I have an 89 Accord SEi that is having some problems cooling itself. This problem started when I decided to drain the coolant from the bottom of the radiator and replace that coolant with a fresh bottle of coolant. My car had no prior history of not being able to cool itself eventhough the cooling fan is not working while the car is running due to an electrical problem I have replaced the thermostat thinking that that was the problem. It has not fixed it. I have run my car with the radiator cap open...it has not fixed it. The car will generally maintain a semi cool temperature(half way) while driving slower speeds with the heat on. While driving at highway speeds it moves to about 3/4 of the way up. It has not yet overheated and i have been driving it like this since last week since it is my only car. Another note on my problem...the coolant temperature will be normal (about 1/4 up) until about 10 minutes of driving and then it moves higher. It can sometimes be controlled and brought immediately down by putting on the heat but most of the time i dont believe it does anything. Please help me....LOST

 

just an update for anyone who is reading this....i just bought a radiator flush kit and am going to try that tonight....

 

ok flushed the radiator last night and it got a lot of crap out but it still is getting too hot. it seems to be taking a lot longer to get too hot(1/2 to 3/4 of the way up) but it is still doing it. it seems to get cooler at idle almost if not back to normal operating temperature but at highway speeds it shoots up after about 10 minutes of driving. Somone please help me telling me what this problem is.

 

nobody at all has any tips for me?

 

Tip #1... fix the cooling fan, these systems are pretty easy to diagnose and you should get plenty of help here if you run into a problem..

When you intially drained and filled the coolant, did you open the "bleeder screw" to eliminate any air pockets??? this step is kinda important.. I believe the bleeder screw is located just underneath the distributor towards the firewall on your car?.. location may be wrong, but anywho.. it is a 10mm hex head nut with a nipple ontop, loosen the bleeder to relieve any air pressure that may be in the system...

 

actually i have noticed that the cooling fan turns on and off when it wants to...i think it is the sensor in the bottomof the radiator that is bad...dont really know though. i did not loosen the bleeder screw nor did i know about it...but i did hook up the garden hose on a flush kit...would i still need to have done the bleeder screw to make it work? i ordered a new radiator todayt hat comes with that new sensor in it...i think that will solve all my problems...what do you think considering i have already replaced the thermostat.

 

ordered the new radiator from ebay...Koyo...oem....24.99 plus 40 shipping...that is about half the price of buying one at one of the local parts stores. Shipping is overnight so i will have it tomorrow. The new radiator comes with the sensor i need to control the fan. so this will be perfect and should solve all my problems

 

I think it will also solve your problems, but if it doesn't then keep in touch and we'll get that thing figured out..GL

 

CAR IS FIXED....replaced radiator and fan switch and now it is perfect...think they were both the problem

thanks..
Brian