I inhierited this mess from my brother. It is a 89 Honda Accord with a fresh rebuild recently installed. Working out the kinks was dumped in my lap. It is boiling antifreeze out of the power steering reservoir. I assume there is a crossed hose somewhere but have no clue where. Is there is a diagram that shows the routing of all these hoses. I have little experience with hondas but lots of experience with chevy small blocks. Are there any other gotchas I should as well.
Mike
Visit http://www.pauldesign.ru/ There is an electronic .pdf version of the shop manual available on that site that will tell you everything you may want to know about your car. Check in the radiator area for misrouted hoses. There is a P/S fluid cooling pipe running in front of the radiator. Looks like a long horizontal U. Are you sure its antifreeze and not water? Try changing the fluid. Disconnect the return hose from the P/S fluid reservoir and let the fluid drain while the engine is on and someone is turning the wheels. Try to do this on jack stands if possible, or maybe on a slick surface since that would put less strain on the mechanisms. Once there is no more fluid, reconnect the hose and top off the reservoir. Run the engine again and turn the wheels side to side (all the way) to work the air out of the system. I think it is nealy impossible to misrout the lines. They are different sizes and one would have to be blind to mistake P/S hose for a coolant hose (at least on this car).
3axap.
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I am very sure it is antifreeze it is green and very sweet smelling
uh, is it me or was the P/S fluid green? it was in the last few accords i've seen. also, my bottle of P/S fluid has green fluid in it. lol. P/S fluid is green! ours is anyway.
Keep it HONDA. Or at least Asian.™
*Weber 32/36*Pacesetter Header*2.25 in. Cat Back exhaust*SE-i rear disk brakes
B18C swap ditched, A20 to be revived
Looking for K20/trans for ultimate swap
Ok guys this isn't my first rodeo. I am sure it was antifreeze. The car was very warm near the red line and it was boiling out of the P/S reservoir. It is very clearly not any kind of oil based fluid. Short of tasting it, I can't be any more sure of it being antifreeze and water. I have alot of experience with cars in general. I race stock cars and I have built a few chevy V8's for racing. I am just not familiar with the specifics on these cars. BTW thanks for the links to the shop manual. I found some useful info in there and I think I may have already located the problem, but I won't know for sure till tomorrow. I appreciate the help.
Mike
id bet that somebody crossed one of the ps lines going into the speed sensor in the back of the transmission.... trace them and find out where they go. Look into your radiator to look for ps fluid also
429whp 362wtq A20 TURBO. A20T>*
I did check the radiator. The only way I can describe it is kinda of a chocolate milk color with a green tint. After looking at the diagrams available I am inclined to agree on the speed sensor. I think I will just undo everything and start from scratch. That way I know it is done right.
Mike
since your car is boiling, i would recomed you change the thermostat. you can get it at autoparts store with a gasket for under $6-7.
Alex.
I had thought about that, but i had kinda figured it was overheating due to losing to much antifreeze from the P/S Resv.
The chocolate-colored antifreeze is a direct indication of contamination. Once you fix the problem, flush the system really well since the P/S fluid is probably in the heater core and lines as well. Similarly, flush the P/S system too.
3axap.
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ahh it doesnt have to be purfect... just drain and refill... if you have issues with it, hose it out of the radiator... The ps fluid wont corrode anything or make anything rot so i wouldnt worry about it... antifreeze in the ps is more harmful tho.... make sure that all of that is out.
429whp 362wtq A20 TURBO. A20T>*
I have determined that this car is under demonic possession. It did turn out to be a couple of switched hoses between the fast idle and the speed sensor. I fixed those flushed everything. Added new coolant and a new thermostat and fan thermosensor. First thing was the fan would not kick on and the temp was nearing the hot mark, so I jumpered the plug for the fan thermosensor, bingo fan came on instantly and the temp came down. The new fan thermosensor was bad. So I left the fan on it was cooling perfect right in the middle of the gauge. So I thought now would be a good time to take it for a test drive. Drives good everything was going great and damn my luck if it didn't pop a heater hose. So tomorrow I get to replace heater hoses and redo the coolant and everything again. I am also going to cram that fan thermosensor where the sun don't shine at autozone.
Mike
Either you're gauge is bad or your car is running on the hot side. Mine stays at about one third or just above that. Make sure you get all air out of the system using the bleeder bolt. If your car surges between 1000 and 1500 RPMs that's a sure sign you have air in the coolant.Originally Posted by Locutus
if you gauge in the middle, it suggesting that your are still running hot. and which can be cause by faulty thermostat.
second, get one of those prestone fluch kits. splice it into your heater core pipe and connect the water hose and let it run.
it will fluch the hole thing.
it is amazing how much dirt and rust there is.
but of right now, the thermostan and fan switch must be changed.
Alex.
I had the same thing happen to me a while back. I went to 3 different auto parts stores and none of the new temp switchs worked. I even put them in a pot of boiling water with a multimeter on them and not one ever closed. I eventually went to a junkyard and got one. That was a gamble but it did work and is still working. If you want a new one I suggest you go and price it directly from Honda. It seems aftermarket temp switchs aren't dependable.
chocolate milk antifreeze? man, last car i worked on that had that was a blown head gasket. same was in the oil, chocolate milk colored. still i dont see how a coolant line can be crossed with a P/S line, but then again, anything is possible. you say its a rodeo. i know that they are not well built. the ones i've worked with havent been. same with the honda passport. dont know why those seem to crap out. my friend had one and it finally just needs a whole new engine. those have problems with the cylinder heads i know. bad head gaskets and something with the valves. always the engines will have lots of vavle clicking. anyone else seen these same things with the rodeo/passport?
Keep it HONDA. Or at least Asian.™
B18C swap ditched, A20 to be revived
Looking for K20/trans for ultimate swap
HondaBoy, when Locutus said that it is not his first rodeo, he may have meant that he has some experience with cars, not that he has an Isuzu Rodeo.
3axap.
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I am from south texas and the rodeo reference means that I have experience. The problem was a line going to the speed sensor crossed with a line going to the fast idle. The power steering reservior also had that chocolate milk look to it. I flushed both systems and just to be sure I also checked the oil. It is still a nice golden color, and I also checked the compression to double check my brothers work and it is also good on all cylinders. I did need a new radiator cap and with that it is now cooling under the half way mark on the gauge.
All I can say is you probably had better figure it out before your p/s rack and pinion gets toasted. I'll bet it doesn't like radiator fluid in it. I've changed the rack out before and it sucks. Just my 2 cents.
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