Pocket Trey

First of congrats on a well organized forum.

Also thank you for the responses.

1. How do I bleed the radiatoir? Yes this is answered already but I have an aftermarket radiator that does not have the bleed plug. Any tricks of the trade????

2. There is a noise comming from the ABS reservoir in my 96 TL 3.2

It comes and goes. The brake system works flawlessly but the noise and vibration are very annoying. It does it approximately every 5-6 min driving or at idle.
Almost everytime that I start the vehicle it does it as well within the first min of operation.

Thanks

meazz1

Download the Service manual from here.

This is courtesy of a TL member here. The manual tells you how to bleed radiator and everything else.

Acura TL Service Manual

Pocket Trey

Thanks. I will look into it

Go90go

Welcome to the boards!

1) Burping the cooling system is pretty easy. Park your car (engine cold) with the nose up, or use jackstands to raise the front of the car. Take off the radiator cap, and start the car, with a couple gallons of distilled water handy. Regular water works, too but distilled is safer on the water pump. As the car is warming up to operating temp, you'll see a bunch of air pockets bubbling out of the fill hole. Keep adding water to the point where it's overflowing a bit, and massage the upper radiator hose as you're doing that. Do this until the fans come on twice, meaning that the car is in normal operating temperature, steam is coming from the neck, and there are no more bubbles. Honestly, though, the bleed plug isn't on the radiator, but on the upper water neck where the upper radiator hose goes into the engine. It's a 12mm bolt.

2) The ABS regulator self-check noise is normal, but if it's coming on every 5 minutes, that's a sign that it's dying and will be needing a replacement soon.

~Cheers~

Pocket Trey

Great post.

Thank you

Pardon my ignorance but Ive had the car less than a year and noticed the heating problem just this past few weeks after the radiator replacement.

So if the plug is not on the radiator, do all I need to do is to let the air come out of the bleed plug once I find it lol

Do I still need to jack up the car?

Thanks

As far as the ABS regulator, is that something I can purchase at the local parts store? or dealership

Thanks again

Go90go

Heating problems can be caused by air in the system. You should follow all the steps I posted even if you're using the bleeder valve, because it helps get all the air out. I personally did the radiator cap method first, then did the remainder using the valve. It's the quickest way out. On a side not, while I was doing it, I was blowing smoke rings out of my exhaust and according to one of my buddies, it was the coolest thing he'd seen in his life, haha.

~Cheers~

Pocket Trey

Thanks.

I just saw that my fans are not kicking in unless I start the AC.

How can I fix this? This is part of my problem I see.

Thank you

01tl4tl

One fan - usually driver side - is temp sensor controlled- check bottem edge of radiator for something with a wire coming from it
sensors die- thats life
the other fan is AC controlled and often a secondary temp fan

I am not a gen1 so guessing based on the cars a few years later
How is the coolant itself?- more than 5 years old is asking for trouble- PH goes acidic- aluminum environment- anyone here take science class??

01tl4tl

have you tried bleeding -flushing the brake fluid system?
check your manual for bleed order- gen2 and 3 are driver front then clockwise around the car LF RF RR LR
thats bizzarre in the repair world~~
New fluid helps many things- especially if condensation is inside
google- hygroscopic- for details

Pocket Trey

I am guessing the temp sensor is indeed bad.

I cant locate it but I think is the ECP sensor( same thing as the TEMP Sensor right?)

Anyway this is located on top of the block I believe.

If Iam wrong please advice.

Thanks

As far as the brake system Ive done nothing to it nor I want to mess with it as it does work fine. I just wanted to know so that I can prepare to purchase the right part.

01tl4tl

Before buying brake parts do the simple most basic thing- change the fluid
You said you have ABS noise- that would be a problem~
Look on the bottem rear passenger side of the radiator for a FAN sensor- may be different on your year but the service manual link provided to you before should answer all questions about location and part name

Pocket Trey

The noise is somewhat like when people have an alergy or something like that and inhale abrouptly whith like a snore type noise to it.

Thats the best I can describe the noise like.

Anyway the brakes do work fine with the exception of this noise. I do understand that is a problem and will be addressed but the main problem was the cooling.

For the cooling, it was just the ECP sensor located on the pass side on top of the block . Earlier in this thread it was discussed. I will post pics of the replacement.

Thanks all for your input.

Pocket Trey

Ok

After many tries and a lot of disapointment I discovered what the problem was.

The input tube on the firewall to the Heater core line was bent. Too bad I had to take the dasboard off to remove the tubes but after about 6 hours I was done.

Took out the tubes, rounded them up real nice and voila. Installed and burped the system.

All my heating and overhaeting problems are gone.

Now the heater works at idle and the car doesnt overheat.

Thank you all for your comments.

BTW placicing the car in an incline is not only a very good idea but I think a nessecity to correctly take all of the air out.

Suggestion:

If you have the problem with the heater not heating at idle and burping the system dos not work try doing this:

Remove the upper hose for the firewall(to the heater core) Start the car and let the water start coming out of the tube. Once you get a steady steam of water go ahead and install the hose and clamp it.

Rev up the car to 2K RPM and bleed the system while at high RPM.

This did the trick for me.

Thanks again

rahgir

Hi Trey, thanks so much for the info. I'll definitely try it out once the weather gets a lil warmer. I'll post my outcome. Once again, thanks!

Pocket Trey

Please do. I think you'll be succesful.

Good Luck

Go90go

Told ya so, . Haha!

~Cheers~

Pocket Trey

Yes u did and I thank you very much.

I did do it by the book and with the car in an incline and could not get it clear of the air bubble.

However it only makes a lot of sense the air bubble will rise and thats where the jackstands or a curb incline comes in handy.

I do have to say that it is a pain in the butt clearing this airbubble if you dont have people like you giving advice. I mean I am not a car mechanic no.... but I am an aviation mechanic and do not consider auto mechanics a lower kind of mechanics but if I can do aviation reading a book I THOUGHT I COULD ALSO DO AUTO reading a book.......lol

I guess Iwas wrong.

Tricks of the trade take much precedence than the book can say.

Thanks a lot for your advice. It was well put and it got me out of my misery.

Go90go

^ Haha, I'm not a mechanic, but I know my way around an engine bay. I wouldn't mess with jet engines, though, unless two were strapped to the back of my MR2 (Google it), haha. A book can only teach you so much, as our friend's in the military will attest to. I'd rather follow a Master Sergeant into a war zone than a butter-bar.

~Cheers~