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danronian
12-12-2002, 09:17 PM
I just bought an 89 accord lxi. It has 140k on it and a manual transmission. When we got it we noticed that the coolant was black so we flushed it from every spot we could so that their is only a hint of brown in the coolant now. The car has a very recently installed new water pump which I would think means that they would have changed the coolant(maybe not though). I also took out the thermostat and am sure it was recently replaced so I let it go since the one i bought looked like sheet metal. After I ran the car for a long while, half hour or more, I felt the top radiator hose and it is as hot as the radiator(makes sense enough), but when I felt the bottom hose it was as cold as the air, around the freezing point. Is the radiator clogged, or is there a problem in my engine? I am used to a regular v8 engine where both of the hoses should be at least hot when its ran, so please help me out here, thanks.
BoredRec
12-12-2002, 10:53 PM
T/stat wasn't open. Was the car overheating? It might not have been warm enuf yet. The top hose will get pretty damn hot before the T/stat opens up. I think the rating on the T/stat is like 190 F.
anchovies
12-12-2002, 11:16 PM
Especially during winter. Can't really tell by grabbing those hoses. Try it again when the fans come on.
danronian
12-13-2002, 02:50 PM
Then also as soon as I turned the car back on after letting it sit for a minute the bottom hose got nearly as warm as the top hose.
shepherd79
12-13-2002, 03:04 PM
the top hose supposed to be hot and bottom should be cold. it is the way the coolant flows, top to the bottom.
check your heater. if it blows hot air, your cooling is fine.
dosh8er
12-13-2002, 07:35 PM
Originally posted by danronian
When we got it we noticed that the coolant was black so we flushed it from every spot we could so that their is only a hint of brown in the coolant now.

:huh:

Make sure that coolant is GREEN. Brown is no good. It should look like it does when you pour it out of the jug.
danronian
09-24-2003, 10:00 AM
Well it has been about a year and the car's cooling is good, other then a gunk buildup that turns the fluid brown every 6 months. I have flushed it numerous times and am sure it isnt the head gasket since the oil looks fine and there is no oil in the coolant, and since it leaks no coolant. Another plus is even sitting in 98 degree traffic at the beach, the temp gauge has never gone over half.

This was just one of those posts of mine that is due to overworrying b/c my chevelle had a cracked head which=cooling havoc until I found the prob.