My daughter has a 1993 Accord with over 200,000 miles on it. We have only owned it for about 6 months.

We had some cooling problems a few months back, replaced several temp sensors and it seemed to clean it up. To make matters worse, the temp gauge sticks so it can be tough to know when the problem is real or not.
It has been running okay but we have to top off the anti freeze regularly. I haven't been able to see it leaking. We went out of town and the car sat for a week. When we got back there was a small puddle on the drivers side, by engine. I'm guessing where the water pump is although I can't tell.
If it was the water pump leaking, wouldn't it leak while running and not while sitting? I'm trying to figure out if I need to replace the water pump or if it is something else. May try some stop leak first just to see what happens.

The other thing that happens is the fan runs for quite a while after driving the car even short distances. It seems like it shouldn't heat up so much that the fan would have to run 15 minutes after driving. That also made me think maybe the water pump isn't circulating like it should.

I also have to keep an eye on the oil. It never pools under the car, but I have to top it off every few weeks and can see it is leaking underneath very slowly. So I have also wondered about the head gasket or something.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

It's strange, but I had a waterpump (95 Integra) that didn't leak while running. Only leaked for a couple minutes after turning off the engine. Never really figured out WHY it behaved that way, I just replaced the waterpump. But I DID take off the timing covers & verify it was truly coming from the waterpump shaft seals.

What temperature "sensors" did you replace? My suspicions are the fan-switch-B (at upper radiator hose) might be the wrong switch.

 

We replaced all but one last summer and I think that was the one we didn't replace. It only recently started having the issues and the engine temp seems fine on the dashboard gauge so good chance it is the sensor.
Now I just need to figure out if the water pump has issues...

Thanks!

 

Water pump is same side as timing belt. If you replace the water pump look at replacing the timing belt at the same time.


Head gaskets are checked by compression tester. can do yourself, write down results or you forget them. Tester unit is modest cost; AutoZone / Oreilly's may lend you one?


From your words, I'd check the freeze point of the coolant - if, if you've been adding straight antifreeze to top it off rather than 50% water diluted to -34F freeze point. I believe high antifreeze concentrations leak where the 50:50 stuff won't. Also, high antifreeze stuff is worse at cooling than 50:50 so that might explain car fan running longer...

best

 

I had a water pump leak when car is off, when I replaced pump I noticed the bearings were shot, when it was on the spinning keeps the gear somewhat straight, when its off, it will move slightly because of bad bearings creating a pathway for coolant to escape. Sounds like pump to me.

And what uhoh said, timing belt great idea. Theres also a balance shaft belt I believe its called, and a good write up on timing belt tensioner in diy section I think.

 

Yeah, the timing belt drives the waterpump. Since you have to remove the timing belt, it's kinda silly to put the old belt back on.