Back story: I drove the car about 50-60 miles this afternoon. It was half highway and half city streets. It was about 105°F and the A/C was on the entire time. The car never had an issue, like usual.
At 5pm, my father (a former mechanic) asked to borrow the car for a 200-mile all highway trip. I said sure. After driving 30 miles doing 80 with the A/C on full blast, the needle started moving above halfway. He turned off the A/C and kept driving. The needle instantly went back down to normal and then slow starting climbing again. After the needle pegged H, he kept driving another 3-5 miles until the engine died in the parking lot of a gas station. He let it sit for 30-40 minutes and then removed the rad cap. As soon as he did, nothing but hot air (not steam) came rushing out. The rad was bone dry, yet I've had no coolant leaks for a couple of years now. He filled the rad with straight water and tried to start the car. It attempts to start but you can tell only 3 cylinders are trying. It will not fully fire.
What's your best guess as to the problem, and what solutions can you offer for each?
__________________
1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold
Given the limited information you have provided, it could be any of a number of things. Anyone that votes in your poll is just taking a wild guess, there is no way to know without more info. The fact that it stalled out while running is a very bad sign that your engine will ever run again though. He may have warped a cylinder/cracked the block/hydrolocked with coolant. If it was any of those, your motor is done.
Yet another reason why no one gets to drive my car but me. Ever.
I gave as much info as I could possibly provide. What more could I say?
I can't find any SH blocks for sale, so I'm thinking that I might just have to go for a rebuild.
__________________
1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold
I gave as much info as I could possibly provide. What more could I say?
I can't find any SH blocks for sale, so I'm thinking that I might just have to go for a rebuild.
I'm sure you did, but you will have to do some tests to determine the extent of the damage. Pull the spark plugs to check for coolant in the cylinders. Pull the valve cover to check for coolant in your oil and condition of the head. Check compression. Check that your timing belt isn't damaged and you didn't jump timing. It could be anything at this point.
It is also possible you have damaged the engine so badly a rebuild won't be an option.
When your dad put the water in the car, have you re-examined it to see if it was leaking anywhere? I had a similar situation as your car once, and it was because my lower radiator hose (stupid silicone OBX kind) was never fully tight (even with two clamps on) and it would leak shortly before popping the whole hose off and draining all coolant.
You should check the spark plugs to see which one(s) look different than the rest, that might clue you in on if you have a leak in the head gasket.
Well in my expereince, if it over heats like that badly then; there is no coolant, and the car wont start i would first assume a blown head gasket howeever, a check on the oil could verify that. Now as for not starting, if it were me i would get a ratchet and socket and go under the car to see if the rotating assembly tunrs by hand. I say this as i once had a blown head gasket that i was unaware of and i ended up destoryin the engine. All the heat had destroyed the main bearings and the whole shebang was trash. If you block is cracked, you should be able to see where the cooant leaked out of it.
Sorry to hear of your lude Kronn, i suggest you contact DaneilJohnson57, as last i talked to him he was lookginf or someoen to take an sh engine off his hands.
To compound the problem, somehow the rad cap was destroyed in the process. It will no longer hold pressure. It doesn't even lock in place. So I need a new rad cap, but my rad is an OEM aftermarket replacement. And I have no idea what brand.
__________________
1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold
Even aftermarket OEM radiators should use one of the two caps intended for the car, if you bring the old cap to the parts store they should be able to match it up to a replacement.
Your gonna have to crack open the head and look at it and see whats going on inside there. Hopefully its a head gasket only. I might have a friend who is selling a bare SH block. Shipping might be expensive somewhat since Im in San Diego. But I will still see if he does.
Just dropped her off at the shop. Having them pull the head and inspect. They quoted $225 for the pull and diagnosis, and another $675 to replace head gasket, machine the head, and reassemble.
They're suppose to call tomorrow with the diagnosis, at which point I plan on driving out that, snapping some photos of the head and block, and posting them for second/third opinions.
As for the rad cap, I have no idea what to do except purchase a Toyo and a Denso and see which one fits.
__________________
1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold
Good news: The block and head were fully inspected and no cracks. They say the head gasket blew on all 4 cylinders. And the initial cause of the problem is a pin-size hole in the center of the rad coils. So they're putting the head back on, doing a valve job for free (needed that anyway), and giving it back. They wanted $350 to replace the rad, but I said no.
Oh, and as I'm speaking to the guy, they have an S2000 on the dyno doing a pull.
__________________
1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold
Update: I dropped off the rad cap and found out according to the machine shop that there was no warping. A couple thousandths were shaved off just to make sure it was flat. They were already in the process of recapitating her. Unfortunately, when we checked to make sure the rad cap fit, we found another problem. Apparently when my father either took the cap off or put it back on, he did so improperly and bent the living **** out of the radiator neck. So even the new cap just spun and spun without locking into place. It's not a big deal because it can be fudged back with just a screw driver. Hopefully I get a call in the next couple of hours saying she's all done.
FYI: The Denso and Toyo rad caps are completely different. They are NOT universal as I had hoped. Not a big deal, but I thought I would share.
__________________
1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold
So I go to pick up the car today and they inform me that it's going to be an extra $100 on top of the quote due to two extra gaskets that had to replace. Then he shows me the printout.
$250 for head gasket kit
$31 for new thermostat (probably not needed)
$60 for machining the head
$15 for new spark plugs
$35 for five quarts of oil (WTF?!?!)
$7 for oil filter
$16 for coolant (WTF?!?!)
$0.50 for drain plug washer
$8 for water tube o-rings
$23 for VTEC filter screen
$16 for gasket bypass valve
$4 for another o-ring
$404 TOTAL
$487.50 for labor
$60 "sublet"
$34 tax
$985 out the door
However, when I get to the car, the first thing I do is check the radiator. It's bone dry. I end up putting 1.2 gallons of water in the thing to fill it up + some stop-leak stuff.
I let the car idle with A/C on for 20 minutes. The leak has stopped. I inform them that they tried to give me my car back with an empty radiator and no coolant puddle. Instead of saying "oops, we forgot to fill it up with coolant" they replied with "it must have leaked out over a gallon of antifreeze in the 2 hours it was sitting parked". BULL****! I figured they'd try to screw me a little here and there, like charging me $16 for some $5 antifreeze and then not even putting it in the radiator, but the story gets worse.
While the car was idling, I look around the engine bay to see what else they might have ****ed up. First thing that catches my eye is the spark plug cover is bowed up a full inch in the middle. I pull the cover to find that 2 plug wires are pinched under it. As I'm rerouting the wires to make them actually fit, I notice that the sheathing is now ripped/frayed on 3 of them. So I clean that mess up and get the cover back on.
I refill my 1gal jug of water that I brought with me just in case, and take off. I don't even get out of the parking lot before the car starts trying to die. So I back up and it tries to die again. I try a few more times and it bogs every time I go to take off in either direction. So I park the car, and go back in to tell them the problem. He says he'll have a mechanic check it out, but I can't duplicate the problem. So I drive off. I don't make it half a mile before the engine dies as I'm slowing down to a stop light. I restart the car and proceed to go home. The car tries to die 3 more times in the next quarter mile, each time when I have the clutch in and no gas. Sounds like a fuel problem, right?
So I turn around and drive back to the shop. I tell them the problem and they say that low coolant can have symptoms like a misfire. I politely tell him that he's an idiot and ask for the mechanic who actually worked on my car. He comes out and hops in the passenger seat. As soon as I start the car, it dies instantly. So I start the car again and it's idling at 300rpms with what sounds like a mild misfire as well. I sit there for a good 30 seconds before the idle corrects itself. Then, I take off and just start driving up and down the road. Every time I give it gas under 2500RPMs, it just bogs down and sputters. I repeat driving up and down the road 5-6 times so that he can see every time I slow down, turn, or upshift, the engine starts sputtering. I drive back to the shop and as soon as I pull into the parking spot, the car dies. The mechanic says he thinks it might be low fuel pressure. I say that sounds about right. He says he needs to talk to his boss.
He walks inside and the idiot clerk comes back and says "you were bogging the engine". I agreed that the engine was bogging. He says "no, the mechanic said you were just in too high of a gear so the engine was bogging". At this point I'm now furious. Not only are they trying to give my car back after raping me on prices and cheating me on fluids, but now this punk is telling me I don't know how to drive my own car. I try as nice as I can to explain that the car dying while at idle has nothing to do with being in the wrong gear, furthermore, the sputtering was happening at 2500RPMs. That's not low.
He counters with "well, that's what the mechanic said." Followed by "but until the radiator leak is fixed, we're not touching the car. The head gasket might blow again." I explain that the leak has been plugged already and that the radiator is completely full since I HAD TO FILL IT UP MYSELF. He replies with some additional retardation about the ECT showing normal temp because the coolant isn't reaching it and that my radiator is actually empty at the moment. So this only pisses me off more. But he says they'd be happy to look at it if I replace the non-leaky radiator. They'll just charge me extra for fixing whatever they screwed up.
__________________
1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold
The AutoGuide.com network consists of the largest network of enthusiast-owned enthusiast-operated automotive communities.
AutoGuide.com provides the latest car reviews, auto show coverage, new car prices, and automotive news. The AutoGuide network operates more than 100 automotive forums where our users consult peers for shopping information and advice, and share opinions as a community.
Linear Mode
