Coolant leak

Hi,

just noticed a puddle under my car, coolant. It's a Civic LX, 1988,
136kmiles. Any ideas on the following symptoms:

- the source of the leak appears to be the upper radiator hose. where it
attaches to the radiator. The connection "looks" tight, though.

- coolant level is (still) OK, the coolant reserve container is almost empty
but the radiator is filled to the brim.

- after letting the car idle for 10 or 15 minutes, the radiator fan did
*not* come on. The coolant gauge goes up to the normal operating temperature
(slightly below center) and stays there. The fan refuses to come on.

- after idling for a while, I was able to observe coolant leaking from where
the upper radiator hose meets the radiator.

No MIL, no fault codes stored. I recently had the PCV and O2 sensor
replaced, though I doubt it has anything to do with this new symptom.

Any input appreciated,
thanks group,
TomB

 

It could be the water pump. Open the hood and watch it idle. See if you
see any coolant coming from the water pump. Also turn on the heater and
watch the heater hoses. If you see coolant on the upper radiator hose, I
advise you to replace it since it could have a very small hole that is
hard to see. I also advise you to leave the engine running after you have
driven the car for over 10 miles. Open the hood to see if you see any
leaks from any hoses or the radiator or water pump. In some cases, water
does not leak until the coolant is really hot.

 

Thanks for the input, Jason, I couldn't find any other leak when apart from
the one I mentioned when I was looking yesterday. Will have another go at it
today.

I hope one of the first two

 

Jason wrote:
| In article <c74fdh$hrv80$-berlin.de>, "tomb"
|
|| Hi,
||
|| just noticed a puddle under my car, coolant. It's a Civic LX, 1988,
|| 136kmiles. Any ideas on the following symptoms:
||
|| - the source of the leak appears to be the upper radiator hose.
|| where it attaches to the radiator. The connection "looks" tight,
|| though.
||
|| - coolant level is (still) OK, the coolant reserve container is
|| almost empty but the radiator is filled to the brim.
||
|| - after letting the car idle for 10 or 15 minutes, the radiator fan
|| did *not* come on. The coolant gauge goes up to the normal
|| operating temperature (slightly below center) and stays there. The
|| fan refuses to come on.
||
|| - after idling for a while, I was able to observe coolant leaking
|| from where the upper radiator hose meets the radiator.
||
|| No MIL, no fault codes stored. I recently had the PCV and O2 sensor
|| replaced, though I doubt it has anything to do with this new
|| symptom.
||
|| Any input appreciated,
|| thanks group,
|| TomB
|
| It could be the water pump. Open the hood and watch it idle. See if
| you see any coolant coming from the water pump. Also turn on
| the heater and watch the heater hoses. If you see coolant on the
| upper radiator hose, I advise you to replace it since it could have
| a very small hole that is hard to see. I also advise you to leave
| the engine running after you have driven the car for over 10
| miles. Open the hood to see if you see any leaks from any hoses
| or the radiator or water pump. In some cases, water
| does not leak until the coolant is really hot.

Just to follow up... took in the car today, they did a pressure test.
Looks like the plastic part at the top where the hose connects is
cracked :/

Oh well, new radiator it is, then...

Thanks again for the feedback!
TomB

 

Just saw your thread.

Same thing happened to me on my 91 accord. The crack was so small that I
could barely see the thin stream sneaking out, just a magical puddle forming
on the underside of my hood. I was able to get a new top and bottom and a
rodout on my old one for under $100 at a local radiator shop (I took the
radiator to them, did all other work myself)

IIRC, I saved about $200 over a new radiator and have had no problems since
(5 years now)

HTH

 

Ricky wrote:

| Just saw your thread.
|
| Same thing happened to me on my 91 accord. The crack was so small
| that I could barely see the thin stream sneaking out, just a magical
| puddle forming on the underside of my hood. I was able to get a new
| top and bottom and a rodout on my old one for under $100 at a local
| radiator shop (I took the radiator to them, did all other work
| myself)
|
| IIRC, I saved about $200 over a new radiator and have had no
| problems since (5 years now)

That sounds about right; I read your post too late, plus felt like I
didn't want to be bothered with messing with it. Took it in, had it
replaced for $352 (parts, labor, taxes, yadda...) and am done with it
now.

Thanks for the feedback

 

Look at your radiator carefully, my father-in-law and I both had 90 Civics
that the plastic tops of the radiator had hairline cracks in them. Probably
caused by old age and leaning on top of them while working on the motor.
They seemed to get brittle with age. I tried for a year to patch it
different ways but had to eventually replace it.

 

cavetrekker wrote:
| Look at your radiator carefully, my father-in-law and I both had 90
| Civics that the plastic tops of the radiator had hairline cracks in
| them. Probably caused by old age and leaning on top of them while
| working on the motor.
| They seemed to get brittle with age. I tried for a year to patch it
| different ways but had to eventually replace it.

Thanks for your reply, and you were spot on (as you might have seen from my
other posts to the thread). It was a hairline crack, not visible, but
obviously leaking when pressurized. I didn't wait for a year to replace it
but did it straight away...

 

I just found this site again and didn't have the posts listed in order to
see some one had already replied. I've had 9 Civics over the years and have
had pretty good luck with all of them.