QuestionQUESTION: My Hyundai Accent 2000 with 160,000 mile has a problem. The radiator tank was empty and when I fill it with antifreeze, it seems that the radiator boil. All the green antifreeze go out and change to be a rusty water.
I open the radiator cap, and pour the fresh antifreeze directly to the radiator, all the liquid blow out.
And the engine light in the desk board blinking.
Do you know what is wrong with it. Is it easy to fix it?
Please let me know, thank you so much.
ANSWER: Hi, Dave. It sounds like you may have a number of separate issues.
The fact that your check engine lamp is flashing indicates that you have a misfire. One potential cause for this is that you've overheated the engine badly enough to damage the cylinder head. So I'd say that you'll want to check the cause of the misfire first.
You can isolate the misfire to a particular cylinder (or cylinders) by (while wearing insulating gloves) pulling each plug wire off its spark plug (one at a time) and then observing whether the engine vibration changes. If pulling a wire results in no change, you know that cylinder is misfiring.
Then, determine the cause of the misfiring. While it could be ignition related, we're particularly interested in this case whether it's compression-related. If it is, you are likely to need a new cylinder head due to overheating damage.
This still doesn't necessarily address the overheating issue. The overheating could be caused by a stuck closed thermostat, a coolant leak causing a low coolant level, a clogged radiator, or radiator fans that do not turn on (for any of a variety of reasons). Given that your water turns rusty, there's an increased possibility that the radiator is clogged with rust flakes.
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QUESTION: Hello,
I do not think it is misfiring, because I change the spark and spark firing a month ago and it runs great.
I am guessing the radiator clogged or bad cylinder head.
In your opinion whether buying new or clean the radiator?
And where I can buy? I think the head cylinder is still fine because when I change the oil there is not water on the oil. Am I right?? Right now I can start the engine do not want to run?
Please advise, thank you so much for your time.
Dave
AnswerThe fact that your check engine lamp is blinking is conclusive evidence that the ECM at lease believes the engine to be misfiring. A blinking check engine light by definition indicates a misfire so severe that the ECM believes it is damaging the catalytic converter. Is your engine running smoothly when the lamp is flashing or is it vibrating?
In this case, I think your money will be best spent in diagnosing your issue rather than replacing or attempting to repair parts we don't yet know have problems. As I cannot physically examine your car, you're in a better position than I to determine whether my original suppositions are correct.
If you suspect that the radiator is indeed clogged, check for coolant flow. If you run the engine with the radiator cap off, can you see the coolant begin to flow as the engine reaches operating temperature? If not, remove the thermostat and reassemble. (I will note that it's a good idea to replace the thermostat anytime an engine has overheated, as this can damage a thermostat, and the replacement part is inexpensive). Now, you should have coolant flow at all times. If you do not, you're limited to three possibilities-- clogged passage(s) (most likely in the radiator), rusted away or broken off water pump impeller (very, very rare), or a large air pocket in the cooling system preventing flow.
If you do determine the radiator is clogged, then you'll need to weigh the costs. If the cost of cleaning is 50% or greater fraction of the cost of replacement, go with replacement. If less than that, I'd say you need to examine your own personal expectations along with the risk of the cleaning not being effective, resulting in even greater expense than just replacing the radiator.
Cylinder head warpage on your engine does not typically result in mixing oil and coolant. Most freqently, the problem manifests itself with the valves not seating properly, causing a misfire. Hence my previous supposition that the overheating may have warped the cylinder head causing a misfire.
When you say the engine doesn't want to run, I don't necessarily understand what this indicates. Can you describe what you see/feel/smell, etc.? This will hopefully help me understand the symptoms you have beyond overheating. This, too, though, sounds consistent with a warped cylinder head and a misfire.
If you do not feel you can effectively diagnose these issues yourself, you're probably best off spending the diagnostic fee for a shop to diagnose your car. Without an accurate diagnosis, attempting repair of this sort of issue can lead to spending even more money in parts without fully fixing the problems. Once you've received a diagnosis from a competent repair facility, you can then decide whether you should fix the car and whether you can do any of the necessary repairs yourself.
