[CL9] Overheating?

Hi,

Today i was installing a seat cover on the passenger side of the car, anyway i could smell something (i thought it was burnt curry smell possibly from the neighbours)...anyway as i went to the drivers seat i noticed the engine temperature guage went past half it freaked me out and it was moving to the right. I took it for a drive and it went back to normal.

So it only happens during idol. There are no leaks on my driveway, i noticed a cable underneath the passenger seat chair (could that be the sensor plug?). Is my radiator or coolant gone? As i said got no leaks...

It's a Honda Accord Euro 2004 standard 180k's on it, the wires aren't for the passenger seat as it's not automatic anything adjust by hand....

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

A few questions:
1. Was the radiator fan on when the temperature gauge was 'over'?
2. Can you see any water in the radiator? or any in the overflow reservoir?

yes the fan came on and yes i checked the coolant levels after reading the manual and it's below MIN i mean i can't see anything in there till i opened it so im assuming it's more than low. Im very worried should i go buy some coolant?

should i put some water in the radiator in the interim?

The coolant is a blue coolant u might have to go to Honda to get that then since your at it I reckon you should bleed the system for any bubbles in the system that could cause it to over heat. Also that wire under your seat is for your seatbelt buckle and side airbag which is inside the seat itself so i wouldn't disconnect it or anything like that.

i see but i have to go to work so what should i do for the short term? I don't know how to bleed the coolant? i've changed oil and trans but not coolant...How much is the blue stuff if i get tomorrow? And can i add the blue stuff into the radiator or reserviour for the short term till i take it home and bleed the system? Thanks for the help thus far...

Its not blue stuff it actually blue coolant just like red and green, not sure why but when the euro came out of the dealers they all had blue coolant not sure what the diffrances is but yer don't recommend u to add water or mix any other colour. Not sure how much they cost. But if it work out to be too much just keep the coolant already in there don't do a flush and buy a small bottle and just bleed and top up.

To bleed make sure the car is cooled down then open the radiator cap and start the car let it idle and turn on your heater inside onto max to get the coolant runing around a hot then just wait afew min and if there's any air bubble in the system you will notice some bubble will start to rise up and out of the radiator lid and top up if it goes down. What it's doing is leting all the air bubbles out and your filling it slowly back up. Keep doing this until your radiator fan comes on then the coolant should be at its hottest and any bubble you have would have came out so your should alright to put the cap back on and hope this fixes your problem

If you are just topping up a little, then plain tap water is fine. Ideally, you should use distilled/RO water as it doesnt contain minerals etc that can cause corrosion.

Just to be sure, there are two 'caps'. One is right on the radiator, and the other on the overflow reservoir. You need to check in the radiator to see if there is adequate water. Fill BOTH radiator and reservoir if they are low. Be sure to let the engine cool down before adding the water, as you do not want to have cold water through a hot engine...

At the next service, you may want to ask your mechanic to do a radiator flush. Whilst its not difficult to do yourself, I get the feeling that you're not a diy sorta person? :P

thanks for the advice everyone. I put water in the reserviour and in the cap of the radiator when the engine was cold and took the cap off whilst starting the engine - bubbles did come out before i added water and after the water was added. I used half a 1.25L bottle of water till i filled up the radiator then some in the reserviour...

I went for a drive, with air con and heater on Hi and let it idle for 10mins and the guage did not move to the right so it worked.

I hope the water doesn't freeze but from my knoweledge water doesnt freeze in Australia's climate unless we reach 0 obviously, but i could be wrong as the coolant could cool the water even more...not sure...actually hopefully there's enough coolant/anti freeze in there to counteract the freezing.

Anyway hopefully the car is fine ill get it flushed by a mechanic after i buy the blue coolant or ill look up instructions here on how to do it, or i may bleed it...but im not comfy knowing there is water in there

That amount wont be a problem at all. Nothing to lose sleep over. :)

Honda coolant is mixed 50/50 with distilled water anyway. As long as the coolant isn't diluted too much, it will still have sufficient anti freeze and anti corrosion properties.

I would keep an eye on the coolant level, and even though the amount of water added was small, if it wasn't distilled water I would still consider a coolant flush at the next service.

- HZ