Hey there guys.

1997 Honda Accord EX-V6
230,000 miles of mostly trouble free operation.

Driving on the highway couple days ago. Notice the temp gauge start to climb. Drive for maybe 2-3 miles with the meter getting hotter. Meter pegs in the red (about 5-10 sec), I pull off the highway and pop the hood.

There's a small crack about 3-in long in the upper tank of the radiator, spewing out what was the last of the coolant. I wait for the car to cool, fill it back up and drive it about 1/2 mile back home.I buy a new radiator and replace it. No issues.

Here are my questions and concerns:

-I didn't drive the car anymore than a few seconds with the meter nearing the red. Would/might this cause permanent damage?

-I replaced the radiator before in April 2013 (with 200,000) miles. One of the basic ones with plastic tank. Radiators should last much longer than 1.5 years. Could it be a defective radiator? Air in the system?

-Checked the oil. Seems to be regular consistency. Not a milky brown like would be associated with a head gasket blowing out. Although, at 230K, overheating certainly isn't doing it any favors.

-Does anyone/has anyone ever had this happen with one of these motors (C27)? How durable, reliable are these motors?


Thanks a bunch in advance.

 

Aftermarket radiators vary depending on the manufacture, and yes if it was a cheap radiator for it to fail after 1.5 years when it probably came with a 1 year warranty is not out of the norm.

As far a damage to the engine, if the head did not warp, there is not miss fire and you are not burning coolant then the engine probably survived the trip.

 

No way to know if head gasket was damaged. Watch for engine missing, bright white smoke out of exhaust on startup, and loss of coolant.

There's a good video on youtube about diagnosing head gasket failure. However I wouldn't get into this unless you have some of symptoms.


Sometimes circumstances demand you drive a bit w/ a hot engine and hope for the best!

good luck

 

If this happens again, turn on the heat full blast and use outside air. The heater core is basically a mini-radiator that helps pull heat from the coolant. This is to help get you home and an emergency solution.

 

The best thing to do is to get a compression tester for about $20 and pull the 15a ecu fuse in the engine bay fuse box assembly and compression test each cylinder.

 

Seems it was just the radiator crapping out on me. Car runs just fine now. Oil looks fine, car doesn't stumble, nor does the temp gauge budge above normal.

Thanks for the help, now its time to figure out the A/C I just fixed

Thanks guys!