I own a 1997 Honda Accord. I was driving it around and everything seemed just fine but when I got home and parked it and turned it off I heard this "bubbling water" sound. I looked under my car and there was a pretty good bit of water leaking from under. The temperature gauge never went up or anything so I don't think it overheated. Anyone know a possible problem here?

 

Check your radiator upper and lower hoses for leaks, also try to find the source of the leak. Look carefully at the lower tank of the radiator, feel with your hand for coolant, carefully it is hot. If the leak is from the engine, it may be time for a water pump, or worse, a head gasket. Gauges and sensors can be faulty, it may be overheated without showing it.

 

Ok I'll see if I can find the source but the water leak only happened once.

 

Cody,

It sounds like you may have air bubble trapped in your cooling system. The remedy for this would be to "burp" the cooling system by following these directions:

1) Add a mixture of one-half water and one-half antifreeze to the radiator. Fill it right up to the top.

2) Fill the overflow/coolant reservoir with the same 50/50 mixture.

3) Leave the radiator cap off, turn the engine on and let it run until the radiator "burps": You will see the coolant level drop and may see or hear a large air bubble come to the top as the system burps.

4) Keep an eye on the temperature gauge throughout this process.

5) Refill the radiator to the top and coolant reservoir as needed.

6) Put the radiator cap back on (refer to this 97 Accord radiator diagram should you need a components guide).

This should properly "burp" your cooling system. Keep in mind that air pockets can cause overheating because there will not be enough coolant in the cooling system, even if the radiator and coolant reservoir look full. So before that happens it may be a good idea to "burp" your cooling system

 

Thanks for the answer! One of my friends also said it could be that the anti-freeze is old. Is that a possbility?

 

Old antifreeze can loose its anti-corrosive properties; but usually is still OK for cooling. For corrosion I always say change it every 2 or 3 years.

Can't hurt to change the antifreeze, but I'd be looking for things like a bad thermostat or fan switches.

 

Ok I took the car back to the guy I bought it from and he performed a compression and leak check on the engine. He said there were no leaks and the head gasket is just fine. He also said it's not a cracked head. However, I know the problem will still continue because I drove it around for about 2 hours saturday and it started over heating, so I pulled it over and turned it off. I checked the radiator and there was little to nothing left in it! I had to pour a lot of water into the radiator to fill it back up again. I also noticed, if you take the radiator cap off and give it gas, water comes out of the radiator. What the heck is the problem here? If anyone has any ideas at what the problem could be please let me know!

 

....coolant is going somewhere. Not sure if you were there when the tests were done or not?

Car is stone cold, remove cap and start engine, does the same "water out of rad" happen?

 

I'll give this another try and see if the water comes out like last time!