Hey guys,

I have a ‘94 Accord 2.2 LX. It’s new to me and as I was doing some errands today I noticed that the temp gauge was climbing a bit at a stop and then would go down as I was driving. I started hearing a ticking/crackling sound coming from left driver side closest to the wheel and the temp gauge RAPIDLY climbing. By the time I pulled over there was some smoke coming from that end.

Anyways, I made it home and noticed that there is a leak on the driver side under the brake fluid reservoir. The brake fluid isn’t leaking as it’s at the same amount that it was when I checked the fluid a few days ago and I reached under and can’t feel any moister from the reservoir itself. Looking at the other pic is that a hose that is broken?

Any help would be appreciated and I will follow up with more info as needed.


Area where sound is coming from including leak.



Smoke was coming from this leak here. At the very middle of the pic it looks like a broken hose? I can’t tell.

 

It looks like that brake line might be rubbing and has a small leak. I'd clean that area with a rag and some soapy water. Inspect thel line for a pin hole. You can spray those lines with athlete's foot powder to help locate a leak. Definitely keep an eye on the brake fluid level and carry a small bottle of brake fluid with you until it is resolved.

For the overheating, when you notice the temperature gauge rising, turn on the heat full blast to help cool the engine. Overheating an engine can warp the head and cause a very expensive head gasket leak.

When the engine is cold, remove the radiator cap and top off the radiator with coolant. A full radiator should take very little coolant. Let us know if or how much coolant you had to add. You may want to get a loaner radiator pressure tester from the parts store. It is a simple hand pump with an adapter. The radiator should hold at ~14 psi without dropping in pressure. There are some good Ericthecarguy videos on youtube showing how to do this.

If you start the engine and turn on the a/c, check that both radiator fans are running. Let us know if the passenger, driver's side, or both fans are not working.

Also look at the front of the radiator for any signs of debris blocking air flow. There are two 10mm bolts holding down a bracket on the top posts of the radiator that you can remove and tilt back the radiator. You want to clear any debris to allow max air flow. If the fins are very dusty, you can spray some soapy water an on the fins and lightly spray the radiator fins with a hose to clean them off. Using high pressure from the hose can bend the fins, so maybe don't use a nozzle on the garden hose to rinse off.

 

So I just saw this about 30min ago. Went out to the car to double check fluids and found that the radiator fluid was nearly gone! I found a leak underneath the radiator, but I don’t have enough time to determine if the leak is from the radiator itself or a hose so I’ll have to do that after work. I did add a lot of water as in 5 or 6 bottles of drinking water to the radiator as I am not planning on driving this until the issue is resolved and found that after a few minutes some of the water leaked below the radiator. I can’t even get the car to turn over now even with a new battery.

I think you’re right about the brake line as the fluid that was burning didn’t smell like oil. I’ll need to grab the bottle of brake fluid that I have to see if it’s the same smell to compare.


On another note, I checked the oil and it’s a normal color and the oil level hasn’t dropped as far as I can tell. No visible moisture or leaks around the engine itself so I’m worried it may be an issue with a blown gasket as a worst case scenario or maybe it’s not at that point yet but I am unable to determine that yet.

 

So I just filled it up about 16oz there may not have been a leak in the coolant but could have possibly burnt up over time sitting in this hot desert heat here over the past summer.

When I put the key in before turning it over the dash lit up and all the normal dings from the door being open, etc. When attempting to turn it over I didn’t notice a click or anything coming from the front end and the car wouldn’t turn over at all. Would it be worth replacing the spark plugs or should I just get it checked for compression? I imagine this is a blown gasket.

 

I think you got separate issues here , the overheating will NOT cause a car no clicking no dash light I would chk battery charged? connectors at battery loose? clean?
ignition switch? bad connection? Once you got it started then diagnose for overheating,