Over heating

I just bought this 88 honda accord for my son. The guy before me told
me that the radiator was bad. So I replaced the radiator and
thermostat. The problem I am having is that when the car starts up the
upper radiator hose gets rock hard and the antifreeze blows out of the
cap. However, when you loosen the air bleed screw on the top of the
thermostat housing it will get soft again. I keep playing this game of
antifreeze out of the cap and the bleed screw shuffle. The previous
owner claims to have replaced the head gasket too. I checked the
torque on the head cylinder and found one loose. I don't feel any
fluid gushing through the radiator hose and the engine doesn't even get
warm enough for the fans to turn on. What should I replace next?

 

Try this:
Remove the radiator cap.
Completely fill the radiator so you can see the liquid almost to the top of
the edge of the radiator fill cap.
Start the engine.
If you see the fluid bubbling, you have a head gasket leak.

HTH.

 

The car probably has a blown head gasket or bad head. not much to do but
pull the head and find out whats going on. Good Luck. Scott

 

id second that, and assume the seller did a halfass head gasket job in
order to get rid of it. time to do it right.

 

I was always under the impression that the water pump belt should be
disconnected for that test. I see bubble often in all of my cars when
normally configured.

JT

 

If the engine is on slow idle, and the fluid is all the way up to the neck,
you should not see any bubbles if "properly configured".
Now when you rev up, you may see some bubbling, more like "gurgling" (?),
but not really air bubbles like it was mentioned in the OP, where air
escapes from the vent, until it eventually changes into liquid.
Also, you should not get any considerable "flow", until thoroughly warmed
up. It should take a while until the "top hose" gets warm, or hot to the
touch, IF the thermostat is correct. So, a leak in the head gasket is
quickly detected.
HTH.

 

Seems to me that "propefly configured" could benefit from
some elaboration. To me, it implies that a system in good
repair may have some bubbles until an air purge is properly
completed. With a system in good repair, an air purge, per
the manual, may take over half an hour. That's at least how
long it takes for my 91 Civic to warm up enough for the fan
to come on twice, and this was at about 70 degrees F
ambient, as well. During this time, one will see air bubbles
emitting from the anti-freeze showing at the neck of the
tank.

So I think the OP is going to have follow the procedure for
purging the cooling system of air. Then, say a day later,
check for bubbles per what Mike and you say.

 

Thanks for the tip. Yeah, this thing will start spewing anitfreeze
through the radiator cap at start up until I loosen the bleed screw.
And when the bleed screw is loosened the hose pressure goes down. When
the bleed screw is tightened again the hose instantly gets hard.
Bottom line is that the head is getting pulled this weekend and praying
that it is only the gasket and not the head.

Thanks again
Robert Baum

 

If it does it at start up, loosen the fan belt to disable the water pump.

If it still does it, look for a bad head or headgasket.

Simple...

JT

 

Thanks alot. I will try this. Hopefully, it will work. I wish this
was a tank turret. That I can fix.

Robert Baum

 

OK, maybe I should have stated "normally configured"; the terminology the
previous poster used.

 

When you see all that sludge and carbon on the valves you'll know that
the rings are shot too.

 

Oh...my...God. A LOOSE head bolt?! That is the very *pinnacle* (or nadir)
of incompetence.

In all likelihood the head is now warped, or warped even more that it was
to begin with. Anybody who would replace a head gasket and "forget" to
tighten a bolt is not likely to be careful (or honest) enough to have the
head machined either.

I agree with the posters who suspect a lousy head gasket job. You should go
beat the seller up.