my 1996 accord is overheating everytime i drive it...it only does it when i'm idling like at a long light or at really low rpms...my radiator was cracked but i replaced that...i changed the thermostat...and my antifreeze looks like chocolate milk...o yea and the hose leading from the top of the radiator to the top of the motor is hot and the bottom radiator hose is still pretty cool (if that helps)...any ideas?

 

your head gasket is blown, the chocolate milk is oil mixed with radiator fluid/water

 

it seems weird also that the lower hose is cool and the upper is not after you changed the thermostat. My car has about a 40 degree lower temp on the lower hose, so I was going to change the thermostat tomorrow. Now I am confused. +1 on the BHG though. No chocolate milk for me thanks.

 

The hose temp observation is about correct, hot water enters the radiator on top and the freshly cooled water is circulated out the bottom.

What does your engine oil look like? If it too looks like a Coffee Coolata from Dunkin Donuts, yes; you've got antifreeze co-mingling with engine oil.
Again the head gasket (and/or a cracked head) will cause this.

 

lol i have no idea what a coffee coolata looks like but my oil looks good...welll for a car that has 209,000 miles on it...i haven't changed it in like 6,000 sumpin miles...so i mean it looks good for that...when i do change it, it looks normal for about 4k miles...i was always told that when u have a blown head gasket that it would shoot smoke out in the exhaust...like more then normal. I was talking to sombody to day who said it could b the water pump isn't pushing the coolant thru...could that b a possibility

 

The water pump could be one of the problems but the car shouldn't smoke at all

 

I have a 93 accord and just started having that problem. The coolant is fine and the oil is good. Was going to buy a themostat should I not waste my time and money? The car was sitting for 2 years and I replaced almost all the front end gaskets and the timing belt was new so I didnt change that. Thanks in advance.

 

id take it to a rad shop and have em check it , they have a thing to get a sample of the coolant and it will tell em if the gasket is blown, also is your radiator fan working??? my 93 had a blown gasket, it overhetaed going down the road, the tip off was that the plasitic reorvoir was full and rinning over, the man explained that compression ws getting into the coolant causing excessive pressure and forcing the coolant out of the radiator, he sugested a block sealer which i was leary of but figured i had nothing to loose, he put it in the car and i drove it 60000 miles without a problem, he said he never had one that didnt work, they didnt charge anything to check it, he further said he never did one that didnt work. i know there will be a lot of resistance to this but it worked for me and the temp never went over 1/4 of the way up even running at idle for hrs witha/c on in 90 plus weather. i never had any smoke or steam at exaust. i say have somebody qualified to check it out, and make sure that fan is working
Frank Allen

 

replaced the thermostat and all is well.

 

good thing its fixed. Changed mine today and have the same story.

 

Two down, but the original complaint still stands.

 

i would flush the whole system. Not to mention changing the water pump since that what seems to be unknown and wasnt changed before. If you don't smell antifreeze esp with the heat on its prob not a bhg. But its a honda who knows. ***when it runs hot, if you turn the heat on, does the temp drop at all?

 

no whenever i turn the heat or ac on the temp skyrockets...its friggin weird...so a rad shop should check to see if the head gasket is blown for free

 

Did you replace the thermostat yourself? Maybe it got put in backwards? I would flush the sytem and put another new thermostat in. Maybe you got a bad one. Then check what the coolant looks like. Thats what i would do before tearing everything off to replace the pump. If you do replace the pump might as swell replace the timing belt to and have it done all at once.

 

+1 with the might as well since its all together. Makes not much sense to me. Maybe ive been around those rwd N and T words too long.

 

lol thats what i was going to do ne way...since i'll have the timing belt off ne way that would b complete nonsense if i didn't replace it...but i know the thermostat put in right i put the new one back in exactly how the old one came out...so my options are bhg or water pump

 

My car is heating up again. Going to try and switch the sensor on the thermostat housing tomarrow cause the engine fan is not running at all when the car is runninng. Sometimes when I shut it off it will turn on for a min or two.

 

I have 3 of these cars and its always the same story. When you replaced the thermostat you probably didn't let all of the air escape from the system (happened to me), or second case is that the water pump is blocked and/or broken (200k does special things). Those two cases will cause your motor not to get cooled properly and your head gasket will crack, spilling oil into the coolant, or if it cracks the other way it makes a coffee coolata in the engine and makes the exhaust shoot white smoke..its either or on that. As for the car over heating while idling or in low rpm.. air bubbles, bleed the system of air but you are too late for the head anyway. When you take the head off you will take the timing belt and water pump out anyway so replace those together.

You will need to replace the head before you overheat it enough to warp it.

If you live in NJ, let me know... I'm doing a head job next month.