car is 90 crx si with 230,000 but has zc dohc with around 130,000 miles, i think last time i got new radiator was around 2003, which would be the one i have currently, so that would make it almost 10 yrs old,

car has never had an overheating or big coolant leak problem the 12 yrs i've had it,

what happened is i got some food at sonic lastnight and was sitting for a while with the car idling, while i ate and also talked on my phone for a little, i don't have a/c that works so i just had the blower fan blowing air, cause it feels better than nothing.

then i saw what looked like steam above the drivers headlight area, but at first i thought it was sprinklers that were on around the bushes in front of my car, but then i glanced at the temperature gauge and saw it was all the way up to the top to the "H" mark !!!!, and i freaked and instantly turned the car off.

keep in mind my car has never ever gone up to the "H" on the top of the temp gauge and overheated before so thats the first time seeing it do that,

so i got out and i saw a lot of green coolant all over running down in front of the car on the pavement, so i assumed it was most likely my radiator leaking from a crack somewhere, cause i have noticed within last couple months it had some green coolant around the top edge and stuff going across, so i was thinking it might of had some type of leak, and sometime it used to get a little low and had to top it off every couple months, but not that low and never overheated, so lastnight was the first time it did that.

i let it cool off before doing anything for at least 30 minutes or more by walking to a store and killing time, and then i got back and took the cap off and it lost enough coolant where i could'nt see any looking into the top of it,

luckily i had a thing of coolant with me, so i poured some in and, then started the car and watched til it sucked some of the coolant down and then poured some more until it was topped off.

then i got in the car and the gauge was back at the bottom to "C", and i carefully drove it home since i was'nt that far from my place.


i just wanted to post on here before assuming and buying a new radiator, even know i have a feeling its just needing a new radiator,


what do you think i should do in order to know for sure its the radiator leaking or not ???


can it be just leaks in the upper or lower radiator hoses ? or bad radiator cap thats not sealing too ? or does it sound more like radiator ???

i just want to pinpoint exactly what caused that to happen so i know what to do next and get my car back on the road again,

what sucks is if i have to buy a radiator, i would be worried just to be driving my car to get to the shop that sells the radiator, since i would'nt want it to overheat or anything and damage anything, but maybe it won't do that again how it did lastnight cause i was just sitting idling, maybe if i am moving it might just stay in the cool zone on the temp gauge and can get to the shop and back safely?,


any opinions on what it sounds like happened would be appreciated, thanks for any help

 

It really could be a leak anywhere, although if you saw coolant on the top of the radiator its probably the cap or from spillage when you're filling it.

 

Tldr

 

i called a mechanic i know & asked his opinion what he thought the problem was & he said go run the car for a little and make sure the radiator fan comes on once or twice, cause it might not be working and cooling the radiator, causing it to overheat & said the pressure probably made the coolant leak and come out of the radiator cap when that happened the other night.

i let the car idle for 20 minutes & my temp gauge stayed in the normal cool range like it usually does,
i watched and listened to see if my radiator fan came on or not, but it never did during that 20 minutes, but there were no leaks at all under the car or around the radiator so that was good. i told him how the fan did'nt come on and how the temp gauge never went up into the hot zone, then he told me to rev it to 1500 rpm and hold it there for 3-5 minutes and watch to see if the temp gauge still stayed in the normal cool range, and i did but right around 5 minutes the temp gauge started climbing up towards the hot zone at the top, so i turned the car off right away.

the mechanic ended up coming over to look at it & what he found was that the relay was bad for the radiator fan plus it needed a new fuse, so i just need to buy a new relay and fuse and put those on and the fan should work after that.

he just charged me 20 bucks to look at it and diagnose it, so i'm glad i did'nt just buy a new radiator or take to shop cause i would of been spending lot of money.