Maybe Its The Head Gasket?

[One Two]

Alright, first off. I'm not very car inclined and I need some honest help and I am coming here for a large base of hopefully experience and normal people advice.

I have a 1989 Honda Accord LXI with 225,000 miles. Up until about couple months ago everything was goin fine. Well, one day the car just went and over heated because one of the 'tubings' went bad and basically came off. I replaced the part no problem (going through the proper channel of draining what was left of the radiator fluid and then refilling it properly), everything hunky dorry back to normal. Well...not really....

Earlier this month my woman borrowed the car for the day. She called me and told me the temperature gage was up and saying the car was overheating but no smoke or irregularites were happening. She came and picked me up and I checked over everything and everything looked fine. So we drive home and then the car starts actually overheating with smoke and everything and we are itching it into a parking spot (we live in downtown Seattle without our own parking spot) and it just dies. Radiator fluid is draining from the 'emergency valve thing'. We let it sit over night and I go out in the morning and go through the process of filling the radiator fluid and drive it just fine to work.

So sadly I think everything is fine and that maybe I should have been just keeping an eye on the radiator fluid. Well, we baby the car and basically for the next week when ever we drive for a good 20 minutes or so (moving so going from Seattle to Lynwood) it up and overheats. But when we resort to driving at night with little traffic and the colder weather and we let her rest for a good hour shes fine.

I'v been not driving her unless I have to and just topping the radiator fluid off as needed but the last two times I haven't needed to. I drove here around stop and go to different stores for errands a couple days ago and she was fine. I noticed also that neither of the two fans behind the radiator are spinning when the car is on and she struggles up hills a bit but its probably cause we need to do other basic fixes which we plan on doing, but a new head gasket is pricey, so we don't want to spend money if thats what it is.

So my question (sorry): What does it sound like to you?

[MagicRat]

Sometimes a genuine overheating problem can lead to a head gasket (HG) failure. HG's can sometimes behave oddly when blown. Basically compression gaskets are leaking into the cooling system, which mimic a boil-over condition without the overheating. Sometimes such leakage only occurs when the engine has warmed up.

It is usually quite easy to diagnose this. A mechanic can do a leak-down test, and pressurize each cylinder with compressed air, then see if air leaks into the cooling system by looking for air bubbles in the radiator.

Fixing a HG is probably more expensive than your 20 year old high mileage car is worth. You might want to consider scrapping it or selling it for parts and buy another vehicle.

[shorod]

Before tearing in to the head gasket, make sure the cooling fan behind the radiator is functioning properly. It should turn on before the car actually overheats. As the car overheats and builds pressure, it's going to find the weakest point to release the pressure. Chances are that initially the weak point was a hose, causing your initial display of steam. I'm not sure what the 'emergency valve thing' is, possibly the radiator cap? If a freeze plug, then you'll need to replace it before the system will hold coolant since they don't 'reset' which means that's probably not what you're referring too.

If the fan works properly, then you might also check the water pump. If you let the car overheat too many times (and 'too many' could be just a single time) it could destroy the head gasket and warp the head. I'd start with the easy, less expensive stuff though since you'd want to be sure they function properly before replacing the head gasket and having the car overheat again.

Also, after filling the cooling system, you'll want to check the level after the car has been up to operating temperature. It's easy to trap air in the system and an air pocket can give indications on the gauge of overheating.

-Rod

[KiwiBacon]

Originally Posted by MagicRat

Fixing a HG is probably more expensive than your 20 year old high mileage car is worth. You might want to consider scrapping it or selling it for parts and buy another vehicle.

Or find another engine at a scrap yard and have someone install it. Sometimes this can work out well, other times you get reamed on both the purchase and install.

[Mavrick14]

First off, replace the thermostat, it's probably stuck closed after you overheated it the first time. Id bet this is your problem.