Finally got around to looking under the engine covers after 4 months, and discovered the coolant level is just below the MIN line. Haven't noticed any obvious leak and never bothered to check the level when brand new (my bad!)

My questions to Aziners:
1) Best way to check for coolant leak if any?
2) Manual states only to use Honda brand coolants (50/50) stating generics may damage aluminum engines??? Anybody use other brands, can't imagine everyone buying Honda coolants!

 

I have a 3G TL-S (I know they're different) and my car mysteriously runs low on coolant, below the min. mark probably 2 times per year. There's never a leak or anything that I've noticed, it just seems to disappear

 

what do u use to refill the coolant?

 

I can't answer definitively about the car, but I've owned several water-cooled Honda and other water cooled brand motorcycles(aluminum engined) over the years and they recommended the manufacturer brand coolant(of course). The reason for that is that they did not want any coolant with silicates in it as an additive. Apparently the silicates damage the water pump and seals over time. I'd take a look at the Honda container and see if there's anything about silicates or the lack therof in the ingredients, if not there's several name-brand coolants on the market with no silicates.

NYPete

 

I think the manual calls for Honda coolant. I use it for piece of mind, that way you know you got the right stuff.

 

use it for warranty purposes only

 

Think I found the answer to the coolant "leak".

Peeled off all the engine covers and could not find any evidence of leak, the fluid level has been stable for the last 3 days....then I noticed the overfill reservoir cap is loose almost to the point of coming off. Since I haven't touched it since purchase I assume this was a dealer/factory error.

Anyway, my guess is that the 50/50 coolant simply evaporated slowly. Now the question is should I refill with distilled H2O only or with 50/50 Honda coolant? My guess is that the ethylene glycol boiling point is pretty high and unlikely to have evaporated much over the water component....any thoughts?

 

Any "organic" coolant will do you fine. Don't use synthetic coolant, i.e., Dex Cool. It doesn't have to be Honda coolant. I don't buy my coolant from the stealer.

 

Thought Dex Cool is silicate/borate free so good for aluminum engines?

 

Could be a little evap going on.. nothing to worry about. As long as there's coolant at the top of your rad cap you're fine. You could fill a little bit into the res. The reason Honda doesn't like silicate based coolants is it tends to become acidic and eat up the seals & plastic components. Don't overtighten the res cap.. they're pretty cheap and tend to break at the top.