JimFrost
Water pumps make squealing noises?
Sometimes.
what inside of them would cause that.
Bearings probably.
And this is a high pitch sound like someone screaming bloody murder!
Well that sounds pretty extreme for a water pump; more like a belt slipping in a pulley. I dunno.
I know youâve all heard that sound before. Someone usually driving a late 80âs to early 90âs Pontiac or Buick making a sharp turn while accelerating and âssssccccccrreeeachâ until the sound fades. I get the impression itâs a common problem Iâve heard that sound all throughout my life
I read if there is âgiveâ on the belts even a 1/2" then the drive belt is slipping. I did that test today and it was about that measurement. The backside felt worn and frayed.
Jim, focus. You are losing two gallons of coolant everyday. This is priority number one. Work on the noise and the fans later, first find and fix the leak.
OK, air dam. Itâs usually a plastic flap coming down under the radiator support. If you google it you will see how the air goes up to the radiator. Itâs there so the car can be streamlined; you know, without a large opening in front of the radiator which creates a lot of resistance. Thatâs why a car will overheat when it is missing.
If you see screws or bolts that look like they have broken plastic between them and the radiator support, you can assume that the air dam is missing.
Fans that donât work can cause an overheat at idle but not while the car is moving. I guess I should say that if you stop too long for a traffic signal when the engine is fully warmed up, you will get the overheat. The fan is necessary for slow speeds, especially if the air dam is missing.
This doesnât mean that you donât have a leak but if the overflow tank is vented the overheat will cause fluid to exit the tube that should hang from the coolant expansion tank. I canât remember if the system was pressure tested but I will go back and read.
Head gasket leaks donât have to let water into the cylinder. It can leak directly to the outside.
But if the fans arenât working, it might be one of the original causes of overheating
We all know how important the electric fans are
In my opinion, getting the fans working has high priority, same as getting that head gasket replaced
Iâm beginning to think this car may very well have more than one problem
With a known big leak, the system is running with a low coolant level. With that condition, the water pump cannot pump coolant. If there are big bubbles in the coolant the temp probe may be in air which means the probe cannot read an accurate temperature. Those probes also control the fan switches. It all started with the leak.
Either non working fans or a leak can cause a car to overheat and blow coolant into the reservoir tank. If is the fans, it wonât overheat at highway speed. Our pastor had a donated minivan that didnât overheat at idle or on the expressway but only on suburban roads going 45-50 mphâŠ
Turns out the minivan had been in a collision and when they put it back together the spliced the fan wiring wrong. At idle and slow speeds the fan pushed air forward through the radiator and at high speed the air coming in overwhelmed the flow from the fans but at 45-50 mph there was no flow through the radiator in either direction and it would overheat and blow coolant out almost immediately.
With a test light or voltmeter it should be easy to discover if juice is getting to the fans, if not swap the relay with another one and see if that works.
I agree this is a complex issue with probably several issues. There isnât any leak that can be found, Iâve looked underneath for leaks and nothing dripping. It only overheats at idle, and with no fans it makes sense it would overheat. But also the coolant is obviously going somewhere beforehand. So itâs a multitude of facts contributing to this cars overhating problem. I got a p0303 a month ago and a few days ago I had it read and it had all the p0300 codes. So now all the cylinders are apparently misfiring? Jesus, this car is going to implode. I plan to take it to a mechanic tomorrow. Iâll let you all know the verdict. Iâve come to the conclusion that there is no definitive way to check for a blown head gasket or water pumpâŠitâs all so loosy goosy.
I was thinking about testing the fans and relay switch like how it was done in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LdU721UVF0
I can go buy some alligator clips and hook them up to the battery to test the fan and then use a paper clip and short the cooling fan connector/switch. After the circuit is shorted are the fans suppose to automatically come on once the car is started? Because so far I havenât seen the fans work at all. Isnât it possible that since the fans donât work then the coolant isnât been cooled so when driving that 60mi the coolant could more easily boil and thus spit out the reservoir and lose all the coolant?
Youâre buying and pouring 2-3 gallons of antifreeze a day? Seriously? Also, Honda engines donât like being overheated and a head gasket almost always is the result. Change the water pump and see how it goes, I hope that it works for you. Good luck! Rocketman
Ok guys so the verdict is finally in and probably to no surprise is: blown head gasket. Had a master ASE tech assess it tofay and he is sure it is a blown head gasket. Priced at base $1357 and then once they see the head gasket is examined it may need to be shaved and such with everything I was estimated $1600-2k. Well, at least I know now for a fact what it is.
@rocketman I overestimated that itâs more like 1/4 a gallon a day.
A few ASE master techs on this website also suggested the headgasket was the problem, and Jim felt pretty strongly that wasnât it
That was not an attack, just an observation
And by âA few ASE master techs on this websiteâ I mean to say that there are a few, besides the one guy that has it as his username
By the way, 1/4 gallon is 1 quart. A quart coolant loss per day is huge
Well it was a pinhole leak there were MANY things that seemed to miss the general idea of a blown head gasket. Thatâs the thing with overheating itâs a lot of issues that could have caused it to overheat. I had other mechanics look at it too and they were befuddled with what was going on. Itâs not just me being a contrarian I just needed to make sure. I listened to all advice that was given here. I had figured it was the head gasket for ages but a lot of things pointed to other possible causes.
OP, no worries, this was an interesting and informative thread. Just curious for my own edification what test the mechanic did that made the head gasket diagnosis conclusive?
My head gasket job on an '03 Civic EX with VTEC was $1,100. There will be a machine shop charge in the bill refurbish the head. My job included a new water pump, timing belt so the motor is good for 100K more miles. You need a serpentine belt too. As you I had looked for every reason for my cooling issues before accepting that the gasket was shot. I live in rural PA so in a large city the same job would cost more.
I considered buying a new car. My Civic is a 5 speed manual that I bought new. At 150k miles we have bonded to a point that I decided to keep it. The job is messy but very routine for any good mechanic with Honda experience. Some Honda dealers give competitive quotes on this job. My regular independent shop did my job with no problems.
$1600-2k is beyond what I can spend right now. I am going to shop around for different prices see if I can get it to around the one-thousand dollar mark give or take. No shady mechanics.
@GrorgeSanJose Thatâs a good question, the owner of the shop kept telling me the machinery there is upwards of 250k. Basically after I asked what the prices might be. I could see he was trying to prove a point to me about his business and what this will cost me. Anyways actual ASE master tech told he checked/tested the entire cooling system, did a pressure test basically ran a series of test to rule out anything else. Said he knows itâs a blown head/crack somewhere but no telling the size and deeper specific. I assume he was using some of those powerful tools as well. I may call them up sometime soon to check the exact specifics of what the test was. Iâll let you know.
Perhaps the mechanic . . . the one that is sure the headgasket is blown . . . is an experienced guy, who has seen and repaired this problem on these Hondas before
I am not denying that one, he was experienced in this field. But he spent a good 1.5hr investigating it. But the tools the owner was explaining seem to indicate the sophisticated manner of their ways of determining blown head gaskets.
Anyways, the quote of 1600-2k what do others think of this price? fair or excessive?