Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

1997 Accord EX VTEC

I recently purchased this car with a little over 90k on it. I took it to the mechanic for the whole 90k maintanence (coolant flush, water pump, timing belt, trans flush, etc.). After getting it back I noticed my temp guage was approaching red when idle, but when driving (or simply reving the engine) it went back down to normal temp. I took it back to them and they said they had to bleed air out and it should be fine now. Still...would overheat if idle or low speed. Brought it back Again, they replaced the thermostat (said it had fallen apart). Took it home drove fine for about a week and now temp slowly rising again. I researched online and tried to bleed the system myself. I opened the radiator cap and let it run it burped up ALOT of coolant, and I kept refilling it. The problem is that it continued for a whiiiiile. I emptied about 3/4 gallon of coolant into the radiator before giving up and going inside. When I put the cap back on and drove around it seemed fine...let it sit idle for a while and the temp seemed ok? I have been researching and it seems to me I have some symptoms of a blown head gasket? What do you all think?? I do not see any coolant in oil or oil in coolant, exhaust is good, had it looked at by mechanic 3times now and they have not mentioned the head??? Im starting to think this mechanic is not very good...any help would be grealy appreciated.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

doesn't seem likely that you have water going into the engine, because if it was that much you would have other symptoms (that much water will either show up in the oil or would cause a lot of exhaust smoke) Make sure that the system is completely bled, when you bleed the system make sure that you are turning on the heat inside the car and you are giving the system plenty of time to heat up. You said that you put 3/4 gallon of coolant into the engine and then gave up. If you were able to put that much water into the system you either have a lot of air in there, the water is leaking out, or it is leaking into the engine. I would definitely assume that it just needs to be bled, at least until you have ruled that out.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

Yea I had the heat cranked all the way up but the weird thing was it didnt get hot until I drove it around? I will try to bleed it more...Do you recommend I do anything different to try bleeding it?? How long does it usually take & How much coolant could it take? I just figured it must be taking air in somewhere, because to me it seemed like too much air to just be trapped inside. Also when I say 3/4 gallon, that is how much I used from the bottle...but alot was spilling out due to the burping it would spit out hard then settle down repeatedly.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

first off to bleed bleed the system,, there is a bleed nipple on the t-stat housing ( 12 mm socket) loosen it up, add coolant to radiator till only coolant comes out of the nipple ,, tighten the nipple , reinstall rad cap ..
also you say it overheats at idle are BOTH fans working ?? and lastly go to a shop that specializes on Hondas or the dealer ,, this shop that you went sounds shabby to me ..

make sure not to use pure coolant only , you got to have a 50/50 mix coolant and water .
also make sure radiator cap is ok..\\

If all is ok,, have a shop do a leakage test .. it will tell you if there is a blown head gasket.

was car ok before shop did the work ??

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

Both fans work with AC and come on intermittently when car is running, one fan comes on when car is off (passenger side). I am also using a 50/50 mix. As far as if the car worked before the shop did the work...I only had it a day before taking it in for the work, but all seemed fine before hand. I did not notice any problems when checking the fluids, and had a shop check it out before purchasing. But it would be hard for me to say for sure if it was caused by them? They have been pretty good to me on prices, bleeding the system and replacing the thermostat for free after I had them do my 90k maintenance. I will try the nipple way you say to bleed the system after work today, but do you think that sounds like the problem? Or would you say I am probably looking at something worse than just air? When bleeding from the nipple should the car be running as well, or do you do this with a cool engine? Thanks to everyone for your help.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

I have done the bleeding with a cold engine and haven't had any cooling problems.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

Dont mean to hijack this thread but I have the same coolant issue on my 94 Accord. It was sent to a shop and water pump, timing etc was done, after a few months now it has started to over heat pretty bad. It only over heats at a long idle interval or a hour continuous drive. Therm, is new and it was bleed properly. After noticing a huge puddle under the car today I found it overheating and water coming out of the end of the Heater inlet hose??? any ideas?

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

Is your fan coming on?

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

UPDATE: So today I drove to and from work, some traffic, lots of lights, and sat idle in my driveway for a while...the temp did not move. I did open up the hood and open the resevoir tank there were air bubbles surfacing. The level was lower than where I left it when I attempted to bleed it yesterday also. I will try to bleed using the valve by the thermostat tomorrow when the engine is cool. I am really hoping it is just air and not the head...but how much air could possible be stuck in there???

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

My mechanic told me that sometimes w/ a bad head gasket, exhaust gasses can blow into the coolant. Then when the bubbles make their way to the t-stat, they congregate there, and the t-stat doesn't open so the coolant doesn't circulate into the radiator. Voila! Overheating.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

If you are getting a lot of air bubbles coming out of the overflow tank, you might want to get a leak down test done. It can help pinpoint a headgasket problem.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

Is there any way to test the head gasket yourself?

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

The most common signs of a bad head gasket are coolant in your oil (check the dipstick, if the oil looks milky you may have an issue) also, in the morning before starting your car take the radiator cap off and see if there is a rainbow looking liquid floating on top of the coolant (oil). Those are two easy ways to help check.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

My Dealer said everything was working fine, except that I have a pin hole in the intake hose. I am wondering why I visually saw the water coming from the heater inlet hose at the nipple if the only problem was a pin hole in the intake hose (upper) on the radiator? It was over heating when it did this.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

Mjparrie - Please start your own thread. It sounds like you have a completely different problem than bgtcket5, and it gets very confusing on who we are addressing on here.

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

UPDATE: I have been driving fine with no overheating...until Today. I have been checking coolant levels and oil daily, even while it was running fine. I still have not seen any mixture of the two. Today when I was parked it started to heat up and again when I rev the engine to about 1500rpm it goes back down.

The coolant in the reserve tank is completely full while the radiator was alot lower. It seems the coolant is getting from the radiator to the reserve tank but cannot make its way back to the radiator? I think that is why it runs fine for days after the radiator is filled, until it all gets to the reserve tank and cannot make its way back.

I am dropping it off tonight one last time before bringing it to Honda (simply because my mechanic has been really good to me on price, doing alot for free - Honda wants $100 just to look at it). I will make sure he does a leakand pressure test. I am hoping the pressure is off due to either a pinhole or bad radiator cap...but I think I'm fooling myself. Thanks for all of your help everyone, I'll let you know how it goes.

peter4jc - sounds like i may have the problem your mechanic said about the exhaust gases...damn u!

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

have you pressure tested the system ?? pressure tested the radiator cap, to make sure it holds pressure ande the rubber seals are ok and not cracked ?? done a leakage test ??

RE: Coolant problem...Head gasket? Air??
 

I am not sure if the mechanic ran those tests I am going to be speaking to him tomorrow (when I leave my car with him), and making sure they are done.