I have a 88 prelude si that has been acting up lately. Whenever I'm sitting in traffic or at a stoplight the engine temp goes up almost to the red. As soon as I start driving it goes back down to the normal temp. Im pretty sure the fan is working fine because sometimes when I turn the car off it runs for a little while.

I checked the fluid levels and they are full. But I did notice that the cap on the overflow tank was missing. Could this cause a loss of pressure in the system and be the over heating problem?

If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Thanks.

 

Check the thermostat and you may want to flush the radiator ensuring that there are no air pockets throughout the system.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ben51925 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... the cap on the overflow tank was missing...</TD></TR></TABLE>That won't cause loss of pressure, but it'll let dirt into there.

Where's the hose going to the overflow tank?? The hose HAS to go down into the liquid in the reservoir, because as the engine cools down it has to suck liquid back in. Without the cap, that hose probably isn't long enough to go down to the bottom of the reservoir. Then it'll suck air into the radiator instead of coolant.