Just a short story. Similar story, long version:

Coolant Overflow Tank

 

Man that was a read... Thread has moved me to doing a compression test tonight. let's see what that shows. Thanks Roader.

As for a update, ran the car last night no issues. fans operating normally it seems. didn't crack the system. this morning, topped off rad, ran kids to school, came home parked it and ignored it til the old ladys lunch time and ran it up there and took her to lunch, (didn't run ac) temp never moved from normal til we went thru drive thru. Temp started creeping toward the half mark, and I heard one of the fans kick on, got out of the drive thru parked and popped the hood leaving the car idling, and verified it was the driver side fan running. alone. activated ac, no change. same fan continued to run. got little above 1/2 and 2nd fan kicked on (pass side), temp returned to normal.

drive home and leave car idling in the drive, temp creeps up to a little over 1/2, BOTH fans kick on, temp back to normal. fans kick off. I watched it do this 4x.

The way the fans are running on this while effective, has me stumped.

anyhow let it cool down, topped it off in the radiator, overflow is at about 3/4, took less than a 1/4 gal. (judging by the gallon jug I was using to top it off) straight water. considering putting antifreeze in tonight, and see what it does with a proper mixture.

Oh, so I'm in the know here, pop's is telling me these things ain't supposed to have green coolant. any truth to this? it had green coolant when I got it. he says something about it eating the aluminum head.

Thanks again for the responses.

 

Ok trip update.

roughly 25mi trip. topped off rad before leaving, ran ac whole trip, which included sitting idle for ~10min 2x, temp gauge never moved from "normal" just below the 1/2 mark. Fans cycled, compressor cycled, it kicks the motor when kicking on either or, got home shut off ac let idle, fans kicked off, let idle, temp creeps up to 1/2, fans kick on, run for a couple min til temp back to "normal". shut it down after 1 cycle of that, and after motor is off it kicks on the pass side fan, (older one, with bigger shroud) and I left it at that.

I'm chalking the temp change with the ac off being because it didn't have a fan constantly running, and idling without any load circulation was slower and it did as it was supposed to when it got to the 1/2 mark-ish kicked on the fans and brought the temp back to "normal".

going to let it cool down and check water level. if that looks ok, I'll drain some off tonight and get some anti-freeze in it.

so um, assuming no water loss, I should be good to go right?

Still kicking around doing a compression test tonight. also whilst checking for leaks repeatedly I noticed that even with the ac on that whole trip I has no condensation puddle. I believe it was leaving one before, so I'm going to have to check and see if I've pinched it or if it's dropping on that plastic under the nose thats a PITA, or what.

 

These days, antifreeze color isn't a reliable indicator. It wants stuff with no silicates in it. New Prestone (green) is OK, it's hybrid OAT formula. If you have a bottle of green Prestone left over from 1974 that won't be good. Same color, different formula.

 

Compression test may not show a small head gasket leak. Readings before & after replacing a bad head gasket on my '96 F22B2:
A leakdown test after the first compression test showed coolant pushing out of the radiator when #3 was pressurized.

Does the engine miss for a second or two after a cold (overnight) start?

Right.

 

well it of course wouldn't go that easy... took it for another road test. didn't top off or nothing as it didn't appear I lost anything and took off for another ~25mile run. no ac. 50-60mph. all is fine til I get to a light and the temp starts creeping up. light turns green and temp decreases with rpm... (hmmmmm ooook shouldn't be low enough on water for that but since I didn't check, who knows) pull into a parking lot and pop the hood and the temp is climbing, get up above half, I kick the throttle and the fans kick on and start bringing the temp down. slam hood and start back towards the house. temp stays put cept for whilst idling, and if I bump the rpm's it starts to bring it back down.

get back to the house, temp starts climbing, it kicks on the new fan (drivers side) I kick on the ac, the other fan looks back at me blankly... doesn't move.

:bang:

letting it cool down and see how much water is in the radiator, if I'm losing any I'm not sure where. nothing out the exhaust, nothing leaking, nothing contaminated... overflow is about 3/4 and the water in it was warm, not hot, not cold.

so my question to you honda guru's is this... you think I'm still looking at a head gasket? WTF is with the fans, could the temp switch be fukky? I'm wondering since I can only get the drivers side to run when I jump the plug at the t-stat what I should be looking at? I mean the fans both run when it wants to apparently. all fuses are fine, relay was swapped with the known to work relay for the pw's, etc.

ugh.

 

Update. didn't seem to lose much in the way of water, went out there and brimmed it and cracked the bleeder valve... but I went back at it with the fans... Jumped plug at t-stat. fires drivers side fan (new one) only.

so as was explained earlier in the thread and going back to that again, jumped the one on the upper hose, nada. can hear the relay clicking tho.

decide to get it up on the ramps and pull the plastic out of the way and get to the plug for the pass side fan. Run the test wires to it and put them to the battery. Nothing happens. spin the fan a bit and put the wires to the battery again and it spins, slowly. let it stop, put the wires to the batt. nada.


:aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhh hh:

are you telling me I have to replace the whole cooling system and I still ain't sure I haven't blowed a headgasket?!?!?!?!!?!?

lol this is my luck.

also. while I was bleeding it again, the thing circled kept buzzing at me. is this normal? lmao!

edit: per this

the pass side fan is the cooling system fan. the drivers side is the condenser fan.

at least it's cheaper than the other one. :facepalm:

 

Sounds like that fan is dead as well....power and no spin, time to replace.

That is the canister purge solenoid....consider it normal for now.

 

Ok. put new fan in. now both work when jumped at the t-stat. had to cut a lip off the bottom of the new fan to get it to fit tho.

another issue of concern. I had to pull the upper rad hose and all that, had it up on the ramps, filled and bled and all that, and it struggled to start. took 4 attempts. thats a first. also, it shot a fair amount of water thru the exhaust. it's done that off and on since I've had it. verified that the fans worked on their own.

went and ran it, got it all warmed up, got back to the house and idled til it cycled the fans a few times, it would get the temp gauge to about the half way mark and it would kick on the fan. they would run about 2 min and kick off and the temp would drop back close to normal (almost seemed as if there was a lag, fans were off but gauge didn't catch up for a sec, but it was at idle) then about another 2 min and they would be running again. ambient temp ~65.

I think all I can do now is let it cool, check level, and see if it struggles to start again.

 

Keep a close eye on your coolant level. I never lost much coolant on my previous accord, so let us know about how much you need to add (if any). Always check the level in the radiator when the engine is cold for safety purposes.

The temperature gauge on my car never rose much to switch the fans on. Take a look on the metal hex part of each temperature switch. Is there a number stamped on the part. You may need to clean with some steel wool.

Another test is to unplug the switch by the upper radiator hose. Let the engine idle. Use a volt meter to find out when the unplugged switch closes. If the two fans id not turn on when that switch closed, then the switches may be reversed.