overheating.......... WHY?????????????

[3gkeemo]

hi everyone my 87 lxi has been having some overheating issues i was told to replace the radiator and hoses and do a flush because the car sat for some time and had also been in a front end collision that was minor, but major enough to slightly bend the frame and radiator. long story short the other night was driving home smoke came up from the engine i pulled around the corner to stop and as i did so, a "whip cracking" sound and a puff of smoke came out of the bay. i let it sit for a while and it brought me home. now the car had a weird idle and was revving on its on but just slightly. also i've noticed that coolant has been getting eaten by my engine. what can i do to fix it?

[1813mdw]

if it over-heated too badly its possible that you warped the cylinder head. that would explain the overheating and the loss of coolant. if it does end up being the head you will need to pull it and take it to the machine shop and have it skimmed or buy a new(or used) head. it could also be the head gasket; either way the head has to come off and be checked at the machine shop. first i would check really good for leaks and make sure your thermostat is working properly

[A18A]

if you're lucky it might just be a hose that popped off. and got coolant all over the hot engine (causing the smoke/steam you saw)

they do that sometimes. especially if it's the original hoses from 1987

[YK86]

Best case scenario, the coolant has leaked out enough to cause overheating. Also, the coolant temp sensor getting wrong readings because of the low coolant level making the idle wonky. Fixing the leak and topping up the coolant and bleeding the system will fix this.

Worst case scenario, it's overheated to the point the head is warped and the headgasket has blown. Depending on how bad it is, the car could still run with just a slight misfire and no white smoke coming from the exhaust. If it's bad enough, you will see coolant gush out of the rad with the cap off and the engine won't even start.

[88Accord-DX]

Kind of sounds like the thermostat was stuck closed & you probably warped the cylinder head & blown the head gasket with it eating coolant. Sometimes you can pull the spark plugs & see the coolant down on the end of the spark plug & sometimes down in the combustion chamber. Autozone rents coolant pressure testers & compression testers too, that will tell you what it going on. With a head gasket job, might as well replace the timing belt, water pump, thermostat, front crank seal, distributor o-ring, valve cover gasket.

[3gkeemo]

sooooo was checking the car out today and have come to the conclusion that there was a hole in the radiator and i'm hoping that the head wasn't warped but since there was no coolant residue on the sparkplugs i'm guessing the headgasket hasn't been damaged yet. also the culprit of the pop and smoke was my #4 sparkplug which somehow was loose enough to cause a spark outside the engine. so i seafoamed, changed oil, new sparkplugs, and for kicks repainted primer black. i'm going to get a radiator tomorro. i read somewhere on here that the single slim radiator that is like the civic radiator can fit in with no problems. if anyone has anymore info on this lemme know

[1813mdw]

sooooo was checking the car out today and have come to the conclusion that there was a hole in the radiator and i'm hoping that the head wasn't warped but since there was no coolant residue on the sparkplugs i'm guessing the headgasket hasn't been damaged yet. also the culprit of the pop and smoke was my #4 sparkplug which somehow was loose enough to cause a spark outside the engine. so i seafoamed, changed oil, new sparkplugs, and for kicks repainted primer black. i'm going to get a radiator tomorro. i read somewhere on here that the single slim radiator that is like the civic radiator can fit in with no problems. if anyone has anymore info on this lemme know

also check the coolant and see if there is oil in it

[A18A]

cable ties and bungy cords make almost any radiator fit

[3gkeemo]

so here's the update.......... radiator is in snug and nice int he bay with slim universal hi-power fan.......but the ***** still overheats and is drinking coolant so my next option now is to try to do a flush to get any gunk out of the engine and take a look at the head gasket and if i'm doing that gotta get the head refinished. i swear if this doesn't fix it i dunno whats wrong cuz have no leaks, car runs better, but after driving for a day or 2 it'll overheat and no coolant is there.

[1813mdw]

so here's the update.......... radiator is in snug and nice int he bay with slim universal hi-power fan.......but the ***** still overheats and is drinking coolant so my next option now is to try to do a flush to get any gunk out of the engine and take a look at the head gasket and if i'm doing that gotta get the head refinished. i swear if this doesn't fix it i dunno whats wrong cuz have no leaks, car runs better, but after driving for a day or 2 it'll overheat and no coolant is there.

hate to say it but... sounds like a head gasket or warped head. pull the cap off the rad and top it off. start the car, if air bubbles continue to come up through the coolant after running its the head/gasket. also are you sure there is no leak up by the throttle body/intake manifold?

[3gkeemo]

hate to say it but... sounds like a head gasket or warped head. pull the cap off the rad and top it off. start the car, if air bubbles continue to come up through the coolant after running its the head/gasket. also are you sure there is no leak up by the throttle body/intake manifold?

so there was a leak, the smallest leak i've ever seen. the hose that runs from the throttle body to the back of the block had a hole the size of the tip of a needle but in fixing that leak i discovered that like all my hose must be from 87 because 2 more burst. now does anyone know how to get that one hose from in the middle of the intake mani on the bottom?

[Dr_Snooz]

Heh heh. You're going to have some fun! I think I was able to get the worst of my bypass hoses with a 10" long 1/4" extension and a u-joint socket adapter. Oh and a LOT of patience! It helps to take some things off to get them out of the way too.

Good times!!! The upshot is that the bypass hoses are good for about 150k miles so you won't be doing it again for awhile.

[3gkeemo]

Heh heh. You're going to have some fun! I think I was able to get the worst of my bypass hoses with a 10" long 1/4" extension and a u-joint socket adapter. Oh and a LOT of patience! It helps to take some things off to get them out of the way too.

Good times!!! The upshot is that the bypass hoses are good for about 150k miles so you won't be doing it again for awhile.

iight koo but see the thing is that plastic pipe or hose that is super fat for no reason under the intake is hard as hell to get to and won't come off with the intake mani on so can anyone lemme know the proper tools to get the mani off that would be much obliged.