Hello all, my 95 accord wagon just bought few weeks back.. notice after driving on highway for 20 to 30 mins. hot summer day. exit then driving in city, first light i hit.. my temp gauge rises pretty fast. then green light hits as i drive on it lowers back to norm. im confused and frustrated. thought it was oil. change oil. thought it was cooloant. change coolant. thought it was the thermostat change it. notice when it get hot it spits from the resovoir tank. it drives really smooth. i didnt notice any oil in my coolant when i changed it.. just frustrated. this happened right after i fixed all the probs. for check engine light. hopefully could be just a rad cap need to replace. any ideas? Thanks

 

Symptoms of coolant spitting into reservoir suggests a head gasket failure. You can perform a chemical test to verify. You may be getting coolant into exhaust which would produce very white steam during idle.

See youtube video by "schrodingers box" on ways to diagnose failed head gasket.

good luck

 

The Schrodingers Box video is good. This part: ...is probably why we've seen at least two false negatives with the chemical test on this forum. The video right at 17:15 is definitive, and there's really no need for the leak down gauges: pressurize the cylinders @ TDC and watch for coolant pushing out of the radiator.

X2 on probable head gasket. Does the car miss for few seconds then smooth out after an overnight cold start?