1994 Acura Integra Radiator

ANTHONY1699

MEMBER
1994 ACURA INTEGRA
1.8L
4 CYL
AUTOMATIC
140,000 MILES

After driving for about 5 miles give or take when I turn my car off I can hear a boiling sound coming from up under the hood. I open the hood and water is boiling in the reserve tank connected to the radiator. I pored all the water out and put the tank back in its place with no water in it, and I put some water in the radiator, when I pulled up at my house all the water I had just put in was back in the reserve tank boiling again. What can this be?

PS. I'eve heard that it could be my thermostat and that if I take my thermostat out that the problem could stop. Is that correct?

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,916 POSTS

Thermostats don't have a very high failure rate, and for most of the failures they stick open and don't let the engine get up to normal temperature. As for removing it, it's in there for a reason, and your engine temperature was okay before this happened, so it should be obvious removing it is not fixing anything. If you WERE to do that and the overheating stopped, you can be fairly sure you have a leaking cylinder head gasket. That can allow combustion gases to pool under the thermostat and prevent it from opening. Thermostats have to be hit with hot liquid to open. Hot air won't do it.

There's a better and faster test for a leaking cylinder head gasket. That involves drawing air from the radiator through a glass cylinder with two chambers partially-filled with a special dark blue liquid. If combustion gases are present, the liquid will turn bright yellow.

Don't forget to check that the radiator fan is turning on.