I have a carbureted 1988 Honda Accord that is overheating. These are the things I know:
1) A few weeks ago I parked the car after a 20 mile trip for about 25 minutes. I noticed that my car had leaked radiator fluid (water + green antifreeze) under the car, maybe about 8-12 oz.
2) The next day I added a 50/50 sollution of anti-freeze and water. I noticed some sludge on the radiator cap. I replaced the radiator about a year ago.
3) From then until this week the car has been running fine. However, this week it started to overheat. My temp gauge seems to be broken (it starts at the bottom, then rises to almost halfway and stays there, regardless of temperature change).
4) I know it’s overheating by the smell and if I don’t turn the heater on full blast I get some light smoke after a drive. The smoke seems to be coming from below the engine, just behind it, like the rear bottom engine bay. It is very faint.
5) The car will overheat but not to the point that I have to turn the car off IF I turn on the heater full blast. (even on my 70 mile roundtrip commute to work).
6) Today I noticed after immediately turning off the car that the radiator was ambient temperature. I could touch it 30 seconds after I turned the vehicle off after my 35 mile commute to work this morning and it was cool to the touch. EDIT I was mistaken, this was the condenser.
7) However, the top AND bottom radiator hoses are very hot.

Some other information: about a month ago my timing belt broke and my engine died. I had a mechanic drop in the exact same engine (used; unknown history/mileage). He used the carburetor that came with that engine. It needed more work, and this is from the invoice: “needs power brake booster (leaking vacuum), needs carburetor removal to gain access for adjustments.” I believe he said the car was running lean.
He replaced the engine, and added the following new parts:
1) Timing belt
2) Water pump
3) Upper motor mount
4) Camshaft seal
5) Crankshaft seal
6) Timing belt tensioner
7) Oil/coolant
I’m not auto expert at all, and I probably left out pertinent info, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what the problem could be? I thought the radiator could be blocked, but the weird thing is BOTH hoses (top and bottom) are very hot, but the whole radiator is ambient (I touched it and used an infrared temperature gauge). After my drive this morning I also checked the temperature of top of the engine with the infrared temperature gauge (where the oil cap is) and the top read about 210 Fahrenheit and the exhaust manifold read 350+ Fahrenheit.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Put that same question into the search engine and you will pull up about 380 pages of answers and questions on the same subject..Give it a try member

 

Ok, new developments.

1) I pressure tested my radiator cap, which failed miserably. When tested to 13-15 psi it immediately started losing significant pressure.

2) I tried pressure testing my radiator, but to be honest I could not get the pressure gauge to seal to it. I believe this is more me not understanding how to use it rather than the actual filler cap.

3) I used 5-6 oz of bars leak liquid in the radiator and installed a new 13psi (old one was 13 psi) radiator cap.

4) I started the car and let it idle for about 10 min. I then drove on the street for about a mile, then the freeway for a mile, then streets back for maybe 2 miles. Parked the car, left it running, opened the hood for about 3 min and everything seemed fine.

5) I turned the car off, checked out the vehicle for about 30 seconds, then bam, it started leaking a lot of fluid. I opened the hood, and it was the top of the coolant reservoir. Here's a picture of how much leaked, and how the reservoir was leaking (between the reservoir and what looks like the cap).



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Don’t assume the temp gauge isn’t working as you smell Coolant. I would first get the correct adapter to pressure test the system. With my 1995 Accord I had to order the correct adapter as no one had one in my area. I see a lot of rust on the overflow bottle. Have you run just water at one time? After you sort out if it is leaking or not you can look up how to test the cooling system on as has been already mentioned.

 

Temp gauge doesn't work for sure. Found that out about a year and a half ago when I almost burned my engine up when she overheated real bad and I ended up replacing a bad radiator (the gauge goes from the bottom to the same spot every time, regardless of temeprature outside, driving conditions, etc). I've never run just water, also 50/50. I'm not sure if that's actual rust, I'll look at the reservoir tomorrow, although it might have been from years ago.

The weird thing that I forgot to mention is without a doubt it spews coolant from that resavoir (only after the car is shut off, never while it's running). HOWEVER, if I turn the heater on full blast during any trip, it WILL NOT leak. Any ideas? I got the pressure tester loaned to me from autozone, I'll have to look into an adapter or see if I can figure it out (maybe I did it wrong). Thanks for the help!

 

The adapter Autozone had for my Accord didn’t fit and make a seal. You may be in the same situation. Having the heater blower on will cool the coolant some, make sure the fans work. They should come on at a certain temperature and all the time with the AC on. I asked about using straight water as it will turn a cooling system to rust. I would suggest getting the Temp gauge fixed; it may save you an engine some day.

 

No, No, No on useing that straight water..that will be very bad for your block...

 

Man I had the same exact problem with my car, at 1st I couldn't see any leak what so ever... I was freaking confused! lol changed the cap, thermostat, hoses, flushed the system like 30 million times to find a leak, I didn't think it was my radiator cuz I had just put it on like 5-6 months ago and I decided to change it and BAM! That was the problem! lol

You should try it, If it's not the radiator return it