QuestionQUESTION: I've been having a severe coolant loss from both the radiator and its reserve tank on a 2001 acura cl-s. Of course,it's been having on and off overheating problems through out the months of driving this car because of the coolant loss. At first, I noticed the leak under the car, and immediately replaced the hose which had a hole. Yet soon enough, it started having the same overheating problem and this time, it started having a hard time starting. I would have to keep the key "ON" forever before the engine turned. To my surprise, my radiator's reserve was empty! It was only a few weeks ago when I changed the radiator hose and coolant was refilled. Didn't think coolant can evaporate that fast!? Since then I had to top off coolant before going anywhere, even going back and forth to the local grocery store. Then a week later, my car just died. It wouldn't start anymore. So I took it to a shop, they changed the sensors and cleaned the cooling system. The car ran perfectly for a month,then died again. This time I changed spark plugs and it started. Changed the oil (even to full synthetic) and it was running perfectly for about 2 months...Last week, yet the same thing happened again! Changed spark plugs, started again, but this time I changed the thermostat also. It started again, but it just feels like it's going to happen again because it has a rough/shaky start and I'm so sick of trying to find out what's wrong with my car! My mechanic says the timing is off. I do need a tune up since I've reached 150,000 miles and haven't changed the timing belt. I can't think of anything else because I just don't see any coolant leaking anywhere in the engine. What do you think is the problem??
ANSWER: It looks like you covered all the bases. If your coolant is fine but your engine is overheating it could suggest friction, or your A/F ratio could be a little off causing a hotter combustion. It could be that your valve Clarence needs to be adjusted and your timing as well. I understand your frustrations as I come across similar situations. During race season it is simpler to rebuild an engine then to discover what is causing the issue.
I recommend not putting any additives into your engine such as stop leak as it will not help you rather then damage your engine more. try getting a temperature reading from your engine block and compare it to an engine of the same make that is running normally, also point the temp sensor over each cylinder compare the readings, expect a few degree variance as the thickness of the block might be different per cylinder.
Also try running automotive dye through the cooling system and check it with a UV light, just to make sure there are no leaks.
I hope this helps, if you have anymore questions please let me know.
Thank you,
Daniel
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QUESTION: Wow, what a great timing! Thank you, Daniel for your answer. It so happens that this morning, yes, the same thing happened again! The car did NOT start. I've been having a very rough start this past week and just knew sometime soon it would happen and it did...sigh.
My boyfriend works for a rental car company so they have the fleet mechanic on site. After telling him what the problem was with my car, he said it sounded like I needed to replace the water pump. Do you think that can be it? A while ago, when I was having the same problem, I had the error code read. The code was for "cylinder misfire." If there's a problem with water pump and it needs to be replaced, do you get a error code for cylinder misfire? My boyfriend thinks that the whole engine is all messed up now since the car's been driven with the same problem over and over again.
When the car didn't start this morning, we just went straight to autozone and got new spark plugs because we already knew changing spark plugs would start the car. It started just fine but those spark plugs were not even a month old! I'm just going to take your advice and see how the temperatures are on each cylinder and use the UV light for any leaks in the system. Can you tell me what the temperature tells you in terms of problems that's causing the car to lose coolant that much? If it's hotter than the temperature of the same car that's running fine, then I need to adjust the timing, and clear the valve...also adjust the friction and A/F ratio. Am I understanding it right?
Thank you so much, Daniel. I'm looking forward to your response.
ANSWER: Hi Midori,
It could be the water pump, but it also could be a head gasket leak and that is why you are getting a cylinder misfire as your spark plugs are getting dirty and unable to fire a spark. Check the spark plug that leads into cylinder number 1, I'm not sure where that would be on your car but if you take a look at the spark plug wires the wires should have numbers on them.
If you see the plug wet or very dirty then it is most defiantly a head gasket leak.
The temperature will determine how hot your engine is getting due to different reasons such as coolant not reaching the engine or high friction. Engine temperatures can very depending on the oil used and rpm anything around 290 degree F is average at 3,000 rpm. When checking each cylinder if 3 cylinders are avg 290 F and the 4th is 320 F it is very possible that the 4th cylinder has high friction causing wear, high temperature, and an offset on your cylinder wall allowing oil to leak into the cylinder gumming up your spark plug causing you to change it.
I would try the UV light first then go from there.
Let me know how that goes,
Thanks,
Daniel
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QUESTION: Daniel, I think the last thing you mentioned made it all clear to me...It all makes sense now! Okay, here it is.
So, one of the cylinders has high friction causing the car to run so hot which has been a cause of the coolant dissapearing so quickly. And then, that same cylinder had caused an offset and/or wear along with high temperature on the cylinder wall which allowed engine oil to leak into the cylinder, then onto the spark plugs causing them to get dirty, making them impossible to fire sparks to start the car and that's why every time I changed the spark plugs, the car would start and those new spark plugs would continue to help start the car until they're dirty again.
Daniel, you are a genious!
Okay, so here are some new questions for you...(Sorry!): The cylinder with high friction which could be the main reason for all the stress that I've suffered...was caused by a head gasket leak? If so, fixing the leak will automatically fix the high friction on the cylider or a high friction needs to be fixed by some other way? Is it possible for a cylinder to have high friction without having a leak in head gasket? If so, how do I fix that problem?
I'm pretty sure that the mechanic told me a while ago my spark plugs were NOT wet at the time when he changed them for me, but I didn't understand what he meant by it since these information was all new to me.
Thank you so much for your time, Daniel. I appreciate it so much!
Sincerely,
Midori
AnswerHi Midori,
Don't worry about it, my pleasure.
As for your question, a head gasket leak is normal when a car has a lot of kilometers on it. Also if you start using synthetic oil as opposed to conventional oil it will start to leak. For the cylinder to cause friction it could be anything from poor oil to bad oil pressure not getting into the cylinder. Fixing the leak may not fix the friction issue but then again we don't know for certain that it is a friction issue. Z-Max might fix a friction issue if you have one, if not new cylinders rings and refinishing the cylinder walls would do it but now that's big money.
Z-Max is about 90 bucks and it could help you out. Check the spark plugs make sure they are good also make sure your radiator is not leaking with the dye. Those are the 2 things I would start with.
Thank you,
Daniel
