So temps are regularly -10 to -20 degrees Celsius around here... well below freezing and the TL is like an icebox when you get in to it and I was not happy with the heat being produced by my car in these temps. So I tried to solve the problem by replacing the thermostat. What a nightmare that was... I do not have a heated garage to do the work so I ended up cracking my engine cover along with the port which connects tot he vacuum line on the flex piping of the air cleaning system, and some plastic shields around some electrical connections. I will definitely avoid working on the car in the future in the freezing cold. Anyway, with the new thermostat in I topped up the coolant, did the burping procedure, and had nice heat afterwards... until the next day.... Seems my rad cap wasn't holding pressure and was leaking coolant, so I replaced the rad cap. That seemed to do the job of holding pressure and no more liquid around the area now, but now my coolant is heating up and still not supplying heat.

After class tonight I checked the reservoir and it was empty. I keep a jug of premix and a funnel in the trunk so I filled it up to half way between max and min... When I got home I noticed the coolant temp gauge was higher than I have ever seen in the this car... almost half way. It never went above about 1/4 before. I sat and let it idle for a bit and the temp continued to creep higher.... I shut the car off and the fans started going to cool the radiator.

Could it be my shitty luck that I have a bad new thermostat? What could be other causes for this? air getting in the system when my reservoir was sucked dry? Something else? I appreciate any insight anyone can provide.

 

I bet it is a leak in the thermostat housing. Explains why I keep having to add coolant. I thought maybe it was just being cycled through the system slowly but now it seems to be a persistent problem of mine. On my third jug of 3.7L premixed coolant. Please don't be water pump related.

You don't know what it's like...
No, you don't know what it's like...
You don't know what it's like...
to be me......

Tonight I called my car a piece of s**t. Yes, me to my car. I am now sorry for what I said.

 

Guess too many variables huh...

 

hav eyou looked to see if there's any leaks anywhere?

 

Well the rad cap was leaking but I suspect the thermostat housing is also leaking... Dunno at this point.

I will have a better look at it this weekend. I am going to go watch hockey and forget the car for a few days.

 

should be simple enough to see if the thermostat housing is leaking, look for dried fluid in that general area


you're using Honda Blue coolant only right?

 

Its blue... Not Honda but it is designed for Acura vehicles. The brand is OEM.

 

Just an update...

I could see there was definitely aome leaking going on and I beleieve it was coming from where the lower rad hose connects to the thermo housing. I adjusted the hose cllip and helped it tighten a little.... See if that solves the problem.


....its still leaking...

 

Can be frustrating..I know about working on a car in the cold.. get the leaks fixed and make sure to re burp the system

 

Maybe you need new radiator hoses !

 

Well I now believe it is the thermostat housing... Think I will work on it when the engine is warm (not hot) so that stuff will be more flexible and not frozen... Will tey another gasket and cleaning up the housing better.

 

This is embarassing... I never changed a thermostat before and so I followed the directions provided by Acura service manuals. In the diagram I saw the thermostat goes in to the housing and the gasket goes in front of it... Well turns out that illustration was misleading because the little rubber thing fits over the thermostat! Duh!

All fixed now.
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Lmao!

 

At least you caught it yourself

 

Feels good to have heat again. Think Im gonna switch out the basic thermostat i purchased for a more robust and better designed one . Just a bit of peace of mind.

The old one was stuck open.