2004 coupe cooling system issues
08-31-2018
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2004 coupe cooling system issues I'll try to make this a short as possible.Disclaimer...I'm a 20 year honda/ acura master tech, but it has been a few years ago that I quit wrenching on cars, and started wrenching on capital equipment.
Bought a 04 ex coupe, auto, 138k miles last month. Has a good service record, but got home and the radiator was pissing out the front grille. I called the dealer, and they agreed to reimburse me the parts for the the repair.
Replaced radiator, cap, fan switch, ect sensor, tsat and oring plus plugs and a few odds and ends. Started loosing coolant every few days...radiator dry.
Ended up with a bad cap...or so I thought...pushing coolant into reservoir and not returning to radiator. Performed co check, pressure test, no milky oil, no sweet or white exhaust, no burn evidence on plugs, no windshield fog or wet floors...all negative. Took it to a friends shop, and they rechecked everything I did...all negative. Kept it overnight a few nights, and found the IACV leaking coolant into the throttle body. Replaced IACV, and thought we had it. Drove it next day, and pushed all the coolant into the reservoir. Went back to friends shop, and found the driver side of the radiator cool...96 deg verses 200 on the pass side. Figured the new radiator has some anomaly. Went and swapped the radiator for another, and have same problem. Gauge never shows overheat, engine never sound like it overheated...aka...running hard, noise, steam, etc. but it pushed the coolant into the reservoir with regularity.
Someone please explain to me how a head gasket can "seep", and never show up on a block test, pressure test, show water in oil, or steam out of the exhaust, or show bad heater core? This defies explanation to me...
Bought a 04 ex coupe, auto, 138k miles last month. Has a good service record, but got home and the radiator was pissing out the front grille. I called the dealer, and they agreed to reimburse me the parts for the the repair.
Replaced radiator, cap, fan switch, ect sensor, tsat and oring plus plugs and a few odds and ends. Started loosing coolant every few days...radiator dry.
Ended up with a bad cap...or so I thought...pushing coolant into reservoir and not returning to radiator. Performed co check, pressure test, no milky oil, no sweet or white exhaust, no burn evidence on plugs, no windshield fog or wet floors...all negative. Took it to a friends shop, and they rechecked everything I did...all negative. Kept it overnight a few nights, and found the IACV leaking coolant into the throttle body. Replaced IACV, and thought we had it. Drove it next day, and pushed all the coolant into the reservoir. Went back to friends shop, and found the driver side of the radiator cool...96 deg verses 200 on the pass side. Figured the new radiator has some anomaly. Went and swapped the radiator for another, and have same problem. Gauge never shows overheat, engine never sound like it overheated...aka...running hard, noise, steam, etc. but it pushed the coolant into the reservoir with regularity.
Someone please explain to me how a head gasket can "seep", and never show up on a block test, pressure test, show water in oil, or steam out of the exhaust, or show bad heater core? This defies explanation to me...
08-31-2018
#2
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Re: 2004 coupe cooling system issues
Sounds like your smart enough to know that the aluminum head expands at a different rate than the steel piston sleeves. Every hot/cold cycle moves those two pieces at a different rate.
Now the piece between those two surfaces(head gasket) is getting tugged and pushed as well as expected to hold back 200psi plus of air pressure during each power stroke. Eventually it fails to hold the full pressure and then tiny amounts of air pushes its way through and into the water jacket each cycle.
I suppose if you pressurized your coolant system up to 100psi you could flood the piston, common proof positive test is to rotate the engine to power stoke on piston and pump compressed air in via spark plug hole and look for bubbles comming out the radiator. Usually see cylinders #2 or #3 and first ones to fail.
Now the piece between those two surfaces(head gasket) is getting tugged and pushed as well as expected to hold back 200psi plus of air pressure during each power stroke. Eventually it fails to hold the full pressure and then tiny amounts of air pushes its way through and into the water jacket each cycle.
I suppose if you pressurized your coolant system up to 100psi you could flood the piston, common proof positive test is to rotate the engine to power stoke on piston and pump compressed air in via spark plug hole and look for bubbles comming out the radiator. Usually see cylinders #2 or #3 and first ones to fail.
09-01-2018
#3
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Re: 2004 coupe cooling system issues
Usually see cylinders #2 or #3 and first ones to fail.
Otherwise, any cylinder can breach the fire ring first.
09-05-2018
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I'll try to make this a short as possible.Disclaimer...I'm a 20 year honda/ acura master tech, but it has been a few years ago that I quit wrenching on cars, and started wrenching on capital equipment.
Bought a 04 ex coupe, auto, 138k miles last month. Has a good service record, but got home and the radiator was pissing out the front grille. I called the dealer, and they agreed to reimburse me the parts for the the repair.
Replaced radiator, cap, fan switch, ect sensor, tsat and oring plus plugs and a few odds and ends. Started loosing coolant every few days...radiator dry.
Ended up with a bad cap...or so I thought...pushing coolant into reservoir and not returning to radiator. Performed co check, pressure test, no milky oil, no sweet or white exhaust, no burn evidence on plugs, no windshield fog or wet floors...all negative. Took it to a friends shop, and they rechecked everything I did...all negative. Kept it overnight a few nights, and found the IACV leaking coolant into the throttle body. Replaced IACV, and thought we had it. Drove it next day, and pushed all the coolant into the reservoir. Went back to friends shop, and found the driver side of the radiator cool...96 deg verses 200 on the pass side. Figured the new radiator has some anomaly. Went and swapped the radiator for another, and have same problem. Gauge never shows overheat, engine never sound like it overheated...aka...running hard, noise, steam, etc. but it pushed the coolant into the reservoir with regularity.
Someone please explain to me how a head gasket can "seep", and never show up on a block test, pressure test, show water in oil, or steam out of the exhaust, or show bad heater core? This defies explanation to me...
Bought a 04 ex coupe, auto, 138k miles last month. Has a good service record, but got home and the radiator was pissing out the front grille. I called the dealer, and they agreed to reimburse me the parts for the the repair.
Replaced radiator, cap, fan switch, ect sensor, tsat and oring plus plugs and a few odds and ends. Started loosing coolant every few days...radiator dry.
Ended up with a bad cap...or so I thought...pushing coolant into reservoir and not returning to radiator. Performed co check, pressure test, no milky oil, no sweet or white exhaust, no burn evidence on plugs, no windshield fog or wet floors...all negative. Took it to a friends shop, and they rechecked everything I did...all negative. Kept it overnight a few nights, and found the IACV leaking coolant into the throttle body. Replaced IACV, and thought we had it. Drove it next day, and pushed all the coolant into the reservoir. Went back to friends shop, and found the driver side of the radiator cool...96 deg verses 200 on the pass side. Figured the new radiator has some anomaly. Went and swapped the radiator for another, and have same problem. Gauge never shows overheat, engine never sound like it overheated...aka...running hard, noise, steam, etc. but it pushed the coolant into the reservoir with regularity.
Someone please explain to me how a head gasket can "seep", and never show up on a block test, pressure test, show water in oil, or steam out of the exhaust, or show bad heater core? This defies explanation to me...
Following is a useful summary of my recent experience with a 2002 Honda Civic LX, auto trans, 1.7-liter engine with 185,000 miles:
Typical Symptoms:
1. Engine overheating (as indicated by dash gauge).
2. Mysterious loss of coolant from the radiator (with no visible external leaks).
3. Overfilled coolant reservoir.
4. A stream of small bubbles in the coolant reservoir and/or radiator (with the engine running).
5. Excess pressure inside coolant reservoir.
6. Exhaust gas inside the radiator filler neck area (cooling system fails block test).
7. Gurgling sound from the cooling system immediately after shutting down a warm engine.
8. Small amounts of engine oil in the coolant.
9. Coolant mixing with engine oil (milkshake-like appearance under oil cap on valve cover).
Likely Causes:
1. WARPED CYLINDER HEAD that resulted from engine overheating, and/or
2. Blown head gasket.
Allowing combustion chamber gasses to leak into the cooling system (creating excess pressure in the coolant reservoir) and/or coolant to leak into the combustion chambers and get vaporized (lost out the exhaust pipe).
Recommended Solutions for success:
1. Use OEM (Honda) parts exclusively
2. Follow the OEM (Honda) service manual TO THE LETTER.
Happy Wrenching! :-)
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