Yesterday I took off the radiator cap, only to find that it was in two pieces (it was a autozone cap).

So off to the dealer I went, got a cap, went home, and after the car cooled off, I changed the cap and added some coolant.

Today I left work, went home for a hour or so, then drove the gas station and got a tank of gas. A few seconds after I started the car I heard a splash sound. So I popped the hood and found coolant on the fan shroud. No coolant in the overflow, even though I put some in it yesterday.

Car has never overheated that I know of. I'm the only one that drives it.
Just changed the oil the other day and there was no coolant in it, and I checked the dipstick and there is no coolant on it. Its not smoking either.

So what say ye?

 

you have a leak.

 

as long as it isn't the headgasket I'm fine.

Wife had a grand am that you couldn't keep a head gasket on

 

only TRUE way to know is a chemical block test.

 

I want good news, something simple like a thermo or a new radiator.

 

Those are things we cant diagnose over the internet... You have to do it yourself.

 

I know, I'm hoping someone had some similar circumstances and how they fixed their problem

 

It could be your water pump.

I would drive around all day and the car would never overheat, but I would always loose some coolant. Then eventually I saw it on my driveway and it was right under the water pump, but it didn't always leak.

I recently changed my timing belt and water pump tho. The bearings were bad on the old one.

 

the classic missing honda coolant, sounds odd but my civic, 2 of my friends civic's and my GF's civic has this issue and for me its been going on for years! but no overheat or anything. my advise? ignore it lol

 

timing belt and water pump supposedly replaced by the honda dealer at 100k or so.

I've got 145k now

 

Picture of where coolant is on fan shroud? Stock radiator? Maybe where the plastic meets the core is starting to leak?

 

Picture of coolant on the fan shroud before I started the car.



I took the cap off with the intent of "bleeding" the system, just to see if there were any air bubbles.

There weren't any, and as the temp increase so did the coolant level in the neck, till if finally flowed over the top. Didn't do it with any speed, just slowly increased as the temp did.



Also checked the hoses. The upper hose got warm and when I squeezed it, the coolant in the neck would rise.
The lower hose wasn't warm, but if I squeezed it, the coolant in the neck would rise.

The radiator fan never did come on

I used thumbnails as I didn't resize the originals.

 

go to autozone and rent there pressure tester kit with adapter

 

i had coolent right there on top of the fan shroud and it was just the over flow line had no clamp and it sprayed/leaked right there when the line got old.also check for cracks on the neck and the fitting where the over flow line comes out.

 

thanks, I went and got the tester a little while ago, gonna wait till it cools off. Then inspect and then test.

 

There could be a hair line crack on the radiator and when you car is hot it expands a little and spits fluid on your fan shroud. I don't think it would be your overflow bottle if there is no fluid in it.

 

Got the tester hooked up, and it leaked out as fast as I could pump.

Figured that meant it was a good sized leak somewhere near the cap.

Finally found it, its circled in red, its blatantly obvious when you squeeze the upper hose.



Guess its time for a new radiator

Honda replacement? or Aftermarket?

 

depends on what your doing or not doing with it. if its just a straight up DD get a honda one.

but if you like the look of alum and sometimes bigger size go aftermarket or have a build planned.

 

its my dd, has been for 10 years.
No mods, no real intentions on doing much. Maybe a header and some koni's/gc when I blow a strut

 

radiator has been replaced.

The fan wasn't working before and it isn't now.

So I need to test the fan obviously, just wondering if there are any easy ways or am I going to have to cut wires and stuff.

If the fan works when hooked up straight, that means its the fan switch, correct?