97 Accord - Extreme Overheating

97 Accord Lx - 215k miles - 4 cyl. - regular maintenence. It's been my daily driver for over 5 years and been running perfectly.

Yesterday I drove the 35 miles from work back to my town but before going home stopped to visit someone for about an hour. When I came out to leave I noticed a larger than normal amount of fluid in the drive. I just thought it was condensation from the AC and that it was more because it was extremely hot yesterday (100+).

When I got within 2 miles of the house the 1st thing was that the AC was not blowing as cold. I turned it off. Then the engine seemed to "pulse" with loss of power, and the temperature gauge was maxxed out. As I pulled into the driveway the engine light and oil pressure light came on.

After it cooled down I checked and the coolant was a little low, so I topped it off. The oil was really low and I added three quarts to bring it to full.

This morning I started it up and let it idle while I finished getting ready (5-10 minutes) and the temp gauge was about 1/3rd of the way up (where it normally is). It sounded, felt, and drove as normal but after a mile or so the gauge was climbing extremely fast so I turned around and took it back home.

Any ideas as to what it might be? Water pump?

UPDATE: Just got a call from the person I was visiting who said the puddle was antifreeze. I had replaced the radiator and main hose when I first got the car at 120k miles. I guess I have a leak somewhere.

Pressure test the cooling system and check the radiator fans operation. They might not be turning on with with coolant temperature rise.

You're lucky to still have a car....1 quart of oil in the sump and a massive overheat with 100+ ambient temps at the same time?....only a Honda...anything else would be a paperweight now.

Regardless of what the antifreeze leak turns out to be, you need to change the oil ASAP....that small amount that was in it absorbed as much heat as it could and probably got completely toasted and there will be some abnormal coking and solids formed from that.

Did you top off the radiator, or just the reservoir? If the latter, the radiator is probably still near empty. Soon as you started driving, the higher rpms caused the pump to starve for coolant to push, and the temp shot up.

You may wanna consider that if you've run the pump dry and overheated, it's going to need replaced soon even if it isn't the initial problem. I've taken several pumps apart that were victims of similar scenarios and the seals in them get turned into wavy, bloated rubber from the heat. The coolant it's pumping is what lubricates and cools the pump's bearing. When run dry, the first thing that happens is the seals get baked...then the bearing itself....

Thanks Jeff-

I'll change the oil today and top off the radiator too.

You think I should go ahead and order a new water pump, and while I'm at it the whole kit with the timing/other belts and all the seals?

Finally got a chance to look at it this morning and my brother came over to help. We topped the radiator off and could find no leaks. Running the engine with the radiator cap off, it never pulled any fluid so we replaced the thermostat. With the new thermostat, after idling for a little bit it pulled fluid from the radiator so we're thinking that was the problem and the puddle was due to it boiling over and not a leak.

I changed the oil, flushed and replaced the coolant with new stuff. Is there anything else I should check for or do?

If it's not too much trouble, you should take a look at the timing belt. That's another thing I forgot to mention...4 cylinder inline engines actually "grow" taller as the engine block and head expand during overheating...of course it's very slight, but it does put additional stretch loading on the timing belt. Sometimes if one was in bad shape to begin with, that can be the end of it.

So you might wanna pull the top cover back and have a look at it after a while...just make sure there's no splits in the backside where it radiuses the cam sprocket, no tatters, etc.

Or you could just leave it alone if it seems ok...I'm a little OCD about cars, I know.. :)

Hope that took care of it! You really dodged a bullet there....

Check for leaks when you have the Rad cap on. It can't build up pressure with the cap off. When the car overheats the thermostat will get stuck in the full open position. It should not cause it not to pull fluid. No mater what the thermostat will need to be replaced. I am suspecting water pump.

I replaced the thermostat and the radiator cap too. Drove it the rest of the weekend and to work this morning and it seems to be doing great.

I know I was fortunate this time. That was one of the main reasons I had for getting a Honda. They are so tough you gotta love'em.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

They are damn tough. My wife's '95 Accord had a crack develop in the top of the radiator, and being a vertical flow design, it was able to virtually empty the cooling system through it...on the highway...in high 90's temp...with A/C on...

She called me from a gas station...it took me almost half an hour to get there....even then it was too hot to open the cap and when I finally did, it vented steam hard for a good five minutes...I figured no way the motor wasn't cooked.

Filled it up, nursed it home, new radiator and oil change and it's fine again...278,000 miles on it now. Seems like it MAY have a slight wrist pin rattle since that event, but it could be my imagination too...

Ever see that video where the guys are trying to destroy a Civic motor? They run it with no radiator, doing a brake torque bouncing off the rev limiter for several minutes straight....then pour a 2 gallon bucket of water into the crankcase and floor it, just screaming, until it vent steam out the cap hole like a locomotive...still runs...hold it wide open for like another 4 minutes straight (with no oil or cooling system) until it finally, SLOWLY starts to seize...and locks up.

A few minutes later, it fires up again...! Sounds like hell, but they drive it around....amazing...