Hello everyone,
I have a 1990 Honda Accord EX with 176,000 miles on it. A
little less that a week ago I sat idle for a second while waiting on a
friend at the airport and I started smelling antifreeze, so I quickly
shut off the engine, opened the hood, and there was steam coming up
from the passenger side of the engine under what I think is the water
pump. Also, there was a good bit of antifreeze on the ground. The
car did not get hot so I checked the reservior and removed the
radiator cap and saw that there was some fluid left. I don’t live far
from the airport, so I poured in some bottles of water I had and drove
home, watching the temp guage constantly, and there was no change in
temperature that was abnormal, even in idle. When I got home there
was a small amount of steam coming from the same spot, but the water
level seemed to be fairly stable. I checked all of the hoses and they
seemed fine. I had no time to take it in or do anything so I drove
the car to work the next day in a similar fashion and there was no
steam and the levels were stable (20 minute drive on the highway about
60 degrees outside). Same deal for a couple of days until this
afternoon. This afternoon leaving work I checked the level in the
reservoir, and it was fine, so I started driving and in a couple of
minutes I could see the temp shooting up so I pulled over. The funny
thing is I still had the heat on full blast and the air coming out was
cool even with the car reading hot. I let it cool down and then tried
to make it back to work. I drove for a second and the heat suddenly
came on and the temperature stabilized. This worked for a little
while even while the car was idle. Then suddenly the heat went away
and I noticed the temp start to rise again. I pulled over, let it
cool, then drove the car the last 200 yards to the office and as I
parked the car was running extremely hot again. When I got out the
fans were running full blast and the leak had returned, though not as
bad as the first time.

Money is tight so I would like to try and troubleshoot this myself
this weekend so, if someone could tell me what to check on the car to
gather more information I would greatly appreciate it. I have
replaced various parts on the car so I have to ability to do some
minor work on it, but this is the first problem I have had with the
coolant system so I’m kind of lost. I would be very grateful if
someone could give me a thorough reply to let me know what I’m up
against.

Thanks in advance

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