Honda Car Forum

I have a 1990 honda accord with 348,000km. recently it began to take longer
to heat up the interior, and yesterday, the car overheated, but it would not
heat up inside the car. I checked the fluid and the rad was dry, so I
filled it totally up, drove around for about 20km, and the same thing
happened. the rad was dry again, and the car was running weird. I'm
hoping its the thermostat. Would a bad thermostat cause this problem, or am
I looking at a head gasket replacement? I could neither see nor smell
radiator fluid leaking from under the hood. Anyone with knowledge have any
ideas?

Remove the cap and put the palm of your hand over the radiator opening.
Clamp the hose to the overflow and have somebody crank the engine. If you
feel the alternating pressure and vacuum as the engine is cranked, the head
has to come off. Figure on at least a bad head gasket, and hope the head
isn't warped or cracked.

If it passes that test, refill the radiator and bleed the system. It can be
hard to get the whole system filled on the first refill if it was really
low.

Mike

"greg" <greg.barb99@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:kbTmd.180664$Np3.7293932@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>I have a 1990 honda accord with 348,000km. recently it began to take
>longer
> to heat up the interior, and yesterday, the car overheated, but it would
> not
> heat up inside the car. I checked the fluid and the rad was dry, so I
> filled it totally up, drove around for about 20km, and the same thing
> happened. the rad was dry again, and the car was running weird. I'm
> hoping its the thermostat. Would a bad thermostat cause this problem, or
> am
> I looking at a head gasket replacement? I could neither see nor smell
> radiator fluid leaking from under the hood. Anyone with knowledge have
> any
> ideas?
>
>

I drove a Datsun with low coolant and blew the head gasket or cracked
the block. I installed SteelSeal per the instructions and it worked.

http://www.steelseal.com/eng/home.html

With the blown gasket or cracked block, I could hear a Tick, Tick,
Tick. During the installation of SteelSeal the Ticking stopped.

If the gasket is blown, you are better to spend $80 for a bottle of
SteelSeal than spend $1000 or more on an Engine repair on such a high
milage car.

SteelSeal is a liquid that you put in the coolant, then you run the
engine to above 212 degrees. At this temperature the SteelSeal reacts
with air in the cracks to solidify.

My mechanic offered to do the job for me but he would not gurantee the
job. I did it myself, and as I said above, it worked.

I wish you luck, Eh.

PS Run the engine with the radiator cap off and look for bubbles.
Bubbles are cylinder gasses getting into the coolant.

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 18:58:59 -0700, "Michael Pardee"
<michaeltnull@cybertrails.com> wrote:

>Remove the cap and put the palm of your hand over the radiator opening.
>Clamp the hose to the overflow and have somebody crank the engine. If you
>feel the alternating pressure and vacuum as the engine is cranked, the head
>has to come off. Figure on at least a bad head gasket, and hope the head
>isn't warped or cracked.
>
>If it passes that test, refill the radiator and bleed the system. It can be
>hard to get the whole system filled on the first refill if it was really
>low.
>
>Mike
>
>"greg" <greg.barb99@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
>news:kbTmd.180664$Np3.7293932@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>>I have a 1990 honda accord with 348,000km. recently it began to take
>>longer
>> to heat up the interior, and yesterday, the car overheated, but it would
>> not
>> heat up inside the car. I checked the fluid and the rad was dry, so I
>> filled it totally up, drove around for about 20km, and the same thing
>> happened. the rad was dry again, and the car was running weird. I'm
>> hoping its the thermostat. Would a bad thermostat cause this problem, or
>> am
>> I looking at a head gasket replacement? I could neither see nor smell
>> radiator fluid leaking from under the hood. Anyone with knowledge have
>> any
>> ideas?
>>
>>
>

greg wrote:
> I have a 1990 honda accord with 348,000km. recently it began to take longer
> to heat up the interior, and yesterday, the car overheated, but it would not
> heat up inside the car. I checked the fluid and the rad was dry, so I
> filled it totally up, drove around for about 20km, and the same thing
> happened. the rad was dry again, and the car was running weird. I'm
> hoping its the thermostat. Would a bad thermostat cause this problem, or am
> I looking at a head gasket replacement? I could neither see nor smell
> radiator fluid leaking from under the hood. Anyone with knowledge have any
> ideas?
>

those are classic head gasket symptoms. check under the filler cap. if
it looks like mayonnaise under there, it's definitely gasket. if not,
fill the rad & crank the engine with the spark plug leads disconnected.
then remove them. if any are wet, again, head gasket.

bad news: the head or block could also be cracked.

good news: if it's the gasket, they're not that hard to do yourself -
easily accessible if it's the 4-cylinder. just get the book & some
tools to do the timing belt.

bad news: some head or block cracks are hard to detect, so there's a
chance of changing the gasket, putting it all back together, then
finding it's the crack.

good news: used motors for this model are cheap.

whatever the diagnosis, find a reputable shop that's not going to try
selling you a whole new motor if all it needs is a gasket.

jim beam wrote:
> greg wrote:
>
>> I have a 1990 honda accord with 348,000km. recently it began to take
>> longer
>> to heat up the interior, and yesterday, the car overheated, but it
>> would not
>> heat up inside the car. I checked the fluid and the rad was dry, so I
>> filled it totally up, drove around for about 20km, and the same thing
>> happened. the rad was dry again, and the car was running weird. I'm
>> hoping its the thermostat. Would a bad thermostat cause this problem,
>> or am
>> I looking at a head gasket replacement? I could neither see nor smell
>> radiator fluid leaking from under the hood. Anyone with knowledge
>> have any
>> ideas?
>>
>
> those are classic head gasket symptoms. check under the filler cap. if
> it looks like mayonnaise under there, it's definitely gasket. if not,
> fill the rad & crank the engine with the spark plug leads disconnected.
> then remove them.

oops! not clear. remove the spark plugs & inspect.

> if any are wet, again, head gasket.
>
> bad news: the head or block could also be cracked.
>
> good news: if it's the gasket, they're not that hard to do yourself -
> easily accessible if it's the 4-cylinder. just get the book & some
> tools to do the timing belt.
>
> bad news: some head or block cracks are hard to detect, so there's a
> chance of changing the gasket, putting it all back together, then
> finding it's the crack.
>
> good news: used motors for this model are cheap.
>
> whatever the diagnosis, find a reputable shop that's not going to try
> selling you a whole new motor if all it needs is a gasket.
>