[91LSMAN]

Well, this morning after I washed my car I opened the hood to get out the excess water and noticed that my coolant overflow tank was full!! I have a new radiator and thermostat that were installed not too long ago. I did not have much time, but I went to my mechanic down the street and long story short he said to try and new radiator cap-but get an oem one from Acura. I went to the local Acura dealer and they had one in stock. I came home and after a little bit installed the new radiator cap.

Things to note:

1. New radiator

2. New thermostat

3. New radiator cap

4. My car did not overheat before this happened to my knowledge. I just pulled my car out and washed it.

5. In the Mcdonalds drive-through today the temp needle started to go up, then came back down after a sec, there is obviously air in the system.


Any help thoughts and insights would be appreciated!!

 

[Justin]

um, would bleeding the air help?

 

[91LSMAN]

um, would bleeding the air help?

Duh. But air should not be able to get into the system. I should not have to bleed the air out. I'm no mechanic-anyone have a pic of the "bleeder" nut, bolt-whatever it's called.

 

[darklegend]

i know everybody is going to jump on me for saying this but have the headgasket checked. any shop that does emissions can do a hydrocarbon test on your engine.

my experience-

i have a '96 3.2 tl and it is in mint condition w/ 105,000. one day i noticed that the overflow bottle was so full coolant was spilling out the top. i got a new rad. cap and bled the system. the next day i spotted a puddle of coolant under the car where the overflow bottle is located and of course the bottle was overflowing. i never saw white smoke at start-up and never smelled the 'sweet' smell of burning coolant. i had acura do a pressure test on the system for $90 and they found nothing wrong. after adding coolant and bleeding air every day or two and seeing the temp needle rise at idle i finally had the radiator replaced. that lasted for two days. i had a hydrocarbon test done and it gave a reading of 80. anything over 10 is bad. my symptoms were just like yours. get the test done and you will know if it is the headgasket or not.

 

[WhiteLegend]

Duh. But air should not be able to get into the system. I should not have to bleed the air out. I'm no mechanic-anyone have a pic of the "bleeder" nut, bolt-whatever it's called.

 

[91LSMAN]

Thanks-maybe tomorrow I'll feel lucky and try something with that. Does the car need to be running or anything?

I know questions like these have been asked, but when people answer they don't realize that some people don't really know the stuff under the hood.

I can make my Legend really shiny though!!!

Oh and I plan to have a compression test done, just to be sure.

Thanks guys!!

 

[legendcoupe93]

i made a thread a while ago asking how to bleed the system. my car had the same problem never got it fixed tho, just got it wrecked first, lol my mech. said i need a new temp sending unit, and a good bleeding coudlnt hurt, now i got ANOTHER new rad after i messed up the last one i had, so it sat acura spec lets hope after i get everything fixed it will be fine

 

[91LSMAN]

Yeah, I realized that I don't even know what type of coolant my mechanic put in (could this be part of the problem?)-he works on all types of cars and I'm assuming that he does not keep Honda/Acura coolant around, so I think what I'm going to do is try to take it to Acura next week and have them flush the cooling system and do a compression test-yes I know dealerships suck, but they have never done anything wrong to me persoanally, except charge too much!!

 

[CU-Legend]

Yes!! I have the same problem! My car also overheated once or twice, right after I noticed the temp dropped back to normal again once I started driving. I have an aftermarket metal radiator. First, it overheats once, coolant tank full, my stupid attempt at bleeding ends up shooting lots of coolant - Long story short, overflow tank empties and I fill it up with new coolant, also fill the radiator. Then, I bled my coolant(but not 100% correctly) and my overflow tank filled again. Today I bled my coolant right but my overflow tank is still full and my radiator is a little low in coolant. How do I get coolant out of overflow tank and into radiator?

For bleeding coolant: Turn car on and let it warm up, turn on heater to 90 degrees and at least halfway blowing. Open the bleeder bolt a tiny bit(after temp guage has gotten to normal point). You should hear air whistling out, if you don't, no worries. Close up the bolt, take it for a hard ten minute drive. Repeat the bleeding process, right after drive, car still on. If air still doesn't whistle out(so only air, no coolant comes out for a while) take it for another drive(maybe 15 min) and bleed again. This should bleed your coolant and make you happy.. BTW, put a towel over your wrench and your arm so you don't get burned by coolant

 

[Justin]

How do I get coolant out of overflow tank and into radiator?

when the engine cooling system is serviced/working properly, as the car cools down, the fluid that's in the overflow reservoir should automatically be pulled back into the radiator. if not, something is wrong.

 

[CU-Legend]

fun, we'll talk about it tomorra

 

[91LSMAN]

Well, I actually bled some air out of the system this morning. From what you guys are saying if there is a lot of air in the system air should be hissing out correct? When I did mine coolant was coming out. I let it go for a while, let the car cool down and then added coolant to the radiator. As far as I know (going to check again in a minute) I still have a full overflow tank.

I already have an appointment at Acura (I know I know-I hate dealerships also, but sometimes since Acura's are their specialty, they might be able to handle this better) on Tuesday to have the coolant system flushed out and looked at. I am going to tell them again when I drop off the car-look at the entire cooling system!!

They will also be doing a compression test just to be sure.

Thanks for the help everyone!!

 

[ILOVELEGEND]

Good luck. I just hope it isn't anything major. Let us know what they tell you.

 

[91LSMAN]

Well, I'll be dropping my car off in a couple hrs. Right now, after the new radiator cap, the overflow tank is not as full. It seems like that bad cap was the problem. I am still taking it in that way I can get Honda coolant and a compression test done, just to be sure.

Thanks Guys!!

 

[ILOVELEGEND]

Yeah, its better to be sure than have this nagging worry in your mind all the time. I Hope its just your radiator cap.

 

[91LSMAN]

Well, I just dropped it off and I must say it was the most pleasant expreience I have ever had dropping my Legend off somewhere!! I talked with the service manager and he was saying that because the car is already reacting better with just a new radiator cap a compression test may not be necessary. I started thinking-my Legend has never overheated to the "red" zone and the time it did overheat was very breaf. He actually said that he did not want to see me spend unnecessary money!! I said ok we'll do the radiator fluch and oil change. Then I went ouside to wait for my dad. He came out and said " I can tell you really care about this car-how about I put it inside for you tonight-our facility outside is always secure, but this way you won't get any dust on it and your car will be ever more secure!!" I said that would be great!!

Overall the best expreience I have ever had at a dealership!!

 

[pipes_0]

lol the dealership do seem to be very nice to you, i hope that problem never come back, its pretty funny to me how a cap and stir a lot of problems

 

[91LSMAN]

lol the dealership do seem to be very nice to you, i hope that problem never come back, its pretty funny to me how a cap and stir a lot of problems

I totallly agree, but that cap seals a very important part of the car. Another forum memeber had the same problem a few days ago.

 

[CU-Legend]

I posted in the other thread, but thought I'd post here too. New rad cap solved my problem with the reserve tank filling and not sending back to the radiator when the car cools down. Thanks

 

[91LSMAN]

I posted in the other thread, but thought I'd post here too. New rad cap solved my problem with the reserve tank filling and not sending back to the radiator when the car cools down. Thanks

Glad to hear it!!