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This morning i left for work, noticed i had no heat one i turned it one then looked down and seen temp gauge rising. A few seconds later the gas gauge went from 3/4 tank to empty and gas light came on. has anyone else experienced this?

NOTE: Being so early i have not yet checked the coolant system for leaks or level. Just trying to get an idea on why would "overheat" and also gas gauge drop to empty.

 
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UPdate..

Found coolant level low however my pressure tester doesn't have adapter for this radiator so going to borrow a friends. No obvious leaks or staining seen ( did not get under vehicle yet). No intermix seen (thankfully).

Did guage test and fuel guage sweeps normal. Will find diagram to test fuel level sender which likely is issue since is common on these cars.

Anyone have any other advice or tips? Always open for suggestions.

 
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You won't see a blown head gasket on that engine mix fluids until it's become a catastrophic disaster.


Do watch out for the radiator level dropping while the overflow reservoir becomes fuller or overflows. (fan and battery may get wet for no apparent reason)
This is the #1 sign the head gasket is leaking (but it's not the only possible cause of the level changes). After the radiator level drops a little, it can overheat and it doesn't even have to lose a full quart of liquid to become a problem in some conditions.

 
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Place a large piece of cardboard under engine and run engine for a bit with the climate control on max heat, fan on high to avoid overheat. Leave cardboard underneath overnight and check for staining (unless you did this already).

Oil and coolant? Not a very common sign with these engine..and infact a rarity.Concerning head gasket breach the most prominent signs are coolant loss in radiator with coolant gain in reservoir. Shop air injected into cylinders at TDC if bubbles appear in radiator equals head gasket breach.

Thermostat stuck closed or partially open?

Hopefully, once you pressure test it you'll find an external leak. Internal leak equals no bueno and most likely head gasket but, never want to jump to that conclusion without proper testing first.

Radiator fan engaging? Didi you check for waterpump leak? Waterpumps can partially fail (intermittent and/or weak) and not leak but, will not move coolant in system as well as it should. Can watch coolant flow through radiator neck with cap off and at operating temp to find out pump is working. Though, as mentioned can be intermittent. How many miles on WP?

Test ECT

 
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Yeah will check for the leak as described. Have cardboard under now. As far as water pump it radiator and t stat replace ab 5k miles ago. Radiator has small leak at driver side lower tank. T belt water pump and t stat were just done as maintenance.

On another note which doesn't sound too good after reading and researching. I did notice ab two weeks ago coolant reservoir was almost full but radiator was also. Possible and hopefully due to mechanic put too much in overflow. Esp since radiator was full.

Today reservoir not full and radiator was low. Hopefully tomorrow night can get a better idea. I seen some slight green around the lower tank when putting cardboard under car. Appears tech had issue when putting radiator is as a lot of the fins are dented.

I purchased car not long ago 3k miles from lady who just had items replaced. She sold bc they failed to tighten alt bolts and shorted out ecm. The shop she used was def a shady place as all the radiator hose clamps where clamping st the end of each connection. Meaning clamp was put on the very end of t stay housing and radiator barely holding hoses on....

 
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Pressure test, purchase and install new OEM radiator cap, keep monitoring radiator and reservoir. Block Test..might reveal head gasket leak (but not a definitive test unless blue fluid turns yellow or green). If you have a 150 psi compressor..Ezone has a video of him doing a head gasket breach test with straight shop air and pistons at TDC that you can follow.

 
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These could be related. A leak in the bottom of the radiator is likely to slowly drain the reservoir first, then slowly drain the rest of the cooling system after the reservoir has emptied.


If I notice an active leak in a car during a service, I will definitely overfill the reservoir just because that could buy a little more time before disaster hits.

 
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Yeah ezone I believe when she overheated the car prior to having the radiator replaced and the water pump. Pressure tested today slight pressure loss but nonleak seen on cardboard. Next thing I will pull plugs to see if can see traces of coolant. I noticed the water pump is circulating the coolant when I had cpa off. However as vehicle ran the heat coming from radiator spout was strong. Which leads me to believe a headgasket issue. Unfortunately I do not have an air compressor.


What gasket would you recommend? Honda or felpro? Are the head bolts one time use?

Also I assume having head checked is a definite? Your thoughts anyone.

 
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So this radiator leak you mentioned is extremely slow? If it's leaking so slow it doesn't drip at all during a pressure test, then is it suspect as a cause of the liquid loss?

You said it has a new radiator that was damaged and is now leaking, or shows evidence of leaking?


Also note....if the engine was warm at the time of pressure test, some pressure drop may be attributed to the engine cooling off....so take that into account.
This is normal and expected, the liquid is supposed to be near boiling temperature after warmup.

Not yet. It's only been a day.

Fill the radiator,
burp out the system and top off the radiator,
fill the reservoir to correct level,
and drive the car to see what the cooling system does.
How much do you drive the car daily?

If the reservoir returns to the same level each day after the engine cools off, that's a good sign.
If the reservoir keeps gaining fluid each day, that's a problem.
If it keeps losing fluid, that's a problem.

 
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Ezone I think you misread. The previous owner took vehicle in and had the radiator and water pump replaced before I purchased ( a/b 2 k miles before actually).


Currently yes no leaks ( pressured tested cold engine.) When running with the cap off as stated doesn't have the "Volcano" effect, however can smell slight exhaust smell from radiator. ( my nose could be misleading though ).


I drive 150 miles a day. Like I mentioned prior when I noticed the coolant was low it was all in the overflow. I topped it off drove for a/b 4 days then next morning BAM this happened.


I plan on setting reservoir back to factory full mark, ensure radiator is full and drive around locally this weekend putting a/b 200 miles or so on it.






As a side note I did notice yesterday the gas gauge all of a sudden started working correctly. I still haven't looked into the issue though..

 
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^I never said reading comprehension was my strong point

 
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Just to update. Still pushes coolant to overflow. Fans work t stat opens exhaust smell can be smelt when cap is open. No leaks. Don't have air compressor to do ezone tests

No driveability issues or smoke from exhaust. Nor intermix. Likely just pushing exhaust gases into coolant stream.

When driving today no overheat came to stop guage rising fans on both hoses close to same temp. Guess I'm going to tear down for headgasket job. Sigh

 
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This guy has very good tips for head gasket replacement: