I am having radiator issues

Here is the deal,
I drove from Ft Lauderdale, FL to Fort Pierce (113 miles) with no problems. I have a small leak somewhere in the radiator that requires me to add coolant every once in a blue moon. (I usually add some at the beginning of summer time and check it during road trips. Its not a big leak...more like a drip.) I checked the coolant levels at Ft Pierce and they were fine. I got on the road and almost 30 minutes into the trip the ac stopped coming out cool and the thermostat on my dash went hot. It redlined. I turned on the heater and blew it full blast for almost an hour so I can get to my destination. I checked the engine myself. The hoses looked fine, no obvious leaks. Driver side fan wasn't turning on.

Labor day weekend meant no mechanics were open; I'm not from this area. So I took it to pepboys. They ran diagnostic test and found that the driver fan was broken. I paid for that (ouch, 350$ and I'm a single mom). It seemed to be working great! Over the weekend we drove an hour on the highway going 70mph and no problems. The whole weekend no problems.

Today I attempt to drive back to South FL. 30 minutes into my ride the ac gets hot, and it redlines again. I turn on the heater, pull over and now I'm stuck in Central FL with my four year old.

I'm considering taking out the thermostat tomorrow and testing that to see if it could be that.

I made an appointment with Honda, but I dont really have the money to be paying for the dealership to start replacing parts.

Help Please?
stranded single mom with limited money.

 

Good diagnosis. Thermostat seems likely, if no coolant is lost. Suggest an OEM thermostat. Hopefully overheating did not damage the head gasket.

BTW, the driver side cooling fan had nothing to do w/ your problem. Accord will run at highway speed forever w/ no fans working. Also cost was over the top. Fan cost no more than $75 and 1 hrs labor to install. I would guess about $200 would have been about right. They took advantage. Avoid them in the future.

good luck

 

changed the thermostat this morning!
and.....it didn't work. So on the recommendation of my aircraft-mechanic-father, I will be attempting to change the coolant temperature sensor. The thermostat wasn't too difficult. But I have no idea where the temp sensor is. Please any info/tips/videos?
please help me out. thank you



EDIT:
I'm trying to add a signature with my car info but I dont see it coming up. I'm sorry, I'm new to forums.

My car is a: 2002 Accord EX V6

 

I have now replaced the ECT sensor, thermostat, one fan, and a hose. I am still having this same overheating problem.
I have NO idea what to do next.
can the EGR valve have something to do with this. Please someone help me/

 

$350 for a fan fix? Thats it soo much.

Anyway, did you check if your water pump is still working? Check your hoses for blockage, the small hsoe from reservoir often time gets clogged and we sometimes overlook this.

Goodluck

 

What is the level of the coolant? If low, this could be a sign of a leak - you state that a hose was replaced.....but if there is air in the system strange things can happen.

 

No there was never a leak. I replaced the upper hose because while I worked on it I saw that it was about to go bad. It was swelling where it went into the engine block. I ran out of confidence in myself last night and had it towed. A mechanic looked at it and told me that there are no problems, just that hose that I had replaced was left too loose. So i'm praying this problem is finally over and something I had replaced along the way finally worked. I'm picking it up in an hour. Lets see.

 

Let us know how it turns out....I hope for the "good".