Hey guys, I need some help figuring this out. Once in awhile my car's temperature guage rises over 3/4 of the way, fluctuating aroung there and then resting at its normal operating area. When I pop the hood I see that my resevoir is spilling out koolant. At first I thought it was the themostat so I replaced it, but the same thing happened the second time just today. My radiator is perfectly fine, just got it replaced. What can be the problem? I have an 94 Integra LS coupe with 110,000 miles on it. Please help Thanks

 

Please help TTT

 

Anyone have any insight? I'm interested...

 

If you just replaced the thermostat, it could either be a cracked sleeve, blown or leaky headgasket. My old motor did this when it was semi blown.

First off, if you dont have a compression tester or access to a leakdown test, check under the oil cap. Look for milky sludge looking crap. Also, after you go on a long drive, pull into your garage, and look in your coolant bottle for bubbles coming out of the tube. You can also look at the oil to see if you see any browish color or look in your coolant to see if you see any flaky stuff floating around.

BTW, make sure you installed the thermostat right. Pin facing up. Did you properly bleed the coolant?

 

those are all costly possibilities...check for coolant leaks, you might also have an air pocket in your cooling system...i dont know about newer model gsr's, but mine has a bleeder for the coolant...crack it loose till coolant has a steady flow out of it...then shut it and fill the rest of the way, squeezing the upper and lower hoses to make sure you get all air out of them...start the car and make sure the fan turns on...if it doesnt, check fuses for the fan, cuz that may also be the problem.

 

sorry, i didnt read the part about coolant spilling out the reservoir...definitely could be the head gasket...do a leakdown test... leave the radiator cap off when you do it, to see if air comes out the radiator, if it does, probably the head gasket.

 

is it possible that there's air in there blocking the flow?

 

Thanks for the info. I'm actually going to the Acura dealership tomorrow to check it out. I'll mention the possiblities that you guys posted so they can work from there. let you guys know wassup. Thanks again

 

If some of you guys are still reading this post, I took my car to the acura dealership. I haven't had a diagnostic for my car yet but the guy there said it could either be a warped head gasket or the fan timing belt is off. I hope it's not the head gasket because that's a $700+ job. Fortunately, I didn't see any milky residue so that's a good sign. I hope it's the fan timing belt though;it's cheaper. I'll repost when I get a call from the dealership. Thanks to whomever's listening(reading), typing this **** kinda cools me down.

 

fan timing belt?

you're getting taken. you probably just have air in the sytem. Start the car with the rad cap off. Turn heater to full hot and turn on. Let it warm up... then shut it off and top off coolant in radiator.

Repeat till radiator is full (usually 2x).

 

Does the air in the radiator explain why my koolant is spilling out to my reservoir?

 

air bubbling in your reservoir could mean that you have cylinder pressure in your cooling system as a result of head gasket problems or cracked cylinder.

 

i'm 100% sure that your problem has nothing to do with a belt.. unless maybe your timing belt skipped a couple tooth, bent a valve and your motor fucked up. For a mecahnic to say that a "fan timing belt" (whatever that is) is the problem, take it somewhere else... right there, you know you're getting screwed.

 

lol fan timing belt? Your mechanic should be sweeping floors. This has absolutly nothing to do with any belts. If it did, you would have many more obvious problems than overheating. Go get you car back and rebleed the radiator. I am betting thats the cause since you have no signs of coolant mixing with oil.

 

it might not be the technicians fault...i am a technician at a honda dealership, and the only people who relay info. to the customers is the service advisors...and a lot of times they are not mechanically inclined and may misunderstand what the technicians are telling them, and they just tell the customer anything, cuz 99 times out of 100, the customer knows less about cars than they do. trust, me ive seen this first hand dozens of times...go back and ask to speak with the technician who worked on your car to be sure you just werent given the wrong information.

 

so what was the problem? fixed?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Autobot_Killer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so what was the problem? fixed?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Hell no! Sorry I haven't replied for awhile. This **** is really pissing me off. First of all, the advisor is telling me that I have a blown head gasket. From a electrical short out from my fan to the radiator overheating, eventually messin up my head gasket(coolant in my spark plugs and 3/4 cylinders.) The fan shorting out is what he is assuming that fucked up the whole thing. So I told them to fix my head gasket. This was about a week ago that I told them to do it. I couldn't wait any longer so I decided to call them today. The advisor wasn't there so I talked to another one. He's saying that I now need a new engine block then told me to call tomorrow to talk to my own advisor. What should I do? I'm down in riverside and I have a family owned gas station up north. I want to get my car back up north(driving it) because I really don't trust these guys. How can I fix my car to get it working for the drive, spending the least amount of money possible? Hence, if my block is cracked, without fixing my block? This all started when I took my car to the dealership in bakersfield to fix my radiator. It then started overheating. Lawsuit? Feedback please! Really pissed off!