Sorry for my stupidity however, I am in need of your help. Once a month I have to add some coolant to the radiator to keep my 99 TL (187,00 mls.) from overheating. I have noticed in the past that the car will only overheat while I am sitting parked with the car running, but when I start driving that gauge will drop back down. I was curious what you all thought. I also seem to have a leaky headgasket which was recently replaced along with the timing belt and water pump, fuel pump, and fuel pump relay. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

if your having to add coolant that often youre obviously leaking it.

if its only hot when your sitting still it sounds like you have...

A. a circulation problem, check the thermostat to make sure its not stuck in the "closed" position.

B. your fan/fans are not blowing. check the fuses and or fan motors.

both of these problems can cause overheating in your situation.

 

Seems to have a leaky headgasket-? Was it diagnosed with that? Maybe it's still leaking and getting burned off-

 

should never have to add coolant to the TL
possible reason for temp raise at idle:
radiator plugged, water pump cant process enough flow at idle speed to maintain temp and you get a noticable rise in guage? how much temp does it show- more than half or goes to 3/4 or to redline temp and then back down when you move
How long when stopped till it goes up

Does the driver side fan come on with temp? NO? bad temp sensor- easy DIY
does the passenger side radiator fan come on with ac ON?

see if the shop drained the block and flushed the rad while the other work was done.
Was that the first time for the wp-tbelt job?
Was it overheated then-blew a head gasket and still has problem= warped head

give us details
and do a pressure test of the system to find the leak, new parts are known to fail on occassion or other needed work was not done

 

i think you scared him off with your huge brain 01TL4tl

 

what can I say- big ego big brain-how do I fit it all in a size small helmet?

Maybe the OP is stuck on the road with a blown whoknows-
or has stopped at zone for the loaner tool needed
First post was lunchtime
Hope we can help him before its really expensive-
water temp over half on the guage or any change in temp once warm, needs immediate attention,,, if it happens to anyone reading this some years from now

 

If you have a garage or good weather put some a large piece of cardboard under your car and let it sit overnight. You can more accurately pinpoint where the leak is coming from. After doing that hopefully you've found the culprit. If there is no leaking then your head may be warped. Lastly, and most unlikely, is your coolant loss is due to a breach in one or more of your cylinder walls and your coolant is escaping into the crankcase. That would suck as you might as well get a new motor. I bet it's a leak from the radiator or hose.

 

the water pump leak may not show yet on cardboard- running pressure is when its going to put out coolant- cardboard will find a general drip drip from hose

an inspection mirror- everyone buy one of these for 5 bucks- look under the water pump from above- is there a fresh or crusty leak trail from a small hole cast ino the wp housing

pressure test of system will make the pump seal emit if thats the prob
could just be loose hose clamp or likely bad hose as they are all 10 years old or so now and ready to replace
coolant Hose with soft spot anywhere or overall softness are ripe for replacement

 

for the OP with new wp etc, Im guessing clogged radiator,
Lets guess the OP has first wp at 187 on a 99- first time coolant changed was then, coolant is good for 5 years then goes acidic

happened on a car of mine, only runs way too hot on steep hills, then fine everywhere else- clogged rad- replaced it and perfect temps return

 

01tl4tl I have a simular problem I hope you can help my 1996 tl is overheating i replaced t-stat, ratiator and cap, water pump, coolant and radiator fan sensor. But the car still overheats i dont know what to do nxt. I thinking towards my head gasket??? Oh the radiator fan only comes on if the AC is on, but mot on its own.

 

Are you loosing coolant? If not then it could be something else like a crank or camshaft position sensor failure. Is your CEL on? If you are loosing coolant did you check your hoses? Cardboard test would work in that case.

 

fan temp sensor, so fan works when hot

thermostat as possible second thing wrong

 

Check for water in the oil if warped or cracked head. Of course steam out of the tailpipe (after warmup) would indicate a leak, too. There's always a little steam or moisture initially after cranking due to condensation in the mufflers, etc. Once that burns off, though, the exhaust shouldn't have any steam.

I would also say check for a crack in the coolant reservoir, but ours don't operate under pressure, right? If you can inspect it while it's overheating, you can usually hear/see/find a leak if a hose or clamp. What about adding stop leak - mostly aluminum powder that will seal small radiator or wp leaks.

 

pretty sure your year tl has the head gasket issues

 

the driver side fan must work!- should come on occassionaly when sitting at idle.
usual cause of not working is the fan temp sensor, located at thermostat or lower right corner of radiator

radiator flow is the next thing- watch with cap off and engine running warm- start cold with cap off- once coolant is flowing add some rpm and speed of coolant should increase

if the temp guage ever pegged redline hot- its going to blow a head gasket or 2, not always today but in 6 months...

 

His is a '96 model- details may vary considerably- ?

 

if it has 2 fans, it will also have the normal parts like fan sensor switch etc
Honda changed very little over 3 decades,,

96 should post in gen1 for accurate info