okay so I just left work and noticed a puddle when I pulled away. Didn't think much of it until I got home and some fan or something kept running for 2 minutes when I got out of the car. Looked down and noticed what looked like oil and water leaking out..... how bad is this?

 

Oil AND water?
No, it's gotta be one. If I had to guess...it's your radiator hose and that's just dirty coolant. That would explain the fan running to bring temps down.

Good luck...

Easy and cheap fix too, if that's all it is.

 

yeah upon further exam no oil, but it looked bluish in color.

 

1) blue is the color of OEM coolant.
2) find out where it's gushing from.

 

couldnt tell where it was coming from so i am going to have it towed to the dealer.

 

That's more of an indictation that it's the hose...it bust under pressure...once it cooled down the rip wouldn't be that obvious. Inspect your radiator hoses closely...change them both for good measure. If it was a gaping hole in the radiator it'd likely show when the car was cold.

Buy a thermostat (might be bad and have built the pressure that busted the hose in the first place)...both hoses...and a gallon or 2 of the Honda type 2 coolant and go to work. It shouldn't take you more than a couple hours.

You're welcome.

 

The coolant is blue. Once dried it leaves a green-ish color stain. If you look in the engine bay and see any of these green stains you can easily tell where the leak is coming from, probably directly above the stain.

Worse case scenario you hit something and the radiator is punctured. Kinda scary to drive a car that can potentially overheat... taking out head gaskets etc.

 

Well acura just called me and said my radiator had a leak and that it would cost $764.00 to fix.....

 

Ugh...sorry.

This was an informative post.

 

If you're handy, that could cost you much less to install yourself.

 

the OEM radiator cost $100 dollars from Rockauto.com
its the Denso Radiator


next; replacing the radiator is an hour job at most.
its the simplest easiest thing to do, even for a noob.

its literally a plug and play job.
Cant get it wrong.

remove hoses.
remove fan clips/harnesses.
remove clips/bolts that are holding down radiator on top.
remove radiator.
remove fans from radiator.

replace fans onto new radiator.
install new radiator.
clip up fans harnesses.
hook up hoses.
bolt down radiator

 

... do the refill procedure with the cap loose to get the bubbles out and a towel wrapped around the neck of the radiator while the engine heats up to over 90oC to get the fans going. Also after you throw in the new radiator, take a piece of cardboard and place is in front of it before you attempt to re-install the fans. Yep, it can be an expensive weekend if you mess that up - lol, speaking of past experiences.

PS if you take to the dealer, inquire where did the radiator leak from? Was it defective or did the pipes puncture somehow. Inquiring minds need to know to see what else we, the rest of the 4G TL people here, should expect to happen in the future...

 

Justin...kudos for trying...but don't even bother.

 

They said the leak was in the lower resevior and probably caused by a rock hitting it or something to that extent..

 

Cool. You're welcome.