Rep Power: 0

I noticed a smell under my hood a few days ago that had that syrupy smell. That means one thing (antifreeze leak) I was driving to work this morning and my car was starting to go way about the half way point on the temp gauge. I took my car to Honda at 930 am this morning and just got off the phone with them. They said that they ran a pressure test against my cooling system and it was good, the fluid was down just a bit, and there was not sign of a leak. Something has to be wrong with it and they can't figure it out. I had to leave work earlly to drop it off and Im not picking it up till they fix something because I dont want to have to do this all over again next week. Can anyone give me some ideas on what this could be? Im getting more and more mad about this as the day goes on. Its a 2003 if you need to know that too.

Later.

 
Rep Power: 285

Possibly an air pocket in the cooling system

 
Rep Power: 295

Bad thermostat?

 
Rep Power: 812

or a bad radiator cap. replace that first and see. if you smell coolant inside, might be a busted heater core.

 
Rep Power: 0

worse case scenario, you could have a head gasket leak.

 
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Its back in the shop today. The first time they said that everything was fine and there is not leak. After 2 days, the smell was worse so I popped the hood to find that there was coolant that managed to kinda spray on my intake box and there was a little puddle sizzling on the engine below the box. I took it in yesterday after work to drop off and show them the leak. Of course there is nothing to see. I told him where I saw the spray/puddle and he was like, its not there now, its fine. I told him that this car has a warranty and if I have to drive around staring at the effing temp gauge, your going to replace something the prevent that. So they are going to look at it today and get back to me. Im hoping they can fix this because everytime I get to a stop light, the temp gauge goes up and its stressing the heyell out of me. If you live in the Kentucky, DO NOT SHOP AT SAM SWOPE. They still can't figure out the difference between a sneeze and a wet fart!

 
Rep Power: 285

Is that your car in your avatar? If so, you have to understand this kind of stuff just happens when you mod your car. Most, but not all dealer service areas will usually treat you like crap and not believe a thing you say if you come in with a problem. They will just blame it on any mods you have done to your car or think you messed something up yourself and aren't telling them the whole story.

 
Rep Power: 305

i just did a coolant flush and refill on my mom's CRV. i had the same problem when the car was not moving and at a stoplight, the temp gauge would begin climbing up. it turned out that there was air in the system. just run your car with the heat blasting and car on with the radiator cap off. top off the coolant as it gets low (if it does).

i'm not saying that this will fix your problem, but its worth a try.

 
Rep Power: 0

The car on my avatar is my remote control car. My car is not modded at all.....yet.

 
Rep Power: 300

having the same problem as u. let me know how u solve the issue so i can too.
also i have kind of a dumb question, can u put too much coolaint in a radiator? i have never dealt with overheating before (at least in this way).

 
Rep Power: 285

when you say is it possible to add too much coolant, do you mean water/coolant mix? or straight coolant. you dont want more than 70% coolant in your cooling system, and you usually want 30% at the minimum. coolant isn't really what does the cooling in your cooling system, its the water. so in a hot environment id run a mixture with more water. as far as being able to put too much coolant in the radiator, i wouldnt worry. any extra should get spit out and go into the overflow container, where you add the coolant to.

 
Rep Power: 300

yeah thats what i meant. i got both water and coolant in there.
so the coolant is high and it just overflows and gets on everything but it seems to run fine now.
..it just overflows and gets on everything - not leaking, just overflowing. its hard to see the max fill line.

 
Rep Power: 812

radiator should be full, coolant overflow tank at max.

 
Rep Power: 263

dang this was on click and clack (u know the radio dudes who know more about cars than carrol shelby lol) they said for this lady to have the dealer run the pressure test for 10-15 minutes at 14lbs and if it does have a leak then it will show. they said that most places pressure test for short periods of time..

 
Rep Power: 0

They replaced the cap last week thinking that was the solution. I picked it up on Thursday night and it was doing ok. Friday night, the temp gauge was on the "H". I called them today and said that they need to get this fixed today. They can't figure it out.

 
Rep Power: 300

mine is still ****ing up too!!! i think it is the water pump b/c it is leaking somewhere low on the car. i am going to switch mine this weekend and let u know how it goes.

 
Rep Power: 453

might as well replace the timing belt too since the water pump is driven by the timing belt.

 
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After the three times taking it in and saying that the car is fine, the temp is still hitting the "H". WTF is wrong with this car?!?!?!?!?

 
Rep Power: 453

take the car in to the dealer when it is overheating. Better yet circle the dealership untill it starts to overheat and then pull into the service lot and show them its overheating. that way they have something to work with.

 
Rep Power: 0

has anyone got this fixed i'm having the same chit!! i took a short trip a few towns away when i got back back temp jumped way up so called the part store got a termostat and seal flushed radiator and head. fresh fluids problem still there so i called honda lot they said change the (ECT) sensor . i did still having the problem i notice that the fans weren't running long enough checked relays they are good so i changed fan switch the fan are running good now but still have the problem! can someone help me?

 
Rep Power: 300

jesus christ mine is still ****ing overheating and i took it to a shop today and they said they cant find anything wrong. "i can't tell with all that after market stuff on there. my machine says everything is ok." and of course i told them this was a new issue but they couldnt find anything wrong. The first person to solve this issue please post up what u did so we can figure this thing out!!!!!!!

 
Rep Power: 812

start eliminating problem areas. most common cause of overheating ,,,, headgasket leak, bad radiator cap, bad radiator, leak in cooling system, low coolant, air in coolant, not enough pressure in cooling system, bad water pump, oil leaking into coolant, stuck thermostat, clog in cooling system, bad heater core, blown fans, blocked airflow from front grills, etc. start with those. if you want i can hold your hand and tell you how to check everything. a few of those do require some mechanics tools however, so you may need to just take it to a reputable shop and give them a list of things to check.

 
Rep Power: 0

does the fan work? check to see if it comes on with the ac.

 
Rep Power: 300

oh yes gearbox car god can you hold my hand? what do you think i am doing, sitting on my *** and not trying to fix this? i am going through things one by one and no i dont know how to check my heater core or water pump so if you could be so kind as to tell me how to do this so i can get my thumb out of my *** and get to work.

i can smell coolant though sometimes when gettting hot and it is disapearing at about one pint for every 30~40 miles.
if coolant was getting in the oil at this rate i am sure the engine would of seized by now, thats a lot of coolant missing!

anyway i know there is....
1.no trapped air
2.good thermostat
3. no visable leek (does come out of the overflow top when hot even when closed,but told not the problem)
4. no coolant in oil
5. mechanic said pressure was good


i will soon be replaceing the radiator cap along with the timing belt (maybe)


p.s those that do not have this problem please be patient. this could be a costly repair if not fixed soon.

yeah i checked that and they seem to be coming on when a/c is on. could the a/c some how be cousing this to happen? i recently had the a/c worked on and the problem started soon after.

 
Rep Power: 812

sorry it was just an expression. didnt mean anything by it, just trying to offer help. hope you can fix the problem.

anyway, if you can smell coolant inside the car, it is prolly a leaky heater core, which is under the dash and has very small passages which are known to clog or break. imo, since you said you are loosing coolant, there is no way a pressure test would come back fine. take it elsewhere, the test may need to be done longer, sometimes up to 30 minutes to detect small leaks. but since you already know its leaking somewhere, dont even bother with another test. i would start looking on the floors up front for any smell or sign of coolant leak. does it smell more when the heater is on and after the car has warmed up? also is the smell really coming from inside, or are you smelling from the engine bay. any leaks under the car? what part of the a/c did they service. just for fun, pull the spark plugs and see if the electrode grounds are white or if there is coolant anywhere..

 
Rep Power: 299

Its your head gasket, every thing you mentioned is what a blown head gasket will cause. Im replacing mine now and im running with upgraded radiator and fans. I think mine is going because of the increased temps here in the desert + to much advanced timing = to much cylinder pressure. Im hopefully gonna get back on the dyno and remove some timing to lower my exhaust temps.

Check you tune, and replace you headgasket


Thats the number one sign right there

 
Rep Power: 300

gearbox: i checked the pluggs and i just replaced them. the old ones where black and seemed to have just normal colorartion. do i need to remove any part of the dash to check the heater core? smell mostly coming from outside of the car in the engine bay but from time to time i can get a wiff of it in the car.

logan: if the gasket is bad- shouldnt coolant be getting in the oil or wouldnt coolant be leaking from the head and be visable at some point?

 
Rep Power: 299

Only in BAD cases will you see coolant in the oil (i.e. under valve cover ) Most commonly it will be oil in the coolant.

The problem you seem to have is compressed air from the piston/ sleeve seeping past the gasket and getting into your cooling system, thats what causes air bubbles to come from the resovior. This also HEATS up your coolant big time. Your radiator cap will take about 240 degrees before it opens its valve and vents the high pressure of your radiator to your coolant res.

That coolant smell your getting is coolant being poured into the res. It makes a sweet smell from being SO hot.

 
Rep Power: 300

thanks man

i had a mechanic (the guy that does all the major stuff i can't do) look at my car today and we checked the heater core and it was good. he also said he didnt think it was the head gasket either since you will usually see coolant crystalized around the head and white smoke is useually visable. thats not always the case though IMO. he thinks it might be the radiator becuase he had a simialr problem with a customer car about a month ago when they could not find the problem. he said that there where small pin holes around the top of the radiator that did not show up until they tested the system at like 1.5 bar or something.
if it is the headgasket i want to fix it this weekend but i want to be sure beyond a doubt it is!

also logan sent me this DYI on replaceing the headgasket. awsome write up! someone make it a sticky, it is really good and is laid out so that anyone could do it.

what does the ect sensor do and how much is it(just to rule that problem out)

 
Rep Power: 812

when i had a head gasket leak it was so small that they only found it using a long pressure check of cooling system. it wasnt enough to affect compression, but what would happen is coolant would spill in a couple cylinders and the car would misfire until the coolant burned, then it would drive normal. but i had coolant burnt all inside my header and exhaust pipe.