Overheated, possible heater hose blew?

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate everything 2CarPros has helped me with on all the vehicles I asked for help with. However, thinking about it, I should have told you about how the car acted when I turned on the heater last week to defrost my windshield.

I was sitting in the parking lot at the grocery store and the windows were fogging up. I turned on the heater and as the car was idling, the temperature gauge began to rise above the halfway mark after a few minutes. Normally, the temperature gauge is at one mark below the halfway mark.

Then a couple of days later, my son took his dad (Marty) to the store and the engine began getting hot. After they returned, they let the engine cool off, and Marty pulled the radiator cap off. With it came a big string of junk. Marty said that by turning on the heater, a bunch of junk came out of the core and plugged up the return line for the reservoir and there was very little coolant in the radiator. However, there was plenty of coolant in the reservoir. Marty also said it looked like someone put Stop Leak in it at one time, judging by the string of junk. I wouldn't use Stop Leak if you gave me the how corporation.

So, this brings me to a couple more questions. Could whatever junk come out of the radiator have also clogged the system elsewhere, like at the thermostat? Also, you said it would still be pressurized because it blew the radiator cap off and spit coolant when I loosened it. So, what could cause it to steam at the back of the engine and coolant dripping from underneath?

When I flushed the cooling system over last summer, I forgot to do the heater core. I guess I was in a hurry to get the car running and registered so we could start driving it since we had no transportation at the time.

The last time something like this happened it cost us a $3K garage bill because of melted engine cover gaskets. Since I had never seen an engine like this, I was scared to DIY it. I'm an antique car DIYer. I won't do anything newer than 1989.

Hi Joe. I ordered a cooling system pressure testing kit from Amazon and did the pressure test yesterday. There is definitely a break in the system. It's located behind the intake manifold. What does the shiny pipe go to? There is a hose right beside it. That is the general area where the leak is occurring. It's either the pipe or the hose that's broken. Even with my small hands, it's hard to get to, so I'll have to do some dismantling to get to it. I'm including a photo. The blue circle shows the general area where the leak is occurring.

Hi Joe. No AutoZone here, but I do have access to O'Reilly's. Thanks for the advice. I had to turn on my phone's flashlight just to get what was showing in the pic.

Hi Joe, I have some more info for you about my Acura. I just came from outside. I removed, what I am going to call, a body brace. It's a bent bar with a diameter of approximately 1". It spans from fender-well to fender-well and is attached to the back firewall. Anyway, that allowed me to get a better look at things down there, that and removing the fuel injection cover on the driver side. I purchased a diagnostic mirror from Walmart for $4.98, which also helped me to see things better.

There is a hose, about the diameter of a heater hose, coming out of the back of the motor from the driver's side. With the mirror and a flashlight, I could see that the hose was wet. It's positioned just below the driver's side fuel rail. With my hand, I was able to trace the hose to see where it led. It goes directly behind the intake manifold and plugs into something else, which I couldn't see very well, so I don't know what it is. I was able to tell approximately how long the hose was as I could feel the hose clamps on each end. I think it is between 2 - 3 feet long.

However, to be able to remove the hose, I will have to take part of the fuel rail off as well as some kind of canister that the fuel rail plugs into. The canister is attached to the firewall. There is also some other junk back there that is in the way, I have no clue what it is. It looks like some kind of linkage, but I don't know what it goes to. Maybe it's for the transmission.

Even though it's a front-wheel drive, the engine isn't transverse. Being that it's a Japanese-built car I haven't got a clue what they were thinking when the engineers designed this thing. I wish I could get the wiring done on my 85 Dodge D150 Ram Truck. It's so much simpler than this Japanese thing. No prejudice intended against the Japanese, I'm just not much for foreign cars. I'll drive'em but I don't like fixin'em. I'd be focusing on the wiring on my truck if the Acura would quit breaking itself.

I look forward to your reply,

Althea

PS. I was looking in my Haynes Manual last night, page by page, and I finally found something that made sense. I'm including a photo. The hose that is highlighted I believe is the culprit.

Hello again Joe. I also need to know where to relieve the pressure on the fuel rail. To get to the hose I need to replace, I have to take off the part of the fuel rail that follows along the back of the engine. Can you get me a photo of the pressure release so I will know where it is? If you can, I'd be most grateful.

Hello Joe,

I guess I missed the point of your last post. It just wasn't clicking in my mind or something. I ended up letting the fuel pressure off at the gas tank, in the trunk, under the floor. This car has got me so frustrated, it's pathetic. I wish I could be working on my 85 Dodge D150 instead. Only if this car would quit breaking down on me.

Anyway, I finally got enough stuff out of the way that I can see the hose I'm trying to get to better. Now my big problem is the transmission dipstick tube is in my way. I've been examining how to get the tube out of my way all day long. I even jacked up the car and tried looking at it from beneath. There is a bracket just above the end of the hose, highlighted pink, that attaches to the rear water outlet in the attached photo. I thought that the transmission linkage was connected to this bracket, but it turned out to be some hard-line vacuum tubes, and the transmission dipstick tube.

I loosened the lines and dipstick tube from the bracket. The lines are out of the way, but I can't get the dipstick tube to move more than.25 inches in any direction. The main bracket is attached to the top of the back of the head. I am prevented from getting to the bolt that holds the main bracket to the head until the dipstick tube is out of the way. If I can get that bracket and the tube out of the way, then I can reach the hose clamp.

As you can see, I have circled in red the rear water outlet, which I thought was under the intake manifold, but it turns out that it's attached directly to the back of the head. It looks as though the outlet can be removed. All I know is this is the area where the coolant is leaking from. However, with the way the parts in the photo are set up, I can't figure out where the inlet and outlet hoses attach to the firewall. This car makes no sense to me.

The main thing is getting the transmission dipstick tube out of the way. Then I can get to the house.

Thea

Hi Joe,

I'm sorry, it's way too tight in there and I can barely make heads or tails of it with a flashlight so I couldn't get a pic. However, I found a 91 Acura Legend transmission on eBay and plenty of photos. I downloaded the three best photos to my computer and am uploading them to here. I'll also supply the link where I found it in case you want to see the rest of the photos. The seller tried to do a 360 photo shoot. Here's the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/332346229881

I hope this helps. I'm so sick of this car, I'm ready to stick a for sale sign on it and let it be someone else's pain in the back side. The only foreign vehicles I ever had that I liked were my 2 89 Isuzu Pickups. I wish I still had one of them.

Yes. There is a bolt there, but the question is how do I get to it? I jacked up the car, crawled under it, and literally had to squeeze my hand and arm up to my elbow just to feel for the bolt. It feels like a 10 mm. It's going to be loads of fun getting to it. Also, there is some kind of wiring harness attached at two different places on the tube, which is another thing making it difficult to get to it. I guess all I can do is try. Thanks for all your help. I'll let you know what happens.