93 Honda Prelude Gets Hot
mike
radiator cap, bled it, but it is still loosing coolant from somewhere
and then it gets hot.
I was wondering if it is burning coolant and/or oil.
What is the best way to ck that?
Kevin
"mike" <hil...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:1148485837.7...@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Remove spark plugs and look for signs of coolant on plugs. IF nothing is
obvious then have a cylinder leak down test performed by a repair shop.
--
Kevin Mouton
Automotive Technology Instructor
"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy"
Red Green
>
TeGGeR®
>
> "mike" <hil...@charter.net> wrote in message
> news:1148485837.7...@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>> My sons Prelude was getting hot and I replaced the radiator and the
>> radiator cap, bled it, but it is still loosing coolant from somewhere
>> and then it gets hot.
>>
>> I was wondering if it is burning coolant and/or oil.
>>
>> What is the best way to ck that?
>
> Remove spark plugs and look for signs of coolant on plugs.
What do plugs look like that have coolant deposits on them?
--
TeGGeR®
Kevin
"TeGGeR®" <teg...@tegger.c0m> wrote in message
news:Xns97CD9AF1...@207.14.116.130...
that was rude. The thing is, if you do have a coolant leak into the
combustion chamber it will most likely be only on one or two cylinders. The
spark plugs in the affected cylinders will be cleaner looking than the rest
of them. It can be hard to tell for sure it is coolant causing the
difference and not some other problem like a lean condition caused by a
vacuum leak. That is why I would suggested a leak down test if you can't
tell just from looking at the plugs. I could probably tell, but then I have
a lot of experience at that sort of thing.
Kevin
Kaz Kylheku
> My sons Prelude was getting hot and I replaced the radiator and the
> radiator cap, bled it, but it is still loosing coolant from somewhere
> and then it gets hot.
Did you check the condition and clamping of all the hoses?
> I was wondering if it is burning coolant and/or oil.
Coolant doesn't burn; it's water-based! What it can do is leak,
evaporate, or fail to circulate. It can leak if the cooling system is
breached somewhere, which could be anything from a cracked or
insufficiently clamped hose, to a bad radiator cap (which you replaced,
right?) to a cracked engine block or blown head gasket. If there is
such a breach, the system won't hold pressure, which leads to the
coolant boiling! The system is supposed to be sealed, so that when it
heats up, pressure builds. The radiator cap acts as a relief valve to
keep the pressure at about 16 psi. The pressure ensures that the
coolant has a much higher boiling point (just like what happens inside
a pressure cooker). Vaporized or missing coolant doesn't cool the
engine, so the engine overheats.
Other than leakage or boiling, another problem could be failure to
circulate. When the engine gets hot, a thermostat valve is supposed to
open up the cooling passages in the engine block to the flow of coolant
from the radiator. If the valve doesn't open, you have an overheating
problem.
Lastly, what makes the coolant move? The water pump! If the pump isn't
pumping, the coolant just sits there, and so no cooling takes place. If
coolant sits in the engine block and doesn't circulate back to the
radiator to give up some of its heat, it will boil off, so it could
look like you are losing coolant. (It depends on the type of cooling
system: some can recover boiled-off coolant from a reservoir, in
others, boiled coolant is lost).
So there you have it. The overheating is probably caused by one of
three things: breach of the cooling system, bad thermostat that is
sticking closed, or a broken water pump.
mike
I need to check to see if all my hoses are good. I need to check the
heater hoses for sure.
How do I ck the water pump? My experience is that it makes a bunch of
noise and/or water comes from it.
BTW, that was a good writeup. I appreciate that.
Kevin
mike,
You said you are loosing coolant then overheating. I presume that means as
long as the cooling system is full there is no overheating problem. The
water pump must be working properly if that is the case, but it still might
be leaking. It can be difficult to do, but a good visual inspection is the
only way to determine if the pump or for that matter any other system
component is leaking externally. Sometimes leaks are hard to see and the
coolant may evaporate quickly which makes it even harder to find. Two things
that can help find an elusive external leak is to pressure test the system
and to use an ultraviolet dye additive to the coolant. Most parts supply
stores sell inexpensive ultraviolet leak check kits that can be used. The
dye will leave a trace from the leak that is easily visible under
ultraviolet light.
Of course, there is still the possibility that there may be an internal leak
which will not show up and would have to be diagnosed using other methods.
Good luck,
mike
fluid. So ..... where am I using fluid from?
Good point about the uv fluid. If I put that in and drive it around,
then I should be able to see where it went when it leaks!
I'm going to try for that one!
Mike
jim
mike wrote:
>
> Thats correct, everytime the car starts overheating, there is a loss of
> fluid. So ..... where am I using fluid from?
Is it losing fluid because it's overheating? Or does it lose fluid
overtime and then when the coolant gets low enough it starts to
overheat? That is to say, can you keep it from overheating by simply
checking and adding more coolant, before you drive it. If that's the
case and you don't see coolant leaks on the pavement where you park it
then it is pretty likely that the coolant is going out the tailpipe. If
that is the case it will require major surgery to fix it - might cost
more than the car is worth.
-jim
>
> Good point about the uv fluid. If I put that in and drive it around,
> then I should be able to see where it went when it leaks!
>
> I'm going to try for that one!
>
> Mike
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mike
drove it until is started to get hot. When I put it up on the lift I
couldn't see any coolant except some on the pavement and above that,
some dripping down from the side of the engine past the oil pan cover.
I still couldn't see where it was coming from. I'm going to have to
take off the exhaust shield to see if I can see what's under there. If
it is coming from that area, then it'll probably be a blown head
gasket. I dread that. I'm hoping fro something a bit more minor that I
can fix.
Anyone know whats under there that could be leaking?
Mike