overheating?

I have a 95 Honda Accord. Whenever we let it idle or drive for a while
afterward there is a boiling sound from the radiator overflow tank. At
first we thought it was just low so we filled it to the max and then
let it suck up whatever it needed and then refilled it. Now, it seems
to be at an adequate level but it's still boiling. The weird thing is
that the temperature gauge in the dash doesn't seem to register the
heat. It doesn't seem to be moving at all. We just had a friend
replace the thermostat like we thought the problem was from
originally, but that didn't seem to do the trick. Does anyone know
what the problem could be?

 

Lots of things. Is the fan coming on? Do you see a leak? Is there coolant
at the tail end of the exhaust pipe? If there is a leak, and you let it get
low enough, the "boiling" now could be the cooling system getting rid of
vestiges of air from the engine. Carry a jug of Honda Genuine coolant, and
if the level in the overflow tank goes down more, then you might have a
leak. If you ever over heated the engine, you might have a head gasket
leak.

Saludos cordiales,

Earle

 

blown head gasket.

 

The fans weren't coming on until we refilled it. Then it seemed like
only one of them was coming on. We didn't see any leaks though. We are
now thinking that maybe when we changed the thermostat that air got
into line and it is trying to get all that out. So I'm going to watch
for coolant in exhaust pipe and see if it stops "boiling" . If not
then I think it may be a head gasket which would not be good.

 

the expansion tank doesn't "boil", it's gas from a leaking head gasket
getting into the coolant and bubbling through to the only possible exit,
the expansion tank. coolant in the exhaust is only a late stage symptom.

sorry about the bad news, but you need to get this fixed right away
before damage to the head or block occurs. confirm with a hydrocarbon
chemical test of coolant fluid if you wish to be sure. but head gasket
is a 99.999% certainty.

if price is a factor, suggest you look into the cost of repair vs.
replacement of the motor. many head gasket repairs are not done well
and engines tend not to last well after surgery. it'll cost you $450 -
$600 for a low mileage used motor from japan - and labor to swap is less
than all the work necessary to do the gasket.

 

To add just a little, head gasket is moderately easy to replace, but
evaluating the head for damage is the tough part. That is why Jim is
recommending the used engine from Japan.

If you do the labor yourself or in exchange for beer, then it wouldn't be so
bad to replace the gasket hoping it would fix things. But if you are paying
a commercial garage rate, you can burn through the cash pretty fast, and
still wind up with problems.

Saludos cordiales,

Earle

 

kinda. it's relatively easy to check for warping. cracking is a little
harder, but not likely. the biggest problem is shops routinely skimming
heads when they don't need it, using abrasives, and then acting all
"surprised" when the motor's shot 9 months later.

if you're doing it yourself, and not pricing the time, it's cheap. but
you need to know what you're doing, need to have a few special tools.
with the honda, it's an 8 hour job if you're doing it carefully, and a
huge chunk of that is just the clean-up before reassembly. in the old
days where it's just a pushrod cast iron head/block, it's a breeze. you
can use a blunt scraper to clean the head/block and get it done in a
couple of hours at the most. once you get into the alloy head/block
thing, it's very time consuming with careful cleanup, overhead cam, cam
timing, etc., it gets to be a pita.

yes indeed.