Hi,

I've been following several topics on here, all which seem to apply to my Accord. I know what I'm going to ask has been covered many times over but I'd like to condense it for me here if that's OK.

So, my 98 Accord, with 185,000 miles, has been overheating AND it has the climate control light/functioning issue. (possibly related?) First, the climate control issue popped up a couple of years ago. My daughter has been driving it so of course she really doesn't mention this problem unless I ask. I saw the fix of soldering the wire on the circuit board that I'm going to try here very soon. And like so many others, sometimes it works, mostly it doesn't

But since then, its been losing coolant in small amounts (don't know from where) until last week when it started spewing coolant all over the engine compartment. Her boyfriend found a crack in the top of the radiator, sealed it and thought it good. Thankfully I checked on it afterward and it wasn't the problem. More spewed coolant.

So yesterday I went to several auto parts stores to rent a coolant tester only to find out no one has one that will fit my radiator. I said screw it and bought and installed a new radiator, cap, thermostat and hoses. This seems to have fixed the problem.

Seems.

It still smells hot but that could just be spilled coolant. The thing that concerns me is this: when I took it out for a test run, the temp gauge got up to operating temp REALLY FAST. I'd say within 3 blocks ( and 2 minutes tops) it shot up to what I feel is the normal temp. It never went over. Is this normal? I don't remember any of my vehicles doing that. And earlier when I was letting it idle to get it hot to test the fans, it never went above this either. Can a temp gauge get stuck there? My daughter said it pegged out in the red when it spit the coolant.

After driving, I felt both hoses and they were equally hot. There was a very small amount of coolant that looked like it came out of the new cap. When I went to bleed the air out of the system, as it idled and I went to crack the air fitting, it was puking coolant out of the open cap. (I was never certain whether to bleed it with the cap on or off. Seems to me it should be closed) Again, is this normal?

But here is the other issue: I have no idea it the fans are coming on. With the climate control not working, I can't turn on the A/C. I did test the motors themselves and they worked but I still have to test the switches.

So with this all being said I have no idea what to do, if anything, next. My head is swimming from reading the countless posts on these subjects

Oh yea, after I replaced the radiator, the check engine light went off. But now it has come back on again and throws a P0420, or what ever it is. The cat it seems

Any suggestions?

 

When the coolant is hot or the thermostat is open coolant will spew out of an open rad cap. It is designed to be a closed system with the WP pumping the coolant throughout the engine. If you have the cap off, it just acts like a huge leak and rather than pressurizing/flowing the coolant it will just escape out of the open cap.

Bleed the system with the cap on, and the engine off. It does not have to be hot or running. Simply removing air from the intake/thermostat side as that is higher than the radiator.

These engines do warm up pretty quickly and will hold a constant temp, rarely fluctuating. If the thermo is stuck open the temp gauge will never move up, unless stuck in traffic. If the thermo is stuck closed, or fans are inoperable the temp gauge will move up.

Only problem is if the engine was overheated, temp gauge pointing to H, then the head may have warped/blown head gasket. Keep an eye on the coolant level, and if coolant is missing look for leaks while the engine is running. Don't forget to check the heater core.

 

I had many of these similar problems with my 1998 Accord. I haven't fixed my CC issues on my dash yet, but I assume that is a wiring issue in the dash, I'm just too lazy to worry about that as I drive with the windows down in the summer and it heats just fine in the winter.

As far as the coolant system I know the frustration as I had a lot of problems with mine. You can usually tell when air is in the system if the temp gauge goes up and down around the "normal" Temp area on the heat gauge. If there is, what I did is just keep the engine off open the cap and gently squeeze both main radiator hoses until no more air bubbles come from the radiator cap. My accord will go from dead cold to "Normal" heat temp in about 2-5mins. So that seems normal to me. The other issue that I had with my Accord is my heater coil hose (If you have a F23A1 VTEC it's located just under the distributer and intake) it had a pin hole in it that eventually split.

Another thing I would just recommend is change the hose clamps from the squeeze clamps to the circular screw clamps, don't tighten them to crazy, but I find they last longer and provide better seals if installed properly.

 

Thanks for the replies. I thought trying to bleed it while running didn't seem right but thats what I thought others said. I cracked it open again the other night and while I couldn't hear any hissing, it did take a few seconds before coolant came out so there was obviousness more air. She said its running fine, coolant level hasn't changed. Still have no idea if fans come on so I guess I need to fix the console. She said she just hits it with her hand and it will work sometimes. She's moving out next week so I'll take a stab at the dash before she goes. Once she's gone it will be hard to keep track on what she does or doesn't do for it.

 

I've been working a couple of your issues this past week. Ironically getting a 99 ready for my daughter.

I did the jumper wire on the climate control and it did fix the problem. Keep in mind your replacing the run on a circuit board. I saw pictures of people using either 12 or 14 gauge wire. Way to big for the job. I used a piece out of some extra cat 5 I had. Phone wire would work well too. No need for multi-strand wire.

I was concerned with the condition of the radiator. the plastic was turning brown. My thoughts on small leaks especially if things are all original.
Old seals where radiator plastic meets metal. Old radiator cap. Leaking seal on water pump shaft. Old hoses.

When bleeding the system I open the bleeder valve while filling and again after starting the engine. I also use a Lisle bleeding funnel.

As I was doing my 99 this morning (it was around 90 degrees out) the temperature gauge came up to normal in about 2 minutes and stayed there. But the fans would not come on until I held the engine at 2000 rpms for 30 sec to a minute.

The p0420 is a downstream error for cat efficiency. Short term fix is using a pair of defoulers.