Car temp over heats after a drive not all the time 1993 honda accord LX auto.

On monday I went to drive and got to my destination. After I parked, all of a sudden the temperature gauge starts going up rather quickly. So what I did after that was check the coolant reservoir. It was empty. I put some coolant in there that I used.
I thought that would fix the issue. I drove home on Monday, Didn't over heat. Drove it again Tuesday, went home, didn't over heat.

Now I drove it today to destination. It was about 15 min drive. Parked the car, didn't start over heating. But I just got home today. It started doing it again. I turned the key off. The fan comes on. It's not doing it while it's driving.

Keep in mind this happened after a power steering pressure line replacement. But I think this was occurring before the replacement. I remember hearing that fan going on after driving the car (on a couple warm days, I didn't notice temp going up). But recently it was cold outside. Now it's getting warmer out. What should I test out? Maybe do a coolant flush and replacement? I wonder if it's going to start doing it while I'm driving and not when I go to park?

I'm living a car nightmare. Imagine someone telling me to junk my car after all the work I put in it. Just so I can spend $7000 to do more repairs on another. Saying my Transmission is junk (because of a computer fault). I just can't win with people.

Hmm maybe it is the water pump? Don't know what to check first or how to check it. It seems to me it would be cheaper to replace parts than to buy another whole car? If the transmission was truly junk and the internals were failing. Then maybe I could agree that I have to sacrifice the car.

 

You probably have a leak if you need to add coolant. When the engine is cold, open the radiator cap and fill the radiator with coolant. You should add coolant to the radiator to fill the system, but make sure the system is cold. There is an air bleeder on the thermostat housing to allow air to escape when filling. There are some good ericthecarguy videos on youtube about coolant leaks.

I'd got to a parts store and get the radiator pressure loaner tool. When the engine is cold, remove the radiator cap and top off the radiator. Attached the proper fitting in the kit to the radiator. You use the air pump to put about 14-15 psi on the system. The system should hold pressure. If pressure drops, start looking for where coolant is leaking.

Overheating can damage the engine and cause something major like a head gasket failure. To help cool your engine, turn off the air recirculation in the car and turn the heat on full blast. This will help cool the coolant, but will be miserable inside the car.

 

Not a problem I will do that test. Things are starting to add up. I watched the video ericthecaryguy that video. One thing I forget to mention was that strange sound I was hearing when power steering line was fixed (before and after). I assumed that sound was because there was air in the line in the power steering rack. I have to hunt down what is causing that sound. It could very well be I got two separate issues with the car. Time will tell. But I remember taking the car to the mechanic and seeing other leaks. And seeing other leaks under the car near the passenger side of the car. It perhaps could be a coolant leak that was ignored for how many years since my last coolant change. And since the coolant system is a sealed system where no air is suppose to be in there. It's a strong possibility it's not the water pump or could be that temperature sensor you were talking about.

Originally I thought that weird sound was a belt. But since I changed the alternator and power steering belts a while back. It has to be some sort of part that is creating that sound. The sound comes and goes. I could be driving the car two days in a row. And never hear that sound.
Let's see what happens when I drive the car with that heat on full blast. Let's see if the temp gauge goes up. I thought maybe that if it was a bad water pump maybe that temp gauge would go up on idle. It could be because I haven't given that car enough time for it to happen. These are short trips, no highway driving.

I over looked the fact that I should have filled the radiator with coolant. The power steering reservoir remains stable. And I'm not losing any so far. So I'm going to cross my fingers on this one.

Although it's kind of weird that the temp gauge doesn't go up on idle. But it chooses to do it only when I put in park. Isn't it the same difference? Does the coolant system do something different when you put it in park? Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I go park the car and push on the gas and rev up the car when I see that temp gauge going up. Do it quickly if nothing happens just quickly turn off the car. Actually I think that might be a bad idea.

Update: Drove it home today. I 4 mins from my house. And it started over heating. Pushing on the gas just made it worse. But stopping made it a little better. Now I got the opposite effect going. In a hurry I sped up and got it home and shut it off. I probably should have shut it much faster. I can only hope there was no damage. Oh and I did have the heater on full blast. Maybe it is the water pump, and parts fail in different ways giving different kind of issues. I really hope it wasn't going to start over heating while I was driving before I have a chance to try and fix it.

 

Well, I tried that pressure testing kit with 22 adapters. None of the adapters would fit and seal. I did top off the radiator with coolant. And I did fill the coolant reservoir. Now the coolant level was back down to the min line. Keep in mind I actually had it very full even past the max line (slowly went down day by day I believe). So I know it's been taking coolant obviously from the reservoir. Maybe last night it needed more and that's why it was at the min line.

Anyways, I added a total of a half gallon of coolant. I will see if it over heats. I'm not sure if there is air in the line although. I had the cap off and I didn't see any air bubbles.

Maybe what I'll do tomorrow is run the engine longer with the coolant cap off and maybe open that bleeder valve perhaps?

This other part store does have a another pressure testing kit with less adapters maybe I could try that one. Somebody said in the reviews they had to rent out an additional adapter with this kit. Perhaps I could just rent out the kit and see if they have any adapters and go out to my car and take the radiator cap off and see if any of them fit.

Although one thing I have a question about is that one I watched that video from ericthecarguy he mentioned something about needing to have the raditor topped off or full when doing this test. Or it will take forever, right? But what about the reservoir? Even if I have it sealed it's pumping air into that reservoir. And that max line is not all the way to the top. So I got to max out that reservoir as well?

 

You may want to google the kit number to find out what adapter (if any) will fit your accord.

The overflow is not part of the pressurized system, so you don't have to top it off for the pressure test.. Your radiator cap seals the system, but it is also a valve that will allow coolant to enter/exit the radiator to the overflow tank. Coolant will leave the system as it heats up and expands, then it will enter the system when the radiator cools and has vacuum.

 

You were right. I found the coolant leak. I wasn't able to find any adapter whatsoever to fit and seal over that radiator cap. But I was able to look under the car near the transmission. Took my glove and swipe the leak and notice the leak was the color green. Then I looked on top of the car and noticed a very small hose bubbling. Two clamps (there seems some kind of crack due to corrosion near the clamp). I should be able to replace it according to the parts store hopefully.

 

Did you remove the radiator cap before using the adapter? It wasn't clear from your reply.

What small hose is leaking? Where does it attach at the radiator and where does the other end attach? Maybe post a picture, because I'm not sure what is leaking.

 

This one, I replaced it 2 weeks ago. Then added coolant. And the car doesn't seem to be over heating anymore. So I got this problem resolved. It didn't look like it was a coolant hose at first. But after close examination, it comes up from a bigger coolant hose.
Anyways, when this was over and said and done. I discovered I apparently got another power steering leak under that panel were those lines connect to a gear box. Sadly, this was not long right after just replacing a power pressure steering line. This I might need help with in another thread. After I take a look at it. Because I'm hoping to do enough research to convince another mechanic to try and replace these power steering lines. And I really hope there is parts for these or maybe they can do custom work. And yes I did remove the radiator cap, I just could never get the right adapter. I probably could have found the leak much quicker (with this tool). Although, that was leaking for quite some time. I just was too busy to look. But I don't feel bad, I think the mechanic over looked this leak and just focused on the power steering leak. Kind of confusing when you got multiple leaks going on at the same time.

I just hope the head gasket is okay. I did shut it off quickly after a couple of times (previously before I fixed the hose). I hope it's not warped after this...

 

If you overheated the engine enough to warp your cylinder head and break the headgasket seal, then you'd probably already see symptoms of a poor running engine.

 

I'm not seeing that. It seems to be running good.