Car overheated - Honda Prelude Forum

3yearproject · 08-15-2005, 07:42 PM

I was in the drive thru waiting for my food and the temp gauge started to rise until the red light was on. it happen all in about 3 minutes. the i got my food and started to drive. in about one minute, it sarted to lower back to normal in about a total of two minutes. When i got home and pulled in the garage, turned the car off, the fan was on. so i know the fan works, i checked the radiator fluid and it was not full. I just top it off like two weeks ago and put aliitle in the overspill. the over spill was dry. I'm guessing I have a leak but i dont have any on the floor. Could it be leaking internally and if so how do i know it. thanks for any help

4thGenReady2Go · 08-15-2005, 08:05 PM

if coolant is mixing with oil, it could very well be your headgasket. Check your dipstick for froth or foaminess, including discoloration, especially after having recently run the engine.

95_5speed · 08-15-2005, 08:07 PM

Unless you have a cracked, deformed, or otherwise blown out headgasket, i dont think it would be leaking internally anywhere. If you have found no coolant on the floor, doesnt sound like the water pump is shot, or that the radiator is broken.

You may wana check your thermostat, unless you know you changed that recently too.

Most cars overheat at idle,. thats when the engine is not being cooled by moving air and the pump isnt going fast enough to keep it cool enough.

Hmm.. You also may not have put your radiator cap on all the way or properly? It could be something that small.

I dunno, thats just what I can think of for now.

95_5speed · 08-15-2005, 08:11 PM

Oops! post/blocked by the guy who posted seconds before me, lol If indeed you do find your oil is corrupt by coolant, DO NOT keep running the vehicle. You will do extreme damage.

not only will the oil not do its job and you could risk killing the main bearings, but the valves will burn up if it keeps overheating and you may experience many other problems.. check that oil quick.

4thGenReady2Go · 08-16-2005, 09:43 PM

^^ Yeah, I should've rephrased that. While the evidence of coolant in the oil is probably most obvious when the engine has just been run, it's best not to run the engine for too long if your engine is in fact mixing coolant with oil.

As for the idling, I wouldn't go so far as to say most engines overheat at idle. I've idled my engine for a long time in hot weather and it's remained within operating parameters. It's certainly true that oil isn't circulating as well as it should be at idle speeds, but the engine certainly isn't going to overheat if there's nothing wrong with it.

If you can't find a trace of coolant outside of the engine, then you can basically rule out any time of leak, be it thermostat, water pump housing or radiator. If you add coolant, run the engine, then notice later that ultimately you have to continually top off the radiator, it sounds like coolant is travelling somewhere where it shouldn't be in the engine.

blacklude4k · 08-16-2005, 11:04 PM

this sounds like my problem, how can i tell if my head gasket is messed up?

blacklude4k · 08-18-2005, 03:58 PM

So how do i tell if my head gasket is busted?

95_5speed · 08-18-2005, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacklude4k

So how do i tell if my head gasket is busted?

remove the head and inspect it. No, really, thats what you have to do if you have telltale signs.

blacklude4k · 08-18-2005, 05:38 PM

aight i have a helms so what that tell me what it will look like if it is busted?

4thGenReady2Go · 08-18-2005, 07:01 PM

first check your oil, most often a blown head gasket results in oil and coolant mixing together. If your oil looks as if there's more to it than just oil, than it could necessitate the removal of the head. I would also check compression on all four of your cylinders as well before removing the head.