I’m new to this and to Acura so please bear with me. I don’t want to damage my beautiful baby! Her goes my TL just started overheating last night while sitting in a drive through. I was stuck in the drive through for over 30 minutes. I started to smell antifreeze but didn’t think it was my car until the compressor just kicked off. I was still a little hesitant that it was mine since the thermostat never went past the halfway mark. I made it home (2 blocks away) and pulled in the garage and it sounded like there was a pressure cooker under my hood. The reservoir tank was hissing and doing a jig. It was spitting out a mist of antifreeze. It never really leaked but there was a few drops on the garage floor. I let it cool overnight checked the coolant and added a little.
The next morning on the way to work I got stuck on the interstate so I turned off the A/C. The thermostat was moving between the ¼ to ½ marks. As long as I was doing over 15/20 it would stay down. But if I stopped for more than a couple of minutes it would begin to rise. It didn’t do the hissy jig like it had the night before but was obviously hot. I took it home (Approx. 10 miles on interstate & 10 city) and it did fine even with the A/C.
I was reading a few of the threads and they suggested changing the radiator cap. So I did… The old one was missing the piece in the center to press down on the spring. It was nowhere to be found! I put the new one in and it seems to be doing ok.
So, I just picked my baby up from the Firestone down the street from my office. (I get a huge discount since I work at UT… but I’m NEVER GOING THERE AGAIN!) It was scheduled for an Oil Change, basic inspection, and tire rotation anyway. When I dropped it off I told them what was going on and that I bought a new cap and refilled the reservoir tank since this time it was completely empty. They called me and told me that my new cap was now broken and they wanted to do a $70 system check on it. And considering they did NOT rotate my tires and charged me. Upon checking the fluids I noticed they didn’t top them all off like they should have and I paid for.
I’m now wondering if THEY broke my new cap and if there is anyone out there that can help me figure out why my TL is doing this.

 

Last time my car over heated, it was because my water pump went bed. Resulting in me putting in a new engine because i drove it on the highway and it was too late engine was toast. I wouldnt do it for too long it will only get worse and the damages more expensive =[

 

Thank you- I'm taking it to a reputable shop tomorrow and have them do a pressure check and check the fans. Praying it's something simple. It's only got 102,606 mile on her. The guy that owner her before me took VERY good care of her. He had EVERY receipt from EVERYTHING done.

 

Welcome Stefeni74 !

Hopefully the overheating has not caused any serious damage. After the shop does the cooling system pressure check and test the cooling fans, tell us the verdict.

A question about the previous owner's receipts.....was the T-belt service performed ????

 

Me too... it doesn't seem to have caused any. Still praying everything is good. I'll find out this afternoon.
I'll have to look at it them again to be sure. He took it to the Acura dealership for all of the recommended services. It's at the shop right now... I did ask them to check the belts hoses even though they did yesterday. With it just recently turning 100,000 miles I'm going to make sure and have all of the necessary service done on it.
I did however notice that unless the guy somehow got the radiator cap back together it was not broken. I did buy another simply because I don't trust the guy. Below is the cap I bought both times.

 

Could be a bad ECT thermosensor for the cooling fan. Make sure that the water pump was replaced when checking the prior owner's service records. At the car's present age, the 105k T-belt servicing needs to be verified by the receipts.

If not already done, then now is a good time to also replace the radiator hoses, thermostat, accessory drive belts, along with adjusting the valves and a tune-up. Some owners decide to bail-out and sell a 10 year old car rather than spend the $1000 on expensive T-belt service.

 

Thank you... I'll look into that. The owner of the car passed away and his daughter lives next door to me. She already had a new vehicle and knew I was looking for a reliable one. I was really blessed with this car. I truly enjoy it and plan to for awhile.

 

Hi everyone and stefeni74! My 2000 tl over heated only once in the 11 years i owned it and it was because after my shop rebuilt my transmission they forgot to plug in my coolant temperature sensor. After pluging the coolant temperature sensors wires back in every thing was back to normal. But before i found out what the problem was i kept the heater on to force the fans to run so a good temperary solution would be to keep your heater running at 89 degrees or less to force the fans to kick on and keep your engine cool. If you run your heater at 90 degrees the fans dont kick on right away or as much.

Also replacing your thermostat every 60,000ish miles is always a good idea in my opinion, i lost my radiator due to never changing out the thermostat even though i changed the radiator fluid, water pump and t-belt early. I ended up changing radiator, upper and lower hoses and thermostat all at once because i never changed the thermostat in the past and it got stuck and forced fluid to make a crack in the top part of the radiator (top part of radiator is plastic btw).

My thermostat issue was a completely different problem from the over heating due to coolant temperature sensor being unplugged, i just thought i should mention the thermostat since were talking about the cooling system and over heating. Hope this helps if you havent already fixed the issue. Good Luck!

 

Thank you, Cuddy Bang!! That actually makes since.... The shop checked all of the hoses & fans and said everything is working properly. But when it's 88 or hotter outside and it sits idling in a drive through or stuck in traffic the temp just rises. I attached a link showing how far up it goes... I usually turn everything off including the car before it gets to that point and if I start driving it goes right back down. I'm taking it to have the plugs changed and get an oil change in a week or two and will ask them to check the coolant temperature sensor and change out the thermostat.

 

The temp is high on the pic..

I think you have air pocket in your radiator and didn't bleed it properly..

Some mechanic don't have the patience to air out they system properly

Easy method - take out the radiator cap, and just idle your car (takes about 10-15 mins) till the fan comes on and during this time continue to top off the coolant if needed. Once the fan comes on and fluid is full, close cap.. You done.. test drive n see any differences in temp.

 

I take the cap off of the radiator itself and then I put fluid in the radiator or the overflow tank till it comes up to the top on the radiator?

 

take the cap off the radiator and start the car, let it idle (running) no need to step on the gas, just let it run like this till the fans kicks on (it take sometime 10 mins +).

While it running, just fill the radiator if needed, you will see the coolant fluctuate in the radiator while car is running.

When done (fan kicks on with coolant to the top [top off] of radiator, close cap), then you can fill the bottle if needed.