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Hello fellow mates, I recently bought a 1998 Honda Civic Lx sedan in hopes to learn a couple mechanical skills. Turns out my radiator was busted so I decided to buy a new one and decided to switch it myself. In doing so I made sure all the requirements for the radiator fit my car. (Automatic) I ended up flsushing the radiator and finally inputting the new one. Added type 2 coolant and did the bleeding process. For about a week everything was fine, then I noticed my coolant in the reservoir was going missing. Upon opening the hood I noticed the bypass hose was leaking coolant and causing it to over heat. I don't know if I did the bleeding process correctly. I don't know if my cooling system has air in it that might be causing it to leak?? Please help me! Any input in appreciated.

 
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Welcome to the forum!
No worries, there's a few things that would be helpful to know. 1st was there just radiator fluid in the old one? If there was any gummy looking residue then it is a head gasket. Hope not.
What shape are the hoses in? Was the bypass hose split like over presure? Or small hole just weeping fluid?
Like all things on a car the hoses are a replacement item.
That most, me included, lol, turn a blind eye to.
Replace of course , degrease the motor with a can of gunk engine cleaner and keep a close look at the rest of the hoses. You may have others that are dry rotted needing replacement also. But in any case a clean engine is always easier to keep in check.
Top of the morn'n to ya mate,
EF Daddy

 
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What are you calling a 'bypass hose'?? Fix that leak!

That's bad, could be very very bad. You might get to learn about damage caused by overheating, if the engine got hot enough.

 
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yeah, first thing off, fix the leak.

then refill,bleed it.

run and keep checking if temp gauge goes up.

 
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No. the old radiator had fuild but nothing to wild to be concern about.
Second, my defintion of the "bypass hose" would be the hose that is besides the thermostats but not connect to. Its a simple hose shaped like a U. I might be calling it a wrong name if so please correct me.
Also All hoses have been switch about a month ago prior to working on the radiator.
Today i let it run for about 15 mins with out the radiator cap on. I drove it for a while as I kept my eye on the temperature went up but never passed the half way line.
To the one person who asks Whether the leak was dripping or gushing out; when it over heated the leak was in fact gushing out.

 
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Ok I can picture which one that is in my head. I'd consider it a bypass also.

The heater hose just under the distributor is the one that usually goes bad first. It gets soaked in oil after the distributor O-ring leaks and that makes the rubber get soft.

 
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The heater hose is fine though, it's only the U shape hose. That's why there's so much confession in my head about what's actually going on.
I'm thinking I might have air in my cooling system? I probably didnt do the bleeding process correctly??

The coolant from my reservoir ends up shooting out from the bypass hose. All the coolant inside my radiator remains in tack though. So now I'm thinking it might well indeed be the bleeding process.

 
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Now that makes no sense. Got pics of this?

Is coolant spewing from the overflow bottle next to the radiator, and it just happens to be squirting in the general direction of the U shaped hose all the way at the back of the engine?

Is the U shaped hose actually leaking, are its clamps tight enough?




OR do you mean the reservoir spits coolant out its little short straw?

"Intact".

The cooling system is designed to keep the radiator completely filled at all times.....when everything works as intended.

 
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I've been thinking #3 is the U shaped hose at the thermostat housing.

 
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I'm having a similar issue myself and would like to know if you've solved it or figured out what's going on? I blew the U shaped bypass hose just a couple days ago but the issues you're having I'm currently dealing with

 
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In my case the u shaped hose (also know as the bypass hose) had a small tear that was caused all my coolant from the tank to spill from there. I just replaced the hose and now it works like a charm.

 
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All I did was replaced the bypass hose since it was ripped. That was casusing my coolant to spill also cause an overheat problem. Once I replaced that hose everything worked fine.
Best of luck buddy.