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Car Forum / Honda Cars / June 2006coolant leak
First off, I just finished reading the entire FAQ! That said... Just bought a '96 Prelude, and it overheated at the end of the 2 hour drive home from the dealer. I checked cabin heat at the beginning of the trip, and it was hot. Later on, I noticed the temp gage rising, and tried the cabin heat again, and it wasn't hot at all. Opening the hood I saw that coolant must have been squirting out of the water pump, because there was coolant on the throttle body & surrounding areas. After cooling, I saw that the reservoir was completely full, but it looks like the radiator is empty. I'm just wondering if it HAS to be the water pump, or if I might be looking at a bigger problem, ie head gasket. I already bought a new rad cap, and have a new water pump on order. I guess this would probably be an ideal time to change the thermostat, too? 188k miles on this car, and it doesn't appear to have been superbly maintained... I guess I just wanted to see if anyone with more experience had any advice for me, since I'm try to learn as I go here. Thanks in advance! > First off, I just finished reading the entire FAQ! That said... > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > I guess I just wanted to see if anyone with more experience had any > advice for me, since I'm try to learn as I go here. Thanks in advance! if it's just the pump, it's cheap to fix if you do the work yourself. you'll need a special tool to undo the crank bolt pulley - go to tegger.com and you'll see what's needed. change the timing belt while you're in there, and also invest in the most important tool you'll ever buy for this car: the helm manual. it's the honda factory shop repair book. all the other books are garbage. regarding diagnosis, the throttle body is up out of the way of the pump, so before changing anything, make sure you have the leak location correct. refill the radiator to the top, bleed, then watch as the motor warms up. you'll see it leak. it may just be a hose. refill with antifreeze and distilled water. Thank you for your reply! Unless I'm seriously mistaken, the water pump is not pulley driven, but rather driven by the timing belt, and IS, in fact, located right in front of the throttle body. I'm confused, though, since it's on the opposite side of the engine from the pulleys and the timing belt. I don't know what else it could be, though, with all the coolant hoses attached to it! I did do what you suggested, and after a few minutes I saw the "leak" -- it was shooting water up about 2 inches in the air from a hole in the top of the pump (????) that I assume must be a weep hole. Does something like that always mean bad seals in the pump? Or could there be a blockage in the system? Before I filled the radiator, I saw what looks like salt deposits inside, so I'm worried what the rest of the system might look like.... [snip] > regarding diagnosis, the throttle body is up out of the way of the pump, > so before changing anything, make sure you have the leak location > correct. refill the radiator to the top, bleed, then watch as the motor > warms up. you'll see it leak. it may just be a hose. refill with > antifreeze and distilled water. Okay, I am seriously mistaken. :P Apparently the leak is coming from what Honda calls a "BOLT, BREATHING WATER" in the thermostat case. Isn't that where I'm supposed to bleed the system after a flush & fill? If it's leaking from there, would that mean a blockage elsewhere in the system? I don't really know where to start, aside from a new thermostat. Any advice would be appreciated! -Randy > Thank you for your reply! > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > warms up. you'll see it leak. it may just be a hose. refill with > > antifreeze and distilled water. Does that "bolt" look like a brake bleeder (nipple) valve? If so, it's supposed to be tight except when purging air out of the cooling system... JT > Okay, I am seriously mistaken. :P > [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > > > warms up. you'll see it leak. it may just be a hose. refill with > > > antifreeze and distilled water. > Okay, I am seriously mistaken. :P > > Apparently the leak is coming from what Honda calls a "BOLT, BREATHING > WATER" in the thermostat case. That's NOT the "thermostat case", it's the upper rad hose connection! The thermostat housing is at the upper end of the LOWER rad hose. > Isn't that where I'm supposed to bleed > the system after a flush & fill? Yes. > If it's leaking from there, would > that mean a blockage elsewhere in the system? No. As Grumpy says, it may just be loose. Tighten to 7 ft lbs with a 10mm wrench. Actually, it's far more likely it's been *overtightened* and STRIPPED, causing leakage around the threads. If so, you can get a replacement dirt cheap from the wreckers.  SignatureTeGGeR® The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ www.tegger.com/hondafaq/ In case anyone was curious, it looks like it was a failed head gasket causing my problems. Had a cooland flush performed, and coolant shot out of the radiator when I tried to start the engine. Also ended up finding coolant on one of the spark plugs... So now I've got an excuse to upgrade to an H22A. :) Thanks for your replies, everyone! > > Okay, I am seriously mistaken. :P > > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ > www.tegger.com/hondafaq/ >First off, I just finished reading the entire FAQ! That said... > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >I guess I just wanted to see if anyone with more experience had any >advice for me, since I'm try to learn as I go here. Thanks in advance! I had a crack on the front top side of the radiator on a 90 accord that when driven would open up and the forward motion would spray the engine. Took me a while to find it because it was on the front side. Just a caution to check every possible source before you start going in after the water pump. Frank > First off, I just finished reading the entire FAQ! That said... > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > After cooling, I saw that the reservoir was completely full, but it > looks like the radiator is empty. You've got a water leak! Check all those little coolant hoses under the throttle body. There are whole bunch of skinny ones for the IAC, Fast Idle valve and the thermostat bypass. Check the two heater hoses as well. Sounds to me like the coolant was too low to be able to circulate properly, and so caused poor heater output and overheating. Once you fix the leak, the car will probably act fine. If the coolant gets too low, the sypohon system can't pull coolant form the reservoir to the rad, so that's likely related to the leak as well. SignatureTeGGeR® The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ www.tegger.com/hondafaq/ |
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