph...id=35

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kronn 98SH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I spoke to the dealership and they recommend taking the head off and inspecting the gasket anyway. They also recommend sending the head to a machine shop to have it checked/milled. Opinions on the necessity of this?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Of course this is the best idea to be 100% sure, but if you run compression and leakdown tests it will give you a pretty good idea. Don't know why they said to pull the head and "inspect" the hg; if you pull the head you replace the gasket And when you put in the new hg you need to get the head resurfaced, hence sending it to a machine shop, who can check it for straightness and mill if necessary if you've been running it pretty hot. I know most will tell you to use OEM Honda for the hg which will work fine; I need to replace mine too and am looking at the SCE ICS Titan as an option, fyi.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slamdlude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If that doesn't work try this: http://kalecoauto.com/index.ph...id=35</TD></TR></TABLE>

wtf? why would you want to trap heat in the radiator? the whole point of the radiator is that it's a heat exchanger from the coolant to the air; it's designed to get rid of heat, not contain it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gstrudler &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

wtf? why would you want to trap heat in the radiator? the whole point of the radiator is that it's a heat exchanger from the coolant to the air; it's designed to get rid of heat, not contain it </TD></TR></TABLE>
Did you not look at the rest of the site? Are you simple enough that you believe I actually think anything on that site is a "real" product. I hope you aren't serious! Reading comprehension owns you.


Modified by slamdlude at 10:21 AM 11/5/2008

 

My bad, I obviously hadn't looked around the site. I never take anything for granted what people will believe around here or people will produce to make a buck.

...But that would probably take care of that nasty coolant leak

 

As the radiator heats up , small leak will expand too, hot stuff expands, cold stuff contracts, I had a crack in my rad, could hardly even see it, but it leaked coolant all over, found it cause I had like a dried white stuff on the underside of my hood, like from salty water or something.

 

do u guys think if he's going to a shop to replace the radiator that he has access to a compression or leakdown tester at his dispossal?

You shouldn't pay $400 for a new radiator....I think even after market radiators aren't that expensive.

A new radiator is most likely in order for ur car...along with the rubber mounts that it rests on

Over heating a motor lots of times is not good for it....but once u get the radiator fixed u shouldn't have much of an issue i don't think.

If ur not blowing smoke out of ur tailpipe, and u have no more coolant puddles under ur car once the radiator is fixed....the previous overheating shouldn't be much of an issue

How how did the temp gauge read before u shut the car off??????

 

Have u tried spraying ether around ur gasket area to check for leaks( if rpm goes up)?

Or tried scanning ur car seeing if it's running lean, etc.

 

UPDATE: Coolant leak was found. The opening where the lower rad hose connects to the rad was all smashed up and not round. This apparently caused a small gap between the outside of the opening and the inside of the hose, thus resulting in green **** all over the parking spots.

Now then, since that problem was fixed and the weather has gotten colder, I've noticed that the car does not get up to operating temperature quickly, if at all. For example, after 20 minutes at 80mph, it's still 3-4 bars under normal. It's been pretty cold here for the last month or so and now all of the sudden I'm getting a CEL. Code is "P0116, Coolant Temp, CKT performance" according to AutoZone's reader. Car runs fine except idle dips a little low and sputters when sitting still. I'm pretty sure my 1yr old thermostat is toast.

My hiss is still there. It is constant while the engine is running, and lasts for about 5 seconds after turning off the car, every time without fail. From what I can tell, it appears to be coming from below the IM on the driver's side, around the oil and fuel filters.

New problem: When in neutral, if I let off the clutch, I get a rotating squeek from the engine bay. I can't really tell where since I haven't asked someone to press my clutch for me. This just started after replacing clutch. From what I've read, the culprit is probably the throwout bearing.

Lastly, I'm currently at 105k miles and thinking about getting a new FITV, IACV, & EGR. Thoughts?

 

anyone?

 

someone has to have some ideas.

 

You seem to be having some of the same problems as I do. the low coolant temp i would guess to be a stuck open thermostat (which is a little strange since it's only a year old) as you suggested. this can also cause the P0116, which is an ECT range/performance problem. i've been getting this one intermittently as well; you should be able to reset the ecu and it will go away for a bit. i'm not sure, but from what i was just looking at in the helm's, it's possible the ecu might reference the iat values and compare them to the ect, and then throw the code; someone with a definitive answer on this would be helpful. the other possibility of course is that the ect sensor or sending unit is going bad, but considering we both have this problem in conjunction with low temps, i don't think that's it.

for the hiss, i would check out the small vacuum box under the im that is used to control the butterfly valve inside the intake box down in the passenger fender. could be a break in the box or in one of the vacuum lines. could also check out the small vacuum diaphragm that controls the im butterflies.

as you suggested with the squeak, it does sound a bit like the throwout bearing. what kind of clutch did you put in? a higher gripping clutch may be putting too much force on the old bearing, but i'm not much of a tranny/clutch expert.

cleaning out the EGR ports and valve is certainly a good idea if it hasn't been done. if they're not giving you any problems, i don't know why you'd need to replace the fitv or iacv; they're not really a maintenance-replace item.

 

There's a couple of threads detailing my woes with the dumbasses from the radiator. I had my radiator, thermostat, and upper&lower rad hoses all replaced exactly 1 year ago. They pretty much botched every aspect of the job, so I really wouldn't be surprised if the thermostat was dead already.

Any suggestions on how to get under the IM to check without removing it?

I just replaced the clutch about 3k miles ago with an OEM replacement from AutoWeDontKnowShitZone. At that time, the flywheel was of course resurfaced but the throwout bearing was not replaced. Transmission functions normally minus the squeak.

I received a CEL a couple months ago about my EGR and I've been having bouncing idle issues. That's why I'm considering replacing them. Cost is cheap so I really don't have a problem replacing a $20 sensor even if it isn't bad.