Well my 2.5 is going into the shop next week. Yesterday I was driving home from work and as soon as I pull into my driveway I hear this loud metal vibrating noise from the engine bay. I looked at the gauges and my temp gauge was all the way to the red. So I turn the car off, go pop the hood, and as I look down all my radiator fluid is on the ground. Its not splattered all over engine bay, just all around the bottom area of the radiator as far as I could tell. I'm hoping nothing major is wrong, and here is the only thing I can think of so far. A week ago one of my radiator fans went out on me, but it didn't run hot unless I left the a/c on and the car in park for like 15 or 20 minutes. So, I just scheduled to have a new one in next week. Well, yesterday before I got home I stopped to get some food, left the car running, and the a/c on, and the temp got pretty hot; maybe a quarter inch below the red line. I start driving and the temp of course got gradually cooler until it was normal again. And thats when I pulled into the driveway and all that happed.
Here's the problem; I'm not very mechanically inclined when it comes to car engines, and I just want to find out what caused the radiator to blow. What are the most common possibilities? Thermostat, bad hoses, etc? Or could the one dead radiator fan really have that much of an effect on the radiator? Also, what are some things I could do to test and find out the cause of the problem? My main reason for trying to get all this info is because I dont want to take it to the Acura dealership and say "my radiators blown, fix it" because they might try to do unnecessary replacements here and there and try to charge me too much. I'd rather just know the problem and tell them exactly what I want done, ya know? Also, would the Acura dealership be the best idea or do you think a lube/fix-it shop would be better? Anyways, this is a long post and I'm in a bad mood having no TL right now. If there's any other info I can give that would be helpful just let me know, will be MORE than happy to tell all. Any thanks for any info possible.
~cw96

 

I dont know man, my friend had that happen to her car...and there was nothing wrong. For some reason, it got hot and the antifreeze just puked out all over. I'm not really sure what you could do for this, but It probably wouldnt be a bad idea to have the radiator system flushed (mainly cleaned) and see if that helps. I'd have them check out everything else, but hopefully for you its all fine. Oh yeah, the fan is really important, at least for my 3.2, it would get really hot without that thing.

Oh yeah, and if you just have the system flushed, asking them to check everything out isnt out of the ordinary, so they shouldn't charge you for anything you dont need, and if something really is in bad shape, they should be able to catch it. win win if you ask me.

 

ive had this happen to me 2x where the engine gets super hot.. and on the red an i managed to turn it off in time before ruining the engine. i did have my radiator replaced once, due to the fact that the 3rd time the radiator had a hole in the top plastic cover, but other than that it only cost 150.00 for an aftermarket radiator and have had no problems since.

 

if you have radiator fluid splatter, obviously there is something wrong with the hoses. as for your engine being hot..it could either be that one broken fan or you prob need a new thermostat. have you ever did a radiator flush?

 

Related topic: After driving for at least 10 minutes and turning off the car, my fan runs after the car is off for at least five minutes. I figured the car is just cooling itself but I want to make sure this is a common TL thing. Does this happen to you guys??

 

Yeah, when its warm out my car will do that too. I think my car was in an accident, and I have a non OEM fan. its really loud, but it will run sometimes up to 15 minutes. Honda's are notorious for that.

 

mine does that all the time but if you notice, our needles are a little below halfway btw hot and cool...more on the cooler side. which is a good thing.

 

ok, first, radiators are like any other part on a car...they are gonna break eventually. My buddy cracked his in his CL...it was fine one minute, the next it shot the antifreeze everywhere. I dissasembled his front end and found the crack. I found a new radiator for him for $110, and he installed it himself.

Secondly, as it has been discussed endlessly, it is normal for your fan to stay on after the car is off. A lot of Hondas do it, and ours is no exception.

 

My mom's Intrepid overheated the same way. It was the temperature sensor was stuck in one position. Caused the car to eat extra gas and spew coolant all over. Replaced it and now it runs cooler than ever and gets good fuel economy as well. I should think about replacing mine in my 2.5 just for that reason.

 

Thanks for input everyone. Everything is OK. I filled it up with water, turned it over, and ran just fine. No leaks, no noises, just still a broken radiator fan. I will be keeping it parked until tuesday when I get a new one. And oh yeah, mine has been notorious for the fan to run 5 or 10 minutes after I turn the car off as well, so must be either the fan or just hondas. Thanks again~
~cw96

 

Just for next time, if you are driving and re in an area where you cant pull over, to get the engine to cool off fast, you want to BLAST your heater on high. This will cause he fan to use the heat in the engine bay to heat the car. This is a quick and easy way to make sure you dont cause any more damage by your engine over heating.

 

Thanks 'joes'! Will definately keep that in mind in the future, good tip. Also, does anybody know the best place to look for a replacement cooling fan online? Acura wants to charge me $224, is this a good deal? Thanks for any info.
~cw96