dnnguyen

Ok, I did a lot of searching and read a lot of posts over the past couple of hours but I'm in a bad situation financially so I wanted to ask for advice before doing anything.

First here are my symptoms:
- Cold heat at idle and when stopped at stoplights.
- After I first start driving, heat will stay cold. Once I build up some speed, heat will start to kick in.
- Once I stop, engine will start over heat.
- Once I get going again, needle drops back down.
- When I opened the hood, I could smell coolant pretty distinctly.
- I noticed a few drips of coolant in my garage the other day.
- Also, the fan has been coming on recently after I shut off the car.
- Valve cover is barely warm when I have the problems.

I checked the records for the vehicle and the thermostat has been replaced twice already, I have a 3.2 with 144K miles.

I have not bled the system yet, I'm really short on cash so rather than replace the thermostat and/or bleed the system, I'm tempted go straight to a mechanic and ask them to do a hydrocarbon test to see if it's my head gasket.

Am I making the wrong decision?

Right now I'm thinking my options are (in no particular order):

1. Replace thermostat
2. Bleed system/burp radiator
3. Replace radiator and/or hoses
4. Replace temp sensor
5. Conduct a pressure test to see if radiator is leaking somewhere.

Am I missing any?

What is the most financially efficient way to tackle this problem?

Sorry for the long post.

Go90go

Change your radiator hoses and bleed the system. Just changing the upper hose solved my problem.

~Cheers~

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

agree with go90... if you change out any components on your cooling system, you may want to change the hoses.

DUECEON9ER

Replace all hoses so there won't be any future problems and also check to make sure fans are cycling when at operating temperature. Oh, check your radiator cap too. Haven't heard of too many temp sensors going out either. Check radiator these radiators tend to leak in the wierdest places check near the bottom corners on both sides around where the aluminum meets the plastic.

dnnguyen

Thanks guys, the radiator has already been replaced by one of the first two owners, not sure how long ago.

I will replace the radiator and hoses, anything else I should replace at the same time?

Also, should I just got for an OEM/OE replacement that is plastic/aluminum or try to find one that is all aluminum?

Go90go

OE. It's harder to maintain proper temp if you aren't pushing the car constantly.

~Cheers~

dnnguyen

OK, so I haven't replaced the radiator yet but this is what happened today.

I was driving home from work on the freeway. The engine was running at normal temp and I got cold so I turned on the heat (80 degrees) I let it run for 1-2 minutes and it never got hot so I turned it off. About 5-10 seconds after turning it off, the engine temp started rising, it almost reached the white line before the red line.

I began to slow down on the shoulder but just as I put my blinker on, the temp needle dropped back to normal operating temp almost in an instant.

I adjusted the climate control to about 70 degrees (the heat/fan is still off) and then about 30 seconds later, warm air started to blow out.

I know that my radiator is leaking but what about my heat not working properly? The thermostat has been replaced twice already, is it the temp sensor?

Go90go

If you radiator is leaking, then that means it's letting air into the system. THAT's what's causing your heat problems. It's what we've all been saying since the beginning!

~Cheers~

dnnguyen

LOL, my bad. Can you tell I'm not much of a gearhead?

Go90go

No worries, just get the rad replaced, along with the hoses and you'll be fine.

~Cheers~

Brwn28875

And be sure to bleed the air out of the cooling system after your new radiator is put in or you'll be without heat again. Just went through that with my car when I installed the new radiator. Good luck.

desired_speeds

fix your leaks and bleed the system correctly before proceeding with anything else. Once the system has no leaks and is bled correctly, if there are any symptoms, it will easily point you in the direction of what is wrong. Also, when fixing leaks, do not half ass it. When i say don't half ass, it means replacing hoses if they're leaking, and not just tightening a clamp down more or fixing holes with silicone. If your radiator is leaking, replace it, along with brand new OEM hoses that attach to the radiator. This is the correct method to bleed your system: http://www.acura-legend.com/vbulletin/883766-post7.html


Post up any problems after you do the above (if there are anymore) and I'll point you in the direction of whats wrong.

dnnguyen

Thanks a lot guys. And thanks for posting how to bleed the system. I will replace the radiator and hoses hopefully this weekend and report back. Unfortunately, it's warm in MN now so I won't know for certain if my heat is not working properly.

dnnguyen

Update:

Replaced my radiator on Saturday. No major problems, although I'm missing a bolt on top for the fan. I had a hell of a time connecting the lower hose to the radiator and only managed to get a partial fit. It's by no means loose, but there's only about a finger's width of hose around the plastic opening on the radiator.

After installing it, I bled the system but the fans never came on. I had it running for 20+ minutes, set the climate control to 90 degrees and the heat wasn't even warm.

Then I switched it from "Full Auto" to "Defrost" and then the fans kicked in and the heat became hot.

Sunday was really humid so I ran the AC most of the day while I was out and about, no overheating/engine temp problems at all and the AC was cold.

I think my problem is fixed but I want to re-bleed the system because I'm not confident I did it correctly.

Thanks again for all the help guys.

Oh and one last note, I have an extra bolt from the bottom plastic cover, can't figure out where it goes. There's also a gold/brass thing that I can't remember where it was either. I will take a picture of it later. Like I said, I'm not a gear head by any means and the whole process probably took me 3-4 hours, but I consider it a pretty good job if I only have two parts that didn't go back in!

desired_speeds

you're supposed to just turn the temperature knob to the highest setting with the climate control off. I've waited over half an hour before for my fans to come on because I'm running a sightly cooler thermostat. The fans came on when you turned on the a/c because the a/c activates the fans to cool the condenser. and about the extra hardware, post a pic.