rjsjayhawk

Hi everybody-

A couple of questions. I have a 98 3.2TL, great car. Recently, the A/C hadn't been getting quite as cold as it used to. I chalked it up to the suffocating temperatures here in the Midwest recently. After a few days, though, I noticed that even with the A/C set to 60, it was blowing nothing but hot air into the passenger compartment. I was due for some scheduled maintenance so thought I would have the dealer check it out.

They said that the refrigerant levels were low and needed to be recharged. I paid $150 to have 1lb refrigerant added and no leaks were detected with the dye they used. I drove off from the dealership to head 30mi to my in-laws house. The A/C didn't work the whole way there, which ticked me off. When I pulled into the driveway, I heard a spraying sound coming from under the hood, and when I popped the hood, the coolant in the reserve tank was boiling and spraying out from under the plastic cap. I checked the temperature gauge, and sure enough, it was red-lining. Guess I just didn't pay attention to it on the way down. It was late, and only had some cheap Wal-mart coolant on hand. Added about a half-gallon after the engine had cooled down and drove it back home with the A/C off, no problems.

Took it back to the dealership and they said they found debris between the radiator and condensor. I didn't really see anything when I took a quick look with a flashlight. Is this a reasonable explanation that could cause this problem? Also, some people swear that only genuine Honda coolant should be added to the radiator and that coolants should never be mixed except in an emergency. Do you think that this is true? Isn't ethylene glycol the same across the board, or are there additional additives in the Honda stuff that I really need? If I should get the thing flushed, how much could I expect to pay?

Thanks everybody. This board is a great resource- lots of good discussion here.

cambo

from what i remember, all coolants are not the same. Honda motors, which i believe has more aluminum than other engines, require a different coolant than most other makes otherwise the aluminum will corrode within the motor.

Don't know how much of this is true.

I have put regular prestone coolant in my motor before in an emergency, but i did a drain and fill with honda coolant (twice) within the next day or two just to be on the safe side.

I believe Acura recommends a drain and fill for our cars instead of a flush.

Go90go

$150 for AC recharge?! I personally wouldn't charge you more than $50 parts + labour! Now about your coolant issue, flush it out and put in a 50/50 mix of coolant/water. Where do you live? If it's a colder climate (which isn't really an issue considering it's August), then go for a 60/40 mix of coolant:water. Water is the best when it comes to cooling, however it, too, needs some help once in awhile. Consider picking up a bottle of WaterWetter or SuperCoolant and adding it to the reserve tank after a freeway run. When your motor cools, it'll suck it up from there.

~Cheers~

Go90go

BTW, about the corrosion idea, there are additional additives that will help prevent radiator corrosion.

~Cheers~

TexasHonda

Something's wrong w/ their diagnosis for certain. How can they add 1 lb of refrigerant and declear there are "no leaks". The two conditions simply don't make sense. What it probably means is 1) there never was a leak in the first place and loss of cooling was due to electrical problem (clutch coil not engaging, automatic temp control problem, or perhaps a failing AC compressor. $150 for a recharge is highway robbery, or 2) leak is in evaporator which is difficult to establish and very unlikely w/ a dye in a shop in a few hrs. Dyes usually require operation for several days, followed by an inspection to look for leaks. A leaking evaporator should leave dye indications at the condensate drain tube after some operation time.

You need to find out why your engine overheated. I would suspect a cooling system leak gradually reduced coolant reserve till it was inadequate to cool the engine. Look for a small leak in radiator, hose, or (hope not) cylinder head gasket leak (bright white smoke -steam- from exhaust).

I've used several popular makes of coolant but never Honda's coolant w/o problems. I'm sure Honda's coolant if very good, but probably not any better than Walmarts, a fine coolant also. I change them all regularly every 2 yrs.

good luck

Go90go

Yes, pray that you don't have a BHG... the bane of the 7M, hehe.

~Cheers~