John Paul wrote:
> This car still runs great with 240 K miles in it but recently I had
> some bad episodes which makes me wonder.
>
> The first episode was about a month ago when I was driving at night in
> a heavy downpour and I ran into a deep puddle that I could not see in
> time. The puddle may have been about axle deep at its deepest point
> and the engine suddenly stopped. When the car itself stopped rolling
> it was still in the puddle but in only about ankle deep at that point.
> Fortunately my electric circuits seemed to be OK as I was able to use
> the emergency flashers. As I was ready to phone for some help, I
> decided to see if I could start it. Well, the starter seemed to have
> plenty of power and after several cranking attempts I was able to
> restart the engine and except the initial spongy brakes everything
> seemed to be fine.
>
> I still have no idea what caused the engine cutoff: water getting to
> the ignition circuits or perhaps into the air intake? I always thought
> Honda's electric circuits were pretty well insulated from moisture,
> with tight rubber boots, etc. But maybe somebody has a better insight
> into this.
>
> The second episode was about 10 days ago when the normally 30 minute
> home commute turned into 4 hours because of a snow storm hitting my
> area just at the afternoon commute time. At the end of four hours I
> could not even make the last two miles on the side streets so I had to
> leave my car overnight at a supermarket parking lot for two days till
> the side streets were good enough to drive it home. Later that day I
> drove the car on the freeway and I noticed that the temp. guage was
> moving really fast to the top that I never noticed before. So I
> quickly pulled off at the nearest exit and checked my coolant at a gas
> station. Sure enough, the radiator was almost empty as I could pour
> about 3 quarts of antifreeze mixture into it. Since then I've been
> watching any leaks in the cooling system but could not notice any and
> its level has been holding in the radiator after several days. I still
> wonder though if I was driving with low coolant level and high engine
> temp during some of that long 4 hour commute but I was just not
> looking at the guage. The car is still running fine but again it makes
> me wonder.
>
> It makes me wonder especially as I noticed the unusually heavy fogging
> in my car after the engine warms up and especially when I turn on the
> heater. I get a lot of condensation on the cold windows, even on the
> rear window. The condensation does not seem to be pure water but feels
> slick like the antifreeze. What is puzzling about it though that I
> don't seem to be losing any coolant as far as I can see in its level
> visible in the radiator opening. I also see no drips on my garage
> floor. It's a real mistery to me.
>
> I am taking my car to a shop next week but would appreciate hearing
> any insights from those of you having had more experience with cars
> than I've had.
>
> Thanks for reading this long post,
>
> JP
============================================

Filling the rad isn't enough. There's a reserve bottle that needs to be
filled to MAX, since you've got lots of air in your cooling system. Fill
it to MAX again in a day or two since it will go low as air is displaced
from the heater / block / rad. No tap water. This is in your owner's manual.

'Curly'