Ok, I searched (hopefully enough), and I could not find anything related to this in this forum.

My new problem with my teg is when it is just sitting there at idle, like in a drive thru, it eventually will start running hotter & hotter until it overheats.

Now I havent let it get to the point of overheating because that would be plain stupid. But this has happened more than once. The strange thing is, that if I rev the engine, the temp drops back to normal in about 5 seconds or so. I know the fan works as I hear it running on those hot days when I shut the car off. When I get out & walk away is when I can hear it running. So I would hope its doing the same when the car is on.

Now the radiator was replaced @ 135k miles. I personally didnt have it done cuz I didnt own the car. I bought it in December of 2003 w/ 139k miles. However I was lucky to get all 13 years of reciepts for the car when I bought it so I am pretty sure the radiator is good. Right now now it has just under 150k on it. I havent searched though thru all of them to find out if the water pump & thermostat have been swapped though. All the reciepts together could take up a 3" binder. Everything from wiper replacements & oil changes to clutch replacements & other major services. I even got the original window sticker and the original contract the old lady signed back in 1990.

Enough of that, So when I checked the coolant overflow today, it has a some at the bottom, but I dont think the hose in there is long enough to dip into it. I popped the radiator cap & I didnt see coolant along the top, i just see a little bit of coolant around the fin openings inside. Gee, same as the last time.

The last time it did this crap, I checked the coolant overflow, which was empty. Then I checked the radiator & it had none along the top when I took the cap off. So I topped off the radiator with coolant (50/50 mix I believe) & put some in the overflow for good measure. Enough to where the hose in there was submergred. I believe it was half full or something like that. Now 2 months later, problem is back.

So by this, I am thinking it is from an air bubble in the system possibly from the coolant slowly burning off & it using up what is in the overflow. Then when the overflow is to the point where the tip of the hose isnt in the coolant anymore, its sucking air into the cooling system. Posibility?

Now I am wondering where could the coolant in the motor is going? The oil definitely has no coolant in it, no leaks in the system that I know of (never seen coolant under the car), and no smoke out the tail pipe at all.

I know that if go ahead & add more coolant, the problem will go away for another month or 2 until it gets back down to where it is now. But, like I said before, I am wondering where the coolant is disappearing to.

Any one here have this issue & solve it for good? Or have a possible solution to the problem?

I know to keep an eye on it & make sure I dont overheat it. But my g/f drives it occasionally and I dont want the possibility her not noticing that it is overheating & **** up the motor.

I know the motor is old & these problems probably all come back around to that fact. But a rebuild is no where in the near future. Any help would be great.

Thanks in Advance.

 

I'm interested as well I just had this problem pop up in my car(exact same car by the way '91 Integra Rs) my radiator is topped off though and the overflow is always half full. I though maybe water pump, but I had it replaced 25K miles ago but I'm not sure I could totally rule it out.

 

if you're missing coolant, you're leaking somewhere. you might be burning it slightly or theres a very small leak somewhere that doesn't leave a puddle. 2 months is a long time for a coolant system to take to be low on coolant if it has a leak, so it would be a very small leak. water pump might be going aswell, might want to try those and see what happens, look over the hole car and see if you can find any stains from coolant on anywhere that coolant passes through.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 3.504 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> look over the hole car and see if you can find any stains from coolant on anywhere that coolant passes through.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Will do. Its dark now so it will wait till tomorrow. I will let you know what happens.

 

I had a similar problem after doing a motor swap. what I did was top off the radiator with water/coolant and leave the cap off while the car is running to get all the bubbles out, try squeezing the top tube to help get the water flowing, and reving the motor to get all the bubles out. Your problem might not be as simple as mine but it can't hurt to atleast try this method. also put some water/coolant in the over flow tank so it wont inhale any air.

 

I had this EXACT problem a couple of weeks ago. Ended up i was leaking from one of the sensors...

 

ok, today it was overheating quiker than normal. But still, when I reved the motor, it would go back to normal. Had to rev it a little emore than before, but it still worked.

Got home, filled up the overslow a little past the Max line. Checked all around the head, thermostat, radiator hoses top & bottom, around intake manifold, everywhere on top of motor. Nada.. no coolant stains, corrosion, sign that coolant has leaked around any areas where it would be obvious.

I turn the car over & reved the motor. Checked the overflow, nothing changing. No air bubbles, no level getting lower, nothing. CHecked the tail pipe to see if I was burning any.. Nope.. nothing. So I turn it off.

A short time later, I popped the radiator cap & you could hear air coming out of the system since it was still a little on the warm side. So I top off the radiator & being the novice I am & not thinking, I started the car. MISTAKE! Ye Ol' Faithful out my Radiator!!!!!! AAGH! I had to laugh at my stupidity. top it off again, pop the lid on & start it up.

Let it idle for a little while, no temp change.. Stayed normal. Just as before.. Add coolant, prob goes away. This sucks. I hope it aint a head gasket issue.

 

bleed the system out to check for air in there. if the car develops air in the system, theres a hole. if it slowly gets low on fluid, the fluid is going somewhere, whether it be combustion chamber or a leak. just crack the bleeder near the thermostat housing and pour water in the radiator until only water is pissing out of the bleeder in a steady stream (sometimes its not just steady, but you can tell there isn't air in it.) then close the bleeder and fill the radiator the rest of the way. see how long that lasts. also do this on a hill with the front of the car being the highest, air in water goes up, so that'll help get bubbles out. goodluck

 

While your car is on, check the lower radiator hose. If it's cold while your upper hose is hot, thermostat aint opening up. I had the same problem and thats what I did. Another way, turn on your fan inside the car. If ya blowin cold air, same thing.

 

well I know the heater is working becuase I used it tonight. I will try the bleeding tomorrow. I checked on it today & the coolant in the over flow was about 1/4" below the max line. I filled the over flow yesterday to about 1/4" over the max line. I only drove it once since filling it up. So some got sucked into the system in that 1 trip. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Late.

 

it could quite possibly be your thermostat man. It is probably 1/2 way open. At idle the waterpump isnt spinning too fast, thus not pupmping the coollant, when you rev, the waterpump pumps faster and forces more coolant through, cooling your car.

 

Highly doubt it's gunna be a head gasket at your current standpoint. If you see oil mixed in with your coolant, then you have problems. the coolant may be releasing from the coolant reservoir. You dont want to overfill the reservoir because the cooling system needs that space to circulate. Might want to check for signs of blow back from the reservoir.....

 

fahad0 when you reply to a post always check the date it was posted so you don't bump an old thread. This was posted back in 2004.

We appreciate the help, but odds are the person does not have this issue anymore after that many years haha