High temp at idle after SeaFoam
 

Just Seafoamed the engine a few days ago in our '03 TL. I had gotten it up to temp, then ingested 1/2 can or so into the vac line per the DIY. Cooling fans were running when I shut down the car, only to realize that it was dieseling a little (couldnt hear it because of the fans). It eventually stopped by itself before I could get back into the cabin and stall the engine.

Fast forward to yesterday, sitting in traffic leaving a concert. It was only about 80 out but we were in the sun with the car idling. Attempted to use A/C, but at idle it was coming out warm. Turned off A/C, opened windows. Then noticed the temp gauge was about 3/4 the way up. Turning the A/C back on (to engage both cooling fans) did not help. Turned off A/C and went to heat only, cranked the heat to 90 and the temp came back down (pretty quickly too).

Im wondering if it has something to do with the dieselling when I SeaFoamed it (hope not!!) or if its just a coincidence. My biggest worry is bad head gasket.

Ive also had a sound that you can only really hear from inside the cabin, its like a grumbling.....could it be air in the coolant system? Seems to be coming from the firewall (started a thread in this forum about it)

After we got home I checked the overflow bottle and noticed its low (there is some in there but its not at halfway between cold and hot...with the engine hot it was below cold level)

Car has 78K miles on it....I plan to replace at least the coolant this weekend, maybe the t-stat too if I can pick one up today.

Your coolant is low and there is air in the system. You need to bleed the air out by removing rad cap and run the engine until the cooling fans cycle a few times while topping up the rad. Do it now before you get a hot spot in your engine and something nasty happens.

100% correct. Not a big deal if you catch it which it sounds like you have.

i recently had a similar problem but its nothing with the temp, i seafoamed my 02 and ever since i have had trouble with fuel. it almost acts like the fuel pump is going out, my gas guage is completely messed up and it is VERY hesitant while driving and even when i attempt to access every once in awhile....any thoughts???

Thanks guys, makes me feel a little better (after Googling a little more Im guessing a warped head/bad head gasket would result in overheating ALL of the time, even with heat on I wouldnt be able to get the engine temp back down)

Im going to go ahead and replace the coolant anyway, since the bleed procedure needs to be done after that too. While Im at it will probably get a new t-stat.....is an aftermarket (Stant, etc) OK, or do I *have* to use the genuine Honda/Acura part? I thought I read around here only the OEM part is recommended.

Thanks.

-Chris

The one thing I havent done yet since the Seafoam is to reset the ECU. have you done that?

Since part of the SeaFoam process is basically making the engine almost stall, there may be some messed up parameters in the computers memory. Resetting the ECU should fix that.

no i havent done that because i ran the seafoam through the gas so i dont believe i should have to reset the ECU but i will be checking the wires it may just be a bad ground or something all gunked up

Going to pick up an OEM t-stat and coolant at lunchtime.

Hopefully this fixes my issue.

Ill keep everyone updated.

chris,

While you're at it, replace the upper and lower rad hoses too. Cheap and easy to do since you will take off housing for tstat....and you won't have any worries about them blowing in the future. To remove the lower rad hose, while you are under the car to remove the radiator drain plug,....remove the plastic splash shield to get to the clip for the rad hose. Very easy.

If this happened after you seafoamed the gas tank, maybe the seafoam dislodged some gunk from your tank and it probably plugged up the sock/filter around the fuel pump. This would explain the gauge being all over the place and the pump not having enough pressure. This is very easy to check. Just remove the right panel from the trunk to access this assembly. Search the forum for more info about this.

Was thinking about that too, will pick up some hoses.

Just for reference, would a warped head or bad head gasket cause an correctable overheat (i.e. turning on the heat in the car), or would the car overheat no matter what?

No, the small heater rad will be connected inline with the rest of the system. By putting it inline, you relieved some pressure and the air pockets shifted, so your temps went down. If it was a leaking head gasket and that much coolant was leaking in the engine, you would know about it....simply check the color of the oil or look at your exhaust.

Hopefully it was only long neglect which caused your coolant level to drop, and not a rad leak, water pump leak or other.

get a new rad cap, major cause of temp probs

locate the engine block drain plug and open it too
half the coolant is trapped in there

Note: oe coolant on the first 105kmiles/7 years..then regardless of what brand you run,
its 4-5 years MAX and change it

opening the heater core- a mini radiator itself, added cold fluid to the system and drops temp
Make sure heater on hot and cabin fan on when refill and burp done
See owner manual for correct procedure-- www.owners.acura.com if you dont have one--free download there

Running the ac WONT help it cool as its heat is getting sucked thru the rad when fans operating!

NOW lets get to your fans
Driver side works as needed at idle? and with the pass side fan with ac ON?

does driver fan run more than 1-2 minutes after shutdown at normal temp?
thats a bad fan temp sensor,,very common and does what you described

seafoam in the gas wont hurt anything,,you can run it 2 ounces per gal,,thats 2 cans in a tank! and all you have reached is the `Cleaning strength`,,not overdose
No need to reset ecu but if you want- pull the clock fuse
Run another 16 oz can in just under half tank - 8 gallons (2 oz per gal fuel)

how old are your spark plugs--if replaced, were the correct 8 dollar each NGK installed?
inspect for vac leaks- spray carb clean at suspect area-look for idle speed change = leak

Thanks again everyone.

Picking up the rad hoses later today, will grab a cap if they have one.

Will also check correct operation of the cooling fans....pretty sure they were working as expected (I know the drivers side one was on during the SeaFoam procedure, and the A/C was off so the passenger one wasnt running)

Going to pick up plugs this weekend as well, but I wanted to do one thing at a time to see what fixes what just in case.

I havent seen any drips/puddles under the car, so I dont really know where the coolant went....pretty sure it doesnt just get "used up", so there may be something else leaking.

you used the master vac port line at TB? and the hose clamp was put back on?

note: clean tb air plate with carb cleaner spray- both sides and edges
must remove airbox top and snorkel tube to TB for access
Lube throttle return springs while there, improves pedal feel and action

Yes, used the inlet as show in the DIY. yes the clamp is back on and there is no wet areas underneath/around it.

There seems to be some oil/gunk on the underside of the tranny, but it doesnt feel/smell like antifreeze. On the water pump side of the engine I didnt see any moisture. If the water pump was leaking out of the weep hole, would the antifreeze just burn off and leave no evidence or spray everywhere and be obvious?

Also took note of the cooling fans today. After driving about 20 miles the temp was fine. Backed it into my garage and let it idle for a few minutes...60 degrees out, not in the sun, climate control off and the temp started to rise like it did when we were sitting in traffic. Once again, cranked the heat up and the temp dropped a decent amount immediately (probably from the in rush of cold coolant from the heater core) and after a minute or so started coming back down slowly again as the heat was drawn out of the coolant. As this was going on, both fans were spinning away. Let it get back down to normal temp, waited a minute or two and shut the car down. Passenger fan turned off, driver fan kept running for longer than 1 or 2 minutes.

Hopefully AutoZone has the pressure test kit in stock for loan so I can pressurize the system and see whats up.

OK so I got a coolant system pressure test kit on loan, but it doesnt seem to have the correct adapter.

Whatever AutoZone loaned me, that is.

Any idea what size our rad caps are? T-something, T16, T17, etc? That seems to determine the required adapter.....not sure I can find it anywhere on a weekend but its worth a shot.

Just a follow up:

Got a pressure tester adapter that seemed to work OK. Results were that it seemed to hold pressure. There was a small leak down but it seemed to be a leak right at where the overfill hose connects to the radiator....I guess the tester adapter didnt get far enough down into the neck of the radiator to seal it off. But I put it under pressure a few times and checked for squirting and didnt see any. Hoses didnt bulge, no strange hissing or drips on the floor, etc.

Went ahead and replaced: upper and lower hoses, t-stat, rad cap, and finally the coolant itself (even got to the dreaded block drain)

After getting it all replaced, fired up the engine and let it sit....at idle, heat on full blast, rad cap on first notch (aka loose) waiting for the cooling fan to cycle twice. Would you know it took about 15 minutes before it even came on ONCE? Just this afternoon I couldnt let the car sit at idle for 5 minutes before the temp started going up. Finally after it cycled again I shut it down and checked the level....added a bit to the radiator itself to bring it up to base of the filler neck. Overfill bottle was at max (where it started)....I guess I might need to drain some down?

Tightened the cap and started the car again....let it run for a couple minutes while I checked for leaks and didnt see any.

Now just need to keep an eye on the level.....not sure where it went before. The only thing I can think of is if it wasnt done correctly when the tranny was replaced last Feb (assuming they even touch the coolant when replacing the tranny). As much as I want to give them credit, I dont think its too far off to think the dealer tech may have messed it up. On my 2K Accord, after they replace the tranny I brought it back because the fluid level was high....they removed 1.5 quarts to bring it down to normal.

dump out the res bottle so its got fresh fluid,,rinse out and refill with new coolant to cold or Min line

its not just an overflow catch, its a critical part of the `closed system`,
as coolant goes back and forth to it when temp changes at shutdown- then sucked back in when engine cold

indicated temp on dash should be 1-2 lines below half and dead steady,,regardless of outside temp, ac on, climbing hills 100 degrees outside at 5000 feet,,steady means the fans and thermostat are working

The driver fan should not run more than a minute after shutown now!

recheck rad level after its sat overnight,,may need just a bit

DO buy a new rad cap, to match the rest of your system :)

weep hole on water pump does not spray,,or you would have NO coolant very quickly~
it leaves a very unique off white crusty stain as a drip-line coming down from it

Other fluid found on that side is usually engine oil dripped during filter change
and not wiped off,,wind blows it back and mystery oil leak-- thats not a leak,.

Yeah put a new rad cap on while I was at it. And I had emptied the res. tank along with the original coolant drain. Refilled to MAX with fresh stuff (per the service manual procedure). After "burping" the system and letting it sit overnight, it ended up slightly higher than halfway between min and max. The radiator indeed took a bit of coolant.

Re the water pump stain....where would I see it? Since the water pump is so buried. I looked around the best I could but didnt see anything other than some sprayed oil (you guessed it! just changed the oil last weekend)

The water pump is buried under the timing belt cover. Look around that area for stains.If there aren't any, I wouldn't worry about it....unless of course your timing belt and water pump are due for replacement.

Age wise, yes. Mileage wise, no.

9 yrs/80K.

I planned on having the timing belt done (or doing it myself) next spring. As you can see we dont put many miles on the car in a year :)