overheating issue with my '96 accord
 

Hello, I have a '96 accord v6 and recently, about 2.5 weeks ago it started overheating. At first it never got into the red, just about 3/4 of the way up and I'd shut it down for a day and then start over the next day. It would overheat after driving about 15-20 miles but it would never overheat on the freeway, just while stopped or going slowly. I now have it in the 2nd garage, the first one originally said that nothing was wrong, then said the thermostat, then changed that to a radiator. They changed the radiator and it still overheated, I took it back and they say they replaced the thermostat for free. It is still overheating. Now I have it in another garage to get a fresh set of eyes on it and they called me today and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I brought it in to them while it was overheating so I'm not sure how the can say that nothing is wrong.

Does anyone have any idea of what this can be? I'm afraid that it might be a head gasket since they all keep saying that the coolant is about a quart low and there aren't any leaks.

A couple more quick notes, it has 212K miles on it and the muffler fell off about a month ago, not sure if this has any bearing on overheating or not. This is our second car and we need it, it's getting really annoying and would like to just get this taken care of. Any ideas would be great.

If the cooling system has been properly purged of any trapped large air pockets and the coolant levels keeps dropping without any noticeable leaks, it may be the head gasket.

However, first verify that the cooling fans are working. When you turn the A/C to on with the car running, does both cooling fans run? Both fans should run at the same time. If one or both fans don't run or run weakly, there is a problem with the fan(s).

If both cooling fans runs strongly with the A/C turned on. With the car off, disconnect the electrical connector from the engine coolant temperature switch and jumper the connector side with a piece of wire or small paper clip (don't use a large paper clip, as you don't want to risk damaging the terminals). Turn the ignition to ON, does both fans run? If both fans run when you perform this test, when the car is overheating, do you notice both fans running?

If both fans do not run when the car is overheating, the engine coolant temperature switch may be faulty. That switch (which is normally open) should close when the coolant temperature is over 199 degrees F, and turn on the cooling fans.

^^^ this

Also, it's very convenient to be able to measure temperatures throughout your life, so get an InfraRed thermometer.
When car gauge says it's overheating, well, lift hood & check temp of radiator hose / thermostat housing via IR unit - takes 5 seconds.
I got mine at Harbor Freight for $25 yrs ago and it's been handy, accurate, durable ... $.02


Loss of coolant - if I didn't have a shop worth trusting, I'd need to confirm that for myself; so check it yourself.
Best.

Here's most of the troubleshooting I went thru with trying to ruling out the headgasket...

https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/for...7-f22b2-56891/

with you having a v6 basic principals still apply. make sure your topped off and no air pockets. I'm leaning towards an air pocket in your case. Check your fluids for contamination especially your oil...

Also, check for water coming thru the exhaust. a properly tuned engine will produce water, but not huge puddles, this is a sign I think mine was trying to give me, cause it was putting quite a bit of water/coolant thru the exhaust.