sounds to me like it was the thermostat {heater core} that went bad. thing is, it should have only made the heat quit. If it cracked the housing, and your driving an 88 honda, its gonna be hard to find another thermostat housing. It is possible that the heater core housing blew a gasket and shot the antifreeze all over the engine. If thats the case, some liquid gasket will work fine...... its called perma seal. should work great providing you are good at scraping off all traces of the old gasket from each split of the heater core housing. In case you didnt know, dont drive the car anywhere until you get that issue fixed as driving a car around with no coolant will cause the engine to lock up and seize. when that happens, kiss off the engine for good !!