As I was driving to work today, I noticed smoke coming out of my engine compartment. The engine temperature gauge was high also. I stopped and check the coolant and it was empty, so I filled it up with water. Anyway, the temp showed hot again after about half mile. I stopped and pop the hood again and noticed the radiator fans aren't running. Is my radiator done? Anybody can help me fix this problem either tonight or tomorrow? I need the car to go to work on wednesday. Car is 99 integra and I live near NCSU.

9/15/2008 9:38:20 AM

is there coolant pouring onto the road from under your engine? find out from where exactly. did you have a big loss of power? If so, your wallet =

bad radiator fan =/= bad radiator

9/15/2008 9:52:45 AM

there's no coolant leaking. After I filled up the coolant tank, I noticed it didn't lose any. No loss of power either.

9/15/2008 9:57:39 AM

You might have blown the fuse that connects to the radiator fan..or the fan speed regulator could have gone bust.. its happened to me before..diff car though...

9/15/2008 10:09:26 AM

The coolant has to be going somewhere. Check the oil and see if it looks milky.

9/15/2008 10:11:46 AM

^^good idea, I'll check on that when I have a chance.

^the coolant didn't go anywhere, they're all still in the coolant tank.

[Edited on September 15, 2008 at 10:13 AM. Reason : .]

9/15/2008 10:12:18 AM

integra??

I'LL BUY!

but yeah, if you're fans arent working that doesnt mean the radiator is gone.

check fuse, thermostat, fluids, all that jazz. make sure all the wires are connected and not all screwed up. each fan has a connection.

9/15/2008 10:31:52 AM

When your engine is running turn on your AC and see if the fan moves then. If not you definitely blew a fuse for the cooling fans (or something else broke in the electrical connection).

As far as your radiator being low on coolant, I'm betting its b/c you haven't filled it up in a long time. The smoke? I have no idea, maybe that was when the wiring burnt up.

As long as your car is MOVING above 30mph your engine temperature should be fine, regardless of whether or not your cooling fans are working.

[Edited on September 15, 2008 at 11:06 AM. Reason : if you're having problems in stop and go traffic turn off your engine at traffic lights.]

9/15/2008 11:04:57 AM

^I'll check on that when I have a chance (currently at work). When I first popped the hood, I noticed there's some moisture on top of the radiator. I don't know if it could be just the moisture from the morning or not. You're right, I haven't filled up the coolant in the long time. The smoke that came out of the radiator was more like steam.

9/15/2008 11:09:40 AM

?topic=540525

9/15/2008 11:19:37 AM

^I figure I'll post in that thread once I know what's wrong with my car.

9/15/2008 11:22:01 AM

i'm going with fan fuse blown or solenoid not working and you boiled your coolant away the first time because of it.

[Edited on September 15, 2008 at 11:23 AM. Reason : .]

9/15/2008 11:23:05 AM

quick update, I just went out and turned the AC on, the fans are running when the AC is on, but the engine still overheat. Does running fan mean the fuse is fine?

9/15/2008 12:33:40 PM

Quote :

"After I filled up the coolant tank"

did you even check the amount of fluid in the actual radiator or just the tank? if it overheated i imagine there may not be nearly enough in there--being the obvious reason it overheats quickly again

thermostat is the typical first thing to try though.. esp if it's still overheating when you force the fan on with the AC

9/15/2008 1:23:51 PM

^^I'm not sure, I don't know how its wired on your car. Another possibility could be that you have a fan cooling problem AND a crack in your radiator. I don't know about the 3rd generation Integra, but the 2nd gen has an OEM plastic radiator that loves to crack on the top

9/15/2008 1:26:54 PM

^^how do I check for the thermostat? I did a visual inspection, and didn't see any crack/leak.

9/15/2008 1:30:44 PM

its like $10-20 to replace.. typically you just replace them when they're suspect--not worth testing... although you can take it out and put it into boiling water and see if it opens if you really want to. how did you do a visual inspection? you can't see them without taking a radiator hose off at the very least and usually you have to take off more than that (although it's extremely not difficult)

year/make/model?

9/15/2008 1:35:08 PM

Quote :

" Car is 99 integra "

you cant really visually check the thermostat, but its really easy to get to on these cars.

if you go buy one from the parts store ill install it for you. or someone else can if they are closer. its one of those parts that even if it doesnt fix the prob, it was cheap enough to be replaced.

9/15/2008 1:51:47 PM

ok, I just filled up the radiator like ScHpEnXeL suggested, and was able to drive from home to work without any overheating (about 20 mins drive), compared to I had to stop 4 times this morning from home to work. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this. Should I just go ahead and get the thermostat replaced anyway?

9/15/2008 2:06:20 PM

its gonna get dirty, as in rad. fluid everywhere. i would wait til it gets low again, hopefully that doesnt happen.

but i mean if someone comes out there with a drain pan and stuff, then yeah. but to keep things simple and clean i wouldnt do it right now.

9/15/2008 2:07:52 PM

ok, I'll just take the wait-and-see approach then. Hopefully, the problem goes away. Thanks everyone for the help.

9/15/2008 2:13:18 PM

if the fans turn on and doesnt overheat, then her thermo. is working. how many miles you got on it?

9/15/2008 2:23:58 PM

as far as I know, it's the original thermo, the car has 110K miles right now.

9/15/2008 2:33:13 PM

well, at least i halfway helped.. just don't open the radiator hot. i think that's obvious to most ppl but thought i'd warn you just to be sure

[Edited on September 15, 2008 at 6:35 PM. Reason : and with that kind of mileage i'd plan on replacing..isn't worth ruining a motor]

9/15/2008 6:29:45 PM

sounds like acuras aren't reliable. you should've gotten yourself a lexus

9/16/2008 2:25:25 AM

the car overheated again this morning while I was driving from raleigh to greenville. It would overheat if I go over 70 mph so I was limping from wilson to greenville. Does anybody know why this happened? If it's a leak in the radiator, why would it take this long (~2 months) for all the coolant to completely leaked out?

11/10/2008 8:43:03 PM

Could be a slow leak in the radiator, one of the coolant lines, at the water pump, or at the thermostat housing.

Or you could have a bad head gasket and the coolant is getting past it.

Have you checked where you park to see if it is dropping any fluids? Have you put it on ramps and looked all over for the leak?

11/10/2008 8:47:24 PM

I've tried parking and checking for leak last time and didn't see anything. I will try that again sometimes this week when I have a chance. Is it possible that the coolant loss is just due to water evaporation?

11/10/2008 8:57:46 PM

no, the system is sealed

and am i hearing right that you haven't even checked fluid levels?

11/10/2008 8:58:39 PM

I checked the coolant reservoir and it was completely dry. This is after I filled up the radiator and the coolant reservoir full 2 months ago.

11/10/2008 9:08:59 PM

needs dancing pineapple

11/10/2008 9:42:27 PM

^^then fill it back up and keep an eye on your fluids every month or so

11/10/2008 10:01:27 PM

^thanks, that's probably what I'm gonna do.

11/10/2008 10:10:55 PM

That's a good idea, but if you're losing coolant it's gotta go somewhere. Like someone said, it's a closed system. If you're losing it then you're going to have a repair bill sooner or later. Better start planning for it.

11/10/2008 10:35:04 PM

actually its a semi closed system

11/10/2008 10:37:35 PM

Check your oil dipstick. The oil should be anywhere from a clean amber to black in color. If it's whitish/milky color, your head gasket's probably blown and coolant has leaked into the oil, ruining it. Or the head gasket is blown and the coolant is being burned. Or it could be leaking as steam from a cracked hose. In any case, you should check the coolant level each time before you crank the car now.

11/10/2008 10:39:21 PM

thermostat or waterpump.

does that car have a weep hole on the water pump?

its not the fan if its overheating while moving over 20mph

is there any white smoke coming out the tailpipe?

[Edited on November 11, 2008 at 12:14 AM. Reason : .]

11/11/2008 12:11:58 AM

you'll know if water pump fails. hah.

goto http://www.9one9racing.com/98integra.pdf

thats the 98+ helms manual (you have 98+ right)... see where the coolant lines tie into and check all the connections and what not.

but yeah, the coolant has got to be going somewhere, and if its burning off you'll def. smell it.

11/11/2008 12:15:44 AM

It sounds to me like he needs to keep his radiator full. No one has mentioned yet that the overflow reservoir is not big enough to fill the radiator.

Just open the radiator cap and fill it up 50/50 with water and antifreeze.

Btw, I need someone to help me slap a waterpump on my ranger. Ive got to fill the radiator up everyday ( just been using water).

11/12/2008 8:37:34 PM

Quote :

"That's a good idea, but if you're losing coolant it's gotta go somewhere."

yeah..but until we know what rate it's actually losing at, you really don't know where to even guess. i mean, it could be losing just enough to make it overheat over a 2 month period then the rest is being lost from overheating. hell, it could have overheated just from being underfilled after he filled it last time because there was air still in the system and that was ultimately why it overheated again.

the point being, he needs to keep an eye on it, keep up with how much it takes to keep it "full" and report back before anybody can make a real diagnosis.

11/12/2008 8:47:42 PM

and he should leave it running the first time he fills it back up.

11/12/2008 8:48:57 PM

i had a little coolant leak from the water pump a while ago on my integra.

if you dont fix it then it will lead to more expensive fixes.

the sucky thing is unless you can check all the cracks, it may be hard to find.

11/12/2008 8:52:34 PM

I filled up the radiator + coolant reservoir few days ago with about 1 gal of water. That's how much it took to get both of them full. Don't know if that helps with the diagnosis or not.

11/13/2008 2:54:36 PM

well where is it at now?

11/13/2008 2:59:38 PM

I haven't driven the car in the past few days. I will drive it from greenville back to raleigh tomorrow and will give an update on the coolant level after the drive.

11/13/2008 3:36:22 PM

very simple mass balance, if you put coolant in, it doesn't dissapear, it has to go somewhere

11/13/2008 5:19:33 PM

is it overheating while full, or are you waiting to check on it until it overheats?


could just be a failing radiator cap if its just a slow loss and it doesnt overheat when full

11/15/2008 11:20:33 AM