So two weeks ago I purchased a 2005 acura RL. Then, everything seemed fine and everything worked but since not so much.

We first noticed this problem when we would stop at stop signs or lights and the heat would go from hot to cold instantly. When the car would move it'd get hot again.

We tested this by sitting in the car parked and raising the rpms above 1500 and heat would start again. Then it started to blow hot on the passenger side and cold on the driver side.

When I went to check the coolant for air bubbles I found that the radiator was filled with this white fluid including the reservoir.

I've never seen acuras coolant, but I'm pretty damn sure it's not that white milky color. Nor is it excessively oily to the touch.

This along with some quick Google searches makes me believe that I have a blown head gasket. But is this the case? I mean, how the hell did that white mixture get into the reservoir if that was the case? And if it is a blown head gasket, or worse case scenario a cracked head, how do I go about diagnosing this?

Plug in the OBD2 scanner? Or physical inspection?

 

Sounds like text book blown head gasket.. Compression test

 

X2 on the blown headgasket. What does your oil look like? In for the compression test results, this would be the first blow head gasket I personally head about on this car...

 

I'll probably do a compression test tomorrow, need to buy the tool. I just got off of work and checked the oil. Black as night.

I'm thinking it's not a compression issue became the car still has a TON of power. Usually I've seen cars with reduced performance when this issue occurs but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Buy thanks guys for the advice. I'll let you guys know because that fluid is gross as fuck.

I'll do a full oil chance soon too to verify that the oil is indeed black, not just in the spot the dip stick is.

Does the ecu throw a code for a blown head gasket? Or any related problem? I'm thinking the dealership I bought this from wiped the codes

 

If its not in the engine oil that could be a good thing. Anything coming out of exhaust pipes? Does it overheat? Pull the plugs too if one or more is cleaner than the other it could be " steam cleaned" by coolant in that cylinder.

Sorry not as techy as others here but is there some sort of a trans cooler for RL? Could that be whats leaking if engine oil level is ok or does that not pass through the block and an external cooler?

OP - headgasket itself will not throw a code; it may throw code as a symptom code but not as a specific code

 

as stated; text book head gasket...

there are no sensors connected to the gasket...so, NO CODES.
overheating and milky coolant are symptoms of a bad head gasket...

also, color of oil doesnt mean anything.
some types of oil are meant to change color as soon as you pour it in (exaggerating the pour, but you get my point)

 

Mayonnaise around the oil filler cap is the other dead giveaway.

It doesn't necessarily result in a loss of performance, depending where the HG has failed. Sometimes it's a 'slow-blow' which is pressurising oil into the coolant. Or simply oil leaking into the coolant.

You might have a lot of vapour on start-up, if the coolant is leaking down into the cylinder.

There's no way the ECU would be able to detect that.

If the oil is as gross as fuck, it suggests maintenance has been skimped. I find interim oil changes necessary, as mileage increases much past 40,000. Probably because I VTEC a lot of the time and blow-by increases.

 

Damn, thought the message sent but it didn't dammit lol.

But anyways, again, thank you all for the help and advice. Life's been busy and this is my update.

The oil is black like the night, no way in hell this oil was changed recently. I inspected the engine bay and found no leaks so that's good. The neglect of the oil makes me wonder if this was just neglected coolant and if it is, probably the wrong coolant to begin with. I just purchased coolant for this car and it's blue. The shit that's in the car is milky GREEN.

It might be the slow blow, but for now I gotta replace all fluids.

 

Green means precious owner probably used whatever crappy 'universal' stuff in there. Time to replace and flush the system. Hopefully no head gasket issues!

 

Could also be transmission fluid.
My radiator was cracked around the transmission cooler line inlet. Transmission fluid mixed with radiator coolant.
This would be you best case scenario.
Change the radiator and flush the heck out of your transmission.

best of luck!

 

+2 for blown radiator core/piping - ATF mixed with the coolant. Flush-and-go - we hope.