Lost my coolant twice in a week

[clawhammer]

I am having some serious heating/cooling problems with my 91 CRX Si with original engine. I replaced the thermostat, and have a new radiator in her. Last Thursday I lost all the coolant because of a cracked hose. I cut a piece off the end, put it back, and everything seemed fine. I drove the car for about 50 miles since then in cold weather, and today as I was pulling into my garage I noticed that I lost all the coolant again. What should I try next? Also I have absolutely no heat in the car, do you think that the two problems are connected?

[Sparsky]

If your losing that much coolant you should notice a puddle or something. Passenger side floor board wet? If not check your exhaust or oil. My 88 CRX had a 3mm chunck of the head gasket missing between the sleve and piston, and all my coolant when out the tail pipe, but it was very noticeable by the white smoke pourin out the back.

[amy@af]

also check your oil. oil + anitfreeze = looks like chocolate milk which is a bad head gasket

[bambam89lx]

Originally Posted by clawhammer

I am having some serious heating/cooling problems with my 91 CRX Si with original engine. I replaced the thermostat, and have a new radiator in her. Last Thursday I lost all the coolant because of a cracked hose. I cut a piece off the end, put it back, and everything seemed fine. I drove the car for about 50 miles since then in cold weather, and today as I was pulling into my garage I noticed that I lost all the coolant again. What should I try next? Also I have absolutely no heat in the car, do you think that the two problems are connected?

yes, having no coolant and no heat are connected. Your heat comes from the coolant temperature.
There HAS to be a leak somewhere. double check everything. Top off your radiator and make sure you don't see any leaks. BTW, you are filling the radiator with coolant right? AND NOT the coolant overflow bottle on the right? That white bottle is for the extra coolant to drain. I see alot of 4gers trying to fill that thing with coolant...lol.

[1990civicdxhb]

Originally Posted by bambam89lx

That white bottle is for the extra coolant to drain. I see alot of 4gers trying to fill that thing with coolant...lol.

I always thought it was there to use antifreeze when it needs it,
u,know,min=max.
that explains the times it's overflowed.....

[clawhammer]

Well, after i fixed the problem last week with the hose, I refilled it (the correct way), and didn't leak anymore, still didn't have heat, but other than that everything seemed to work properly. The temperature gauge stayed at halfway for the 50 miles, until today.

[clawhammer]

Update

I found which hose was leaking. It is by the injectors, it is a hose which looks like a U. I can't cut a piece off the end this time, so I'll just duct tape it until I can find a replacement.

But I'm still trying to find the source of the problem. One thing to keep in mind, is that after I installed my new radiator, I forgot to connect the fan, so I drove without it for maybe 3 weeks, usually just 10-20 miles at a time, no long trips. Than last week thursday I was driving for about 2 hours in stop and go traffic, and was kind of hard on the car. I even had a couple of drag races, so I was running it higher in the rpms than usual (4-5k). My dad thinks that it was because of the radiator fan being disconnected that my other hose got a crack in it. Do you think that this happened at that time also, but I just noticed it now?

[Sparsky]

Old Hoses can crack at anytime. So it's sorta hard to say. But for the most part you should've noticed a puddle if your losing as much fluid as you say you are.

[Onimacus]

As long as your car wasn't sitting in one spot the fan issue shoulnd't be a problem. You get enough air flow while moving so you don't necessarily need the fan at that time... but if your car was just idling for long periods that could cause some problems

[skotman]

don't just cut and reattach an old hose. i was going to try that but at the last minute while flexing the tube, noticed how dryrotten it was, and how the inside strings that reinforce it popped and broke. i replaced it, not with a legnth of heater hose from advance auto parts.

check, and if it has been damaged and you've had to "fix" it by cutting it, then, replace the main hoses that go between the engine and radiator. there is also a hose that goes through a valve and then through the firewall to the heater core. check, and if neccessary, replace that hose as well (that's the one i had problems with, myself. i had a large egg, develop in mine which cracked and began to spew hot fluid when under pressure, and leaked a great deal.)

make sure the radiator itself doesn't have a leak. this often happens at the top where the top part makes a seal to the coils. this seal blew out on an old pickup of mine, but was cheaply repairable at a local radiator shop. ($30). last but not least, the heater coil itself could be leaking. an air conditioner repairman could fix this. at times they can patch it, or other times they'll need to replace it entirely.

[clawhammer]

Where is the heater core located?

[clawhammer]

Update:

She is scheduled to have the cooling system tested, including a chemical test, pressure test, and a few others for $69.50. Is that a good deal?

Also, if it is the headgasket that's blown, I would probably be interested in rebuilding the entire engine. I'm thinking of replacing the valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket, rering the pistons, replace the oil seals and adjust the valves. Is $200 reasonable for this kind of rebuild, if I do the work?