For The Love Of God!

[89RIDE]

Alright, someone out there has to know what the hell is wrong with my car. I'm tired of taking it to mechanics and all they tell me is "I don't know what to tell you". I have to fill my radiator up with fluid every 2-3 days now, because it dissapears somewhere. There are no leaks, it's not vaporizing(checked for vapor with black light), it's not going into my engine block(checked oil). So where the hell is it going? I don't know if knowing this helps at all but when i'm nearing the end of my coolant it takes awhile to get heat in the car cause it just stays cold air. Also when all the coolant is gone all that's left in the radiator is pretty thick white foam. I need some help please! How do i fix this???

[YK86]

If the rad isn't leaking, your block or head might be cracked. A very slow leak can cause air to enter the coolant system and the coolant to sort of burn in the cylinder without big puffs of smoke and without mixing with the oil. You can warm up the car with the rad cap off and see if there's air bubbles when the thermostat opens. But that's weird the mechanics can't help you.

[ACCORD EX]

i am with yassu ! really can't think of anything else ! :(

MIKE

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Mine did that when I had a small leak that I couldn't find. I found it though. (intake manifold to water pump hose) I don't know how it got a little pin hole in it on the underside of the hose though.

[shepherd79]

the best way to eliminate hoses is by replacing all of them.

[dosh8er]

could a water pump be another crucial item to look at? I noticed my coolant consumption go way down after I replaced that... and i really didn't see much in the driveway.

[MoonScryer]

Seals around the waterpump could be gone, leaking it down the side when you drive it...heat dosen't always make seals expend the correct way.

As to the disappearing coolant: get a dye trace kit and a UV light. Put the dye in the radiator, fill it back up like you usually do, and shine the UV light everywhere; hopefully it will show up.

It is also possible it IS your radiator, as in you got a failing seam on it, and everything is just vaporizing out the hole it creates when there is some much steam back pressue. I had this problem. I replaced the radiator.

[89RIDE]

Thanks for the help, should i just take it to some other mechanic now and tell him some of the stuff you guys told me or should i try replacing all the hoses first? As for the UV light thing, i think the anti freeze i use already has that glow kit thing in it, or it said it did at least. If my head gasket is cracked, i'm guessing that's an expensive thing to fix.....

[ACCORD EX]

BTW i forgot to mention ! why don't you do a radiator compression test ? it 's done while the car is off ! it will certrainly show any leaks even small ones !
if nothing ! do a compression test and see if there is something wrong with the head !

MIKE

[89AccordLXI666]

it could be all the above mentioned and could be the thermostat perhapes, or maybe u need a new radiator, Hope that helps, good luck bro.

[89RIDE]

Alright, i talked to a mechanic that one of my friends dad told me to call and i'm bringing the car in friday and this guy is supposed to take a good look at the car. I'm still hopefull that it's not a blown head gasket because the mechanic said i'd be seeing white smoke out of the tailpipe, and fortunately i'm not seeing any of that and i never had before. I'm going to mention that compression test too to him and see if he can do that. I'll keep you guys updated, cause if it is a blown gasket and is going to cost over $1000 i don't know how much longer i'd be able to keep the honda.....

[ACCORD EX]

good luck ! :)


MIKE

[rocky2]

Before you take the car in...Try this 1st......Some modern rides you just can't get away with filling the radiator up,then put the cap back on and drive. It don't work like that.
To get coolent in thesee newer cars is a challage.....I just did my brothers villiger ,thay wanted to charge him 3-bills for a fix.
Try to get as much coolent into the thing as possible by waiting after your pour in coolent into radiator. What I do is: take off the upper radiator hose on radiator then fill it up with coolent while its being held way up in the air then quickly insert back unto radiator. Then I squezze it while lookin at level in radiator it will subside and allow more coolent to enter,keep doing that till it wont take any more coolent. Then walk away from it and come back allowing more time to flow. See if it goes dwn somemor. Its a pain but you have to "CRAM' coolent into these rides nowdays. GOOD LUCK

[oldsub86]

Pressure test the system. You can get a couple of different kinds of tester. Both kinds attach to the rad at the cap and put air into the system to pressurize it. Some are like a tire pump. You put it on and pump it up to a certain pressure and then watch to see if it will hold the pressure. It it does not you can generally find the leak. The other kind uses air from a compressor and a valve to reduce as you only need a few pounds pressure.

[89RIDE]

Can i get a pressure tester at a car parts store?

[88LXi/87CRXSi]

autozone lists it as a "loan-a-tool", if you have one nearby!
Coolant Pressure Tester with Adapters (http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/in_our_stores/loan_a_tool/heating_cooling/coolant_pressure_tester.jsp)

-Steve

[ACCORD EX]

yes that's the one ! nice find steve !:) :Super:

MIKE

[A20A1]

I used to lose coolant out of the overflow tank cause my radiator cap was failing.

[Neuspeed007]

i suggest replacing EVER SINGLE HOSE under your hood, i did thaty and it only costed me $150 You just need to find the rite place.

[netfreak]

If you notice your carpets turn green, then you know where your coolant has gone! This weird ass stuff happened to me.. Back in the summer I would have to dump coolant in more than once a week and it would still run hot. After noticing the carpets had become unusually damp, I ripped them out to find nice puddles of coolant inside my car. I imagine theres still lots of it hiding inside since nothing has ever leaked onto the ground in my garage.

[ACCORD EX]

if you check for pressure and it's ok ! replace the radiator cap !

MIKE

[89RIDE]

I got some good news! I took the car to this guy today and he check out the whole system for me, and found that one of the bolts that screwed the thermastat to the rest of the housing was cracked in half and coolant was bubbling through the seam there. So thank god it's not a blown head gasket, but i guess it's still going to cost a good $350 because the best thing to do he said was to replace everything: thermastat, housing, gaskets....Does this sound right to everybody? I could also get the broken screw drilled out but he said then it wouldn't do as good of a job as replacing everything. Oh yea, and everything was going well until i was driving home and noticed smoke pouring out of my engine..........the mechanic forgot to screw the radiator cap down all the way so i had coolant everywhere! Thanks again for all the help everyone.

[buzzbomber88lx]

Could be your heater hoses. My family owned a sunurban that used water and it was the heater hoses. Either that or a water pump or cracked head or block. Sounds like a pain in the ass to me.

[SiCReX]

dude what the fuck i replaced my fuCKing thermostat MYSELF for like 10 bucks dont be gay and pay 350 BUCKS!@!! fuck him replace the thermostat yourself. SAME shit happend to me, one of the screws broke off, you know what I did?? i used one screw to screw that bitch ass thermostat on, it used to leak a tiny bit witht he heater on but the water deposits filled up the crack, haha. its cool now, tinny bit ghetto though, but much cheaper.