I just recently replaced my radiator on my 1997 Stock Honda Civic. I bought an Aluminum racing radiator, and I sometimes get a leak of water.

The car starts overheating, and I wait for it to cool down only to find out there is little to no water in the radiator. What is this problem?

My last radiator kind of blew up on me, and I replaced a hose that was torn. But I can't find the leak anywhere.

 

How do you know it's leaking then? Did you bleed the system of air? Are you blowing smoke out of the tailpipe?

 

I didn't bleed it!!!!! Uh Oh...and no there is no smoke out of the tailpipe. The reason I believe it leaks is because the water disappears and the car starts to overheat.

Thanks for the heads up on the bleeding I'm about to search for a tutorial

 

And you're not using straight water are you?

 

Yes I am, Should I go buy Coolant? I blew through 50 dollars of pure coolant these last couple of days

 

Sounds like a blown head gasket. If the water is not leaking externally it is leaking internally. How is the coolant overflow tank? Is it empty too?

 

I an actually see the water drip from the bottom at times, but I bleed it and now I see no water dripping.

As for Blown head Gasket, it feels fine, and theres no water in the head, or oil, or oil in the radiator

 

Yep, my friend replaced an engine because he didn't check his head gasket on time. Is there black slimy stuff in your overflow tank?

 

You should really use a 50/50 mix of coolant and water. Even the cheap Autozone stuff is better than straight water.

 

No oil or any type of black stuff in the overflow, or radiator

Sometimes little black trash lookin stuff floats to the top of the radiator but thats it, unless thats oil?

 

Black trash looking stuff? You shouldn't be getting anything floating with a new (or old) radiator. You also might want to tighten down all those hose clamps.

 

You may have a bad headgasket leaking compression into the cooling system and forcing the coolant out. If you rule out any other cooling system leaks then try a block tester. You can buy one at Napa or some other autoparts store. I even heard someone say they got one on ebay. It tests for exhaust gasses in the radiator.

 

Check the water pump, there is a weep hole in the water pump and the packing sometimes goes bad and water will leak out of it. I has not happened on my civic but it has on my silverado a couple of times. Also check the clamps plus the heater core hoses.

 

Two ways to tell if your hg is blown is to compression test, or take out your plugs and shine a light down each cylinder... If you're burning coolant, your pistons will look really clean because the water burns off all the carbon buildup... x2 on the water pump... Look at the bottom of your timing belt cover and check for leaks or wetness...

 

I like the clean piston idea. That will help confirm if coolant is leaking into the combustion chamber.

You can still have a headgasket leaking just enough compression into the cooling system to blow out coolant and it would not be so detectable with a compression test (talking from experience). In this case you will likely see bubbles in the radiator, but the block tester will confirm it.

A severe failed headgasket will sometimes force coolant to fill the overflow tank to the very top.