yenracer

Hi Acura friends,

On wednesday my car (100k miles) overheated after i drove to work and was force to get it towed home. I then looked at the engine upper and lower radiator hose didn't see any leaks from there but on top of the radiator around it under the plastic housing i saw tons of coolant and the plastic pipe that goes to the reservoir melted.

I am afraid my engine is done as i saw alot of black liquid in the coolant after draining it. I took the radiator and swamp it with another one from autozone $200 bucks lifetime warranty. Should i also change the thermostat as i'm afraid it might of gone too with the engine.

My question is do you guys think the engine is fried or do i need to go buy the combustion testing kit to see if the liquid is yellow.

before it overheated the got the check engine light with VSAi saw tons of smoke from the hood so i pulled over and pop the hood and turned off the car and waited for the towman.

i hope and pray its not my engine. i bought this baby only 1.5 yrs ago and dont want to give her up

any thoughts or advise would be awesome.

Thanks all and have a great Easter

01acls

How long did you drive the car when the needle was in the red?

Drain the oil. If water comes out first, then the engine is toast... blown head gasket.

Yes, replace the thermostat and rad cap.

yenracer

Only a few minutes prolly 1 until I was able to pulled over. Should I do the combustion test to make absolutely sure too?

01acls

^ No, just start the car and let it idle. See how it runs but watch the temp gauge.

Look for steam/coolant to come out of the exhaust? Check the radiator cap, is there white foam/sludge on the bottom side?

Be sure to burp the cooling system.

You can do a compression test but I wouldn't run out to buy a gauge.

yenracer

Did the flush an drain with distill water and filled up 1.5gallon of type 2 blue coolant. I wasn't able to find the bleeder valve (bolt) everyone was saying I checked on the passenger wheels off and didn't see a nipple looking bolt. Is this necessary?. I didn't see white smoke from the exhaust and seems like the engine is okay. I will drive around tonight and report. Can someone snap a pic of the valve location please? Much thanks

01acls

Lol, I said check the radiator cap. I meant to say oil cap... look for white/gray sludge.

Radiator cap... replace.

That drain plug/nipple is tuck up way in there. You need to go under the car.


Be sure to set the heater temp to hot so the heater valve is open or you'll have air in the system.

yenracer

Roger that. Did oil change and the oil wasn't chocolate milk color and oil cap wasn't white sludge. Can you please pretty please snap a pic of the nipple looking bolt. I've been trying to find it for hours. I want to bleed the coolant from there and not just the radiator cap. Thank you so much for replying.

01acls

Open the heater valve to drain and fill.

Burping

Rad cap off or place on top of opeing. Let car idle until the fans come on a minimum of 2 times.

Btw did you install the thermostat with the weep hole / Pin up?

yenracer

Okay I'll try to find it. That is on the passenger side right? You can open it top of the left engine facing down right? Under neath the nipple is the engine pan right? Sorry to be so newbie but I want to make sure. Thermostat pin up? I tried to install it similar to what I took the old oem thermostat out. Man if you ever make it to Arlington hit me up cause I owe you lunch brother. Thank you for replying so fast.

01acls

It's all good but appropriate your kind gesture. I'm here just for fun and trying to past on my knowledge and vast experience.

Directly above the drain plug and above the drive shaft.

yenracer

Damn I see the nipple but stumble on a road block. Any idea how to access it. Top from engine or take out right front tires?

csmeance

remove tire, use a socket and you should be able to undo it easily. It's a copper bolt! Don't spin the larger bolt on there!

01acls

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about that nipple. That's more for someone paying a shop to do a coolant service.

I mean so what if you don't change all the coolant? It's not going to affect the cooling of the car and it is not going to cause over heating.

Just open the heater valve and burp it good.

Just monitor the condition of the coolant and change again when needed by the condition of coolant or time. Really, how hard is it to drain it from the radiator drain when needed? Just change it more often.

nfnsquared

^^^^ yup, wouldn't worry about it. Sounds like you got 'er shut down in time.

pohljm

why did it overheat?

yenracer

Happy to report back and everything a okay. Much thanks to 01acls and csmeance for the help and lighting response. I couldn't have done this job properly without you guys. My philosophy Is do the job the right way first time and don't take shortcut and do a halfass one. I also noticed the check engine light for "VSA" went away after this job.

If someone is doing this, I think the hardest part about this was finding that damn nipple. I used a deep 12mm socket with a 1/4 ratchet to knock it lose. Also I had to ask my neighbor's muscle to remove that damn lower radiator hose connection to the thermostat since it was caked on.

Overall the cost:
Towing service $120
Radiator at autozone $200 (lifetime warranty)
Coolant cap $8
Coolant honda type2 blue color 2x $40 dealership
Thermostat at oreilly $13

Total cost$381, learning something new....priceless

How much is this job average?

musiclevelz5

You did great doing this job yourself. The only thing you could have improved on was getting the radiator and Type 2 blue coolant on Amazon.

A new Denso radiator is 74 bucks and one gallon of coolant is 22.35.

If you had a shop change what you did, they would probably charge around 500-600.

yenracer

Okay so 1.5 weeks after the repair and just check the radiator fill and notice it low. It was very low. I didn't see any leaks but notice on top of the radiator there were some coolant. I wanted to see how low so I took the reservoir max line and pour it in the radiator. Is this normal y'all? I am worried as I was very detail and careful tracing all my steps when I changed the radiator. Getting ready for an 8 hr road trip and don't want to be stuck on the road with overheating problems again.

Another question is the radiator reservoir only takes coolant when the radiator is overflow right? It doesn't pour back coolant to the radiator when the radiator is low? Sorry to ask a dumb question but wanted to make sure I understood it correctly. I am testing the radiator again and started the car to see if it leaks.

Thanks all for any input.

01acls

You might want to check the fans make sure they are working.

Maybe get an oem rad cap.

Top off rad and overflow bottle to max levels and monitor the levels.

Smell for coolant when car is hot. If it's leaking in the form of vapors then you should be able to smell it.

Yes, the overflow catches the coolant when the pressure in the cooling system is higher than the cap's holding pressure, it will bleed off the pressure/coolant into the overflow bottle.

When the cooling system cools down it will siphon the coolant back into the radiator. It's suppose to cycle back and forth as needed. In order for it to siphon, the hose in the bottle must be submerged in coolant or else it just sucks air back into the rad. So make sure all the air is bleed from the cooling system and coolant levels are full.

Check the oil cap again for oil sludge and the exhaust for excessive moisture. You will know you have a problem if the rear bumper is collecting excessive dirt from the moisture on the bumper.

yenracer

Now that you mentioned the plastic hose to the overflow tank, I got it at the dealer and it's really short about 2 inches not the long one. I'm not sure if oem is the long one (can someone confirm?) Is that my problem as I don't think it's siphon back to the radiator as the hose is too short. Do I need to bleed the system again via nipple valve or can I just leave the rad cap off until the fans kick on? I really don't see any coolant on the ground. I'm gonna replace that plastic hose with a longer one from my old honda and hope that will help fix the low radiator. No sludge in oil cap and no sign of leaks from radiator cap. Thanks bro

01acls

The hose should reach at least to the minimum mark and fit snugly so it's seal to the cap. The cap does not need to be seal to the tank.

The nipple is only for draining the coolant from the block and not for bleeding air. So the nipple stays shut once draining is finish.

Bleeding/burping air is only done through the open rad cap.

Yes, you should burp it again. Maybe you didn't get all the air out the first time and that's why the coolant is low now. So burp it again just incase... extra long this time.

yenracer

So i did what you said 01acls and for some reason i don't know why its still leaking from the top of the radiator. I burp it for 2 hours before I went on the trip and when i came home it got worst. I'm puzzled now as when i see the overflow tank it is still the same middle of the min and max line. I checked the radiator fill and i can see the coolant in it, it lost some fluid but not that much. when the radiator is low, it siphon the coolant from the overflow tank to the radiator right? Here is a picture of it.

Not sure if its the radiator (i bought it at autzone for $200 bucks) itself that is bad or i did something wrong with the job.

I'm out of ideas...any thoughts guys.

Thanks.

01acls

^ LOL, really? Those pics shows the rad is leaking at the top crimp on the rad and not holding pressure.

Return it and get another one. Better yet, return it and get your money back. Then buy a Denso rad from Rockauto.

Bottle line is aftermarket parts are usually junk. Waste of money and time.

yenracer

damn it, all this time tracking to where or what i did wrong and its the radiator. i thought a $200 radiator would be good at auto zone. Thanks bro, just needed a second opinion, what's the oem radiator cap brand?

01acls

I wouldn't worry about the rad cap for now just replace the rad with a good one.

Burp it and see what happens.

Don't know the rad cap oem brand but just get it from dealer if you want a good quality cap.

yenracer

okey dokey, i hope auto zone gives me a refund and not store credit as i don't have the box anymore it's been like 2.5 weeks since the purchase so i hope they do refund me.

yenracer

Did the change with Denso radiator $140 and it seems like it's holding pressure and got my money back from auto zone. Looks like i'm good to go...for now i hope it last me another 100k miles. Thanks acls. i was just curious and asked the dealer how much their rad was and he quote me 340, what a joke.