I have a 1995 Honda Accord Coupe. It runs great and all but when it is driven for a long time or driven on the highway it overheats. Ive checked the transmission fluid and oil and there at good levels. Im a chick so i dont know too much about cars. Any suggestions?
2006-07-28 08:36:31 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Car Makes ➔ Honda
1995 is getting pretty old so a few things need TLC.
So I can get this "chick" up on what's what in her engine let's follow the path of the water k?
1. Water pump. If could be failing. It is inside the timing cover of the engine and is turned by the timing belt which should be changed religiously every 90,000 miles. If that belt breaks, you would do more than overheat, it would destroy the engine. But, the water pump is typically changed whenever the timing belt is.
2. Radiator. This is the thing that cools the hot water taken from your engine. It sits in the front of the car BEHIND the AC condenser which looks like another radiator. This part of your car is very old too and I've known Honda radiators to literally turn to dust after then length of time. You would see coolant on the ground or at least on or around the radiator if that was failing. Once it truly fails, it dumps water big time and you overheat immediately.
3. Thermostat. This is a little gizmo that keeps the engine the temperature at about 180 degrees. If this fails closed you overheat in no time. If it gets stuck you will see the temperature rise to almost overheating and then suddenly drop down as the thermostat finally opens. A stuck open thermostat makes the engine take an extremely long time to heat up to normal and is most noticeable in the winter when the engine may never get up to operating temp and the heater inside never blows hot air.
4. Coolant. The water in the radiator is actually coolant which is a 50-50 mix of antifreeze and water. It does double duty as an antifreeze and an antiboil too. It is usually a bright color with chartruese green being predominant. Mine is currently orange and who knows how many different colors are out there. The point is... it's not supposed to be clear or muddy looking.
5. Radiator cap. This cheap gizmo holds pressure in the radiator. Higher pressure makes for a higher boiling point. If the cap leaks, not only will you lose coolant but you will also not be able to maintain design pressure which will lower the boiling point closer to 212 degrees (that of water, of course it will be higher due to the antifreeze additive).
6. Excessive load. Now here's one not many will mention... too much load on the engine can cause excessive heat that was not designed to be removed by the cooling system. It rears it's ugly head by overheating at faster speeds when the engine has to work it's hardest to overcome the load. Reduce speed and the problem seems to go away. Have the cooling system checked and everyone says nothing is wrong. Here's what happened to me... my AC Compressor was starting to sieze up (got really hard to turn). Belts would have squeeled but they were over tightened to stop the squeeling. It progressively got worse until the engine was under a huge load to turn the compressor that it overheated. Of course it was being driven in 106 degrees in Texas which I am sure helped expose the problem.
Here's what I would do if I were a chick that got great tips from "Les"... I would take it in for a cooling system servicing. Insist that they check the system for leaks, radiator integrity, radiator cap pressure, flush the system and put in new coolant. Ask that they install an new thermostat and new radiator cap. Buying the parts yourself, they would come to ~$10 for the thermostat and ~$6 for the radiator cap unless you take it to a dealer. Labor will add more $ but both of these replacements are very easy... about 30 minutes for both. Have them check the condition of your accessory belts as well and tell them you want to know if any seem excessively tight.
Meanwhile, the only component that can add that much load to your engine is the AC compressor. Try turning off the AC on the freeway and if your problem goes away, you can pretty much chalk it up to loading from the compressor. You might get lucky and find that your coolant level is just low too. Be sure to check it with the engine cold or it could spew out at you and burn you. You are welcome to write me directly and I will help you with every step and teach you how to do a lot of it yourself to save you big $ and make sure the job is done right.
To keep yourself "in the know" so you don't get ripped of by dealerships or repair shops, I highly suggest you buy your car's service manual from www.helminc.com They aren't cheap but then how much do these places overcharge simply because you didn't know any better?
Good luck!
2006-07-28 09:53:17 · answer #1 · answered by Les 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
is it overheating or is it just the gage saying it's hot....if it's the gage showing hot but no steam coming out of the engine it could be you need a new thermostat.....check your water in the radiator when the car is off and cool...and on level ground....
2006-07-28 15:41:44 · answer #2 · answered by krnsspott 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
check the thermostat, have the cooling system checked for leaks or it might be a clogged radiator or posssibly a bad water pump
2006-07-28 15:41:14 · answer #3 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Make sure there is nothing obstructing the radiator intake from receiving airflow. Bugs, paper, trash, etc.
2006-07-28 15:43:54 · answer #4 · answered by JOHNNY D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check your antifreeze/coolant level and add if you need to. If you don't know how or how much bring it in.
2006-07-28 15:38:36 · answer #5 · answered by AC 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋