just found this site today! What a great resource.
I have a 1994 Accord. Sunday my wife was driving it and it started making noise. She said it started making a lot of noise under the hood, like something caught in the belts or something. She turned around to come home and it suddenly died. When she got out she saw that it had dumped the anti-freeze. There was a small trail of anti-freeze for about 100 feet leading up to where it just dumped a bunch of it and died.

I have not started taking it apart but think it may be the water pump wiped out. Given this info. - any one with other ideas or thoughts?

 

Anyone know if the water pump going out or locking up could kill the engine? If so, what sort of damage might have resulted? Thanks

 

From the sounds of it it could be the rad cap failed causing a hose to blow. Not sure why the car quit though. Low coolant or a blown hose won't usually kill the engine. Can you tell where the coolant was leaking from? Water pump wouldn't usually kill the engine ether. Unless it seized solid, the engine overheated & blew a hose. Then at the same time the seized water pump shredded the timing belt causing the engine to quit.

But honestly, I've never seen a coolant issue make a car stop other than a blown head gasket causing hydro-lock or an engine that has overheated and seized. You should check and see if there are any stored codes on the ECU.

There is a procedure that you can do yourself to see if there are any diagnostic codes stored on the cars computer.

In my 96 the blue (service) connector is under the dash. IIRC the 1994 connector might be located in a different spot. It's behind/above the passenger side plastic kick panel on older Accords.

These are images from my 96, yours may not be exactly the same but the procedure is.

Under the glove box, it is in a plastic connecting cover/bracket


pull it down from under the dash


and remove it from the cover/bracket.


This is the connection that you have to jump with a wire/paper clip. After you short the two connections turn your ignition to the on position (engine not running) and count the flashes.

If there are no codes stored, the CEL will not flash.

The pattern of flashes indicates a one- or two-digit numeric code. The first digit of the code is represented by long flashes. The second digit of the code is represented by short flashes. A zero is represented by a brief pause. For example, four long flashes followed by five short flashes is code 45. One long flash followed by a pause is code 10 and nine quick flashes would be a code 9.

If there is more than one DTC stored, the CEL will display them in sequence, then it will continue to repeat all the codes after they have been displayed one time. Record and double-check all codes displayed.

Here are the codes;

Self Diagnosis System Codes
0 = Faulty ECM
1 = Oxygen Sensor
2 = Oxygen sensor
3 = MAP Sensor
4 = CKP Sensor
6 = ECT Sensor
7 = TP Sensor
8 = TDC Position Sensor
9 = CYP Sensor
10 = IAT Sensor
12 = EGR Lift Sensor
13 = BARO Sensor
14 = IACV
15 = Ign. Output Signal
16 = Fuel Inj.
17 = VS Sensor
20 = ELD
21 = VTEC Solenoid valve
22 = VTEC Pressure Switch
30 = A/T FI Signal A
31 = A/T FI Signal B
41 = O2 Sensor Heater
43 = Fuel Supply System
61, 63, 65 = O2 Sensor
65 = Catalytic Converter
70 = A/T Transaxle
71 - 76 = Cyl. Missfire
80 = EGR System
86 = ECT Sensor
92 = EVAP System

These are the basic 1 & 2 digit (Service Connector) codes to point you in the right direction.

 

Thank you very much for the response. I will check the codes.

The car did not overheat. It had only traveled about 1/4 mile from the driveway. It was not even warmed up yet. I checked the hoses - they appear to be fine. The water seems to have come from the area of the belts - that's why I think something happened with the water pump.

Thank you sir!

 

on a 94 the connector is kind of under the glove box. just look up and you should see 2 of them. i believe the one more to the passenger side is for the ABS system and the one on towards the drivers side is for the check engine.

 

Yeah for the 94 it is the two pin one cstone. the three is not for self diagnosis. and for OP go to the faq section and find OBD-2 code list and in there they have the OBD-1 code list. Count the morse code flashes and look it up in there.

 

Thanks for all of the helpful ideas. The problem was the water pump! The bearings apparently went out - as it was totally locked up! It cause the belt to break - that's why it died. Put in a new water pump and belts and it runs like new again!

 

if the car was leaking anti-freeze then died it could have been the water pump going bad then seized......and if the water pump seized it runs off the timing belt so that explains why your car died.....