I have a 2004 Acura Tl. I had my mechanic change my radiator and thermo stat last weekend after car was overheating.

Everything was fine for 3 days after he changed the parts. Then It started overheating again. I checked the resivour and noticed it had a deep scratch on the bottom and thought that was the resivour bottle was the culprit.

Fast forward to yesterday I received the resivoiur bottle and replaced it with the two little hoses it needed as well. Also topped it off with coolant filled to the max line. Started the car and about 15 mins in it starts to leak coolant from the passenger side. Hoses seem fine. car was on idle with heat on.

Just topped off again resivour again with coolant. No heat on and decided to drive up the block. Came back home. Coolant from resivour bottle is at the min level in a matter of 15-20 mins.

Hoses seem fine. I have no idea where this leak from passenger side is coming from any help appreciated.

Also could it be t-stat was not installed properly.

 

It might the heater core are bad.

 

Interesting. I do notice when I take off my heater, heat still comes off the vents. Btw heat still runs really hot.

 

Hope its not heater core expensive to fix

 

On the passenger side under the car, there is a silver double pipe, that is where coolant is dripping from.

 

anyone?

 

Well it is the heater core the 2 silver pipes go along withe the little radiator and is not that much to fix it ...part alone i think goes for $200 to $300 ..

 

Heater cores are relatively cheap, it's the labour to replace them that's $$$. If you can DIY, I'd go that route.

 

I know so I've been researching.... Plus you have to take off dash grrr. Weird bc my heat runs really good.

 

passenger side or driver's side? all the coolant hoses are on the driver's side..

 

passenger side. silver pipe is not leaking. Something above it is though..

 

racking the shit out of my brain!!

i have my engine all torn apart and cannot for the life of me think of any coolant passage ways on the passenger side.
all coolant will spill towards the drivers side....

the drain plugs are on the passenger side tho.

 

Yeah gonna check drain plugs when I get home...

Could it be that mechanic forgot to put a cap on it or something? leak is coming by engine mount and two pipes.

Fill coolant to max in resivour and start car. 20 mins later shit is empty . puddle of coolant. on the floor.

 

Take it back to your mechanic. Your car was overheating before, but not leaking. Did he diagnose the radiator and t/stat, or did you? It sounds like he missed something, or you already had bigger problems than you thought. Do you have reason to not trust him?

 

Not sure car was leaking or not. Car was overheating tho.

 

Leaking water pump? That's on the passenger side. Engine got too hot and melted the seal? Just spit balling for the real mechanics around here.

 

That would be a best case scenario. I have all parts for the timing belt water pump job. anyway I check if it is water pump

 

There's a petcock on the rear of the cylinder block, by cylinder #1 is the best I can describe it, coolant would be running down the back of the block though. The petcock is used to drain the coolant from the block.

That's about the only thing I can think of over there on the passenger's side, maybe the petcock is loose? It's really difficult to see at first, but once you find it you'll know where it is in the future, it's above the passenger axle on the rear of the block.

Other than water pump, which is under the TB covers.

 

Very rare that anyone drains the block when working on the cooling system. At least from my experience. You need to dry everything up with brake cleaner and a rag, fill it up and lay under it while it's running and on jack stands. Use a flashlight and wait for the drip to start and track it down. I've seen pin holes in hoses that you wouldn't know we're there. Could possibly be the water pump but you'd have to take off the timing belt covers to see it. is it coming from the firewall area or more towards the front?

 

took it to the mechanic, steam was coming from timing belt. Turns out water pump is the problem.