[Summary at the bottom since this became rather wordy]

I bought a 2004 Acura CL Type S with Navigation (six speed MT) a few months ago, and really love the car. It has over 170,000 miles on it, but I had only one minor problem* until about a month ago.

I live near and work in Fresno, CA, so the summer is hot - upper 90s-mid 100s pretty consistently. As soon as the weather got warm, I started to have problems with the car overheating. The first time I noticed the temperature gauge rising, I checked the coolant immediately and found it low/empty, so I filled it. I had never noticed a leak before, but there was a pool under the car a few hours later, and another one the next afternoon.

I took the car in to a local shop to have them find and fix the problem (and change the timing belt/water pump - no idea when it was last done, and I think it was about due at nearly 200k miles). According to the mechanics, the radiator had a leak and the gasket heads were cracked.

$3200 later, everything was supposed to be replaced/fixed and in excellent condition. The car was great for the next 5 days or so, until it got hot again today (about 105 degrees in the early afternoon). I noticed the temperature gauge rising to about midway up, then around 2/3 while going up a steep hill**. I kept it below midway the rest of the time by taking it easy, then checked the coolant a while after I got home. There was a little left in the overflow tank, but otherwise it's pretty empty.

I haven't seen a puddle anywhere I've stopped since getting the car back, so I'm not sure where I'm losing the coolant. There's a white spatter over everything straight back from the radiator cap, but I'm not sure if that happened earlier, when the gasket heads were cracked, or if it just happened.

I'm taking the car back in tomorrow (after adding coolant so I don't crack the gasket heads during the 15 minute drive to the shop), but I wanted to see if the community here had any thoughts, suggestions, or similar experiences.



*It was the main fuel relay going out when it was too hot, which I replaced myself with advice from older threads on AcuraZine, so thanks to all of you for that. Turns over beautifully ever since.

**The thermometer was also replaced, so I assume the gauge is accurate.




Summary

• 2004 CL Type S with Navigation (6-speed MT) w/ ~170k miles
• Began heating up significantly when the ambient temp. went up
• Found no coolant, added some, ended up with large puddles of coolant
• Took it to a shop, they said the radiator had a leak - replaced it, checked all hoses, said everything was good
• Started overheating again as soon as it got hot, found very little coolant remaining

 

You have a 2003, that's the last year they made the CL.

The white stuff is dried up coolant, clean it off and see if it reapprears. Any smoke coming from your exhaust? Notice any coolant in your oil or oil in the coolant? Are your radiator and condensor fans coming on?

 

They also may have just not filled it right & there was air in the system. Which required you getting the air out & needing to add more coolant.

 

At least you didn't have to resort to "full-on heater emergency mode" to help your car cool down! I've done that a few times... LOL!

I would say that maybe a cap wasn't on all the way, but I think you would've seen steam coming from under the hood...

 

I assume you mean head gaskets.....

When was the last time the rad cap was replaced?

Do you have white/gray smoke from the exhaust? Do an oil change and see if there is coolant in it.

 

This is definitely a possibility!

These questions will help narrow down the source of the problem.


Either way the best bet is taking it back to the shop, thats alot of money to drop on a vehicle and still have the same issue. Hopefully the heads are not warped/cracked.

Good luck and let us know how it works out!