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acura cooling issue

Hi there,

I have an 88 Acura Legend 2 door, with a 2.7 L engine, which is having some very difficult overheating issues.

Here's the background:

I bought the car about 1.5 years ago, and the thing never overheated, nor did the guage fluctuate above a little less than middle. However, due to some major oil burning problems, I had an imported engine from Japan installed in the car with approximately 30k miles on it. (a new radiator was not installed). Soon after the installation, I began to realize that in certain conditions the temp. guage would slowly rise and make its way to the red. It would only take place however after about 5 minutes of stop and go traffic on the highway or such (of which there is a lot of in LA). Driving above about 30-40 mph or even if it was just sitting idle, it would not overheat. It would however cool down a little if I had my A/C on, for I think it automatically turned on another fan.

After taking it to my mechanic, he said that the fans were turning on when they were supposed to, that he replaced the thermostat just in case, and that he himself could not get it to overheat (though I'm not sure he tried very hard). That was about 9 months ago, and I've just endured the problem since then.

Yet just the other day I decided that I would try one more time. I took it to a radiator shop, and after hearing the story they quickly concluded it was the radiator, and replaced it, telling me it was now great. Sure enough however, back on the freeway in traffic, it slowly started climbing to the red again. I took it back the next day, and they were able to get it to overheat. They concluded it was the fan thermostat switch, and that the fans were turning on early enough, and so replaced that- and told me this time, it was definitely fixed and ready to go. Well, I found myself the next day again in traffic and there it went again, staying around a high middle of the guage and suddenly started shooting up.

The thing is that it only began doing this after the new engine was installed. The engine runs beautifully otherwise, and the radiator shop tested to make sure it wasn't the head gasket. Nonetheless, it's driving me crazy. My question is what could it possibly be!!?? Is there a possibility that the mechanic when installing the new engine forgot to plug in some electronic device that could affect this?

Any ideas would be wonderful.

Thanks much, kevin posted messages welcome or email at: snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

Reply to
ruess
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Have you checked when it's overheating to make sure that all the fans are running? If it's in the red, they should be..

Reply to
Robert Hancock

Yes, both the fans are working when it is overheating.

Reply to
ruess

Maybe something dumb like a loose fuse in the line to the fan motors?

To see if that's it, pull the fuse and with a pair of pliers, twist the fuse tangs just a little, so that when looked at end on, they look like this--

/ /

Then replace. You've changed out just about everything but the rad hoses. Hoses can go bad, especially on a car that old. If the one on the pump intake side goes soft it can collapse and restrict flow. Or hoses can delaminate internally and develop a flap that lifts up and restricts flow. That rad shop should have checked that though.

Reply to
John Ings

sounds like a water pump. but what kind of tech would install a used engine without replacing the water pump and timing belt?? i would take temp readings at the head and both hoses to determine if it is in fact running hot first. pop the rad. cap off and run it. look for bubbles. it may be you bought an engine with a bad head gasket. the import used motors need special attention. theres a reason they ship them overseas. Chip

Reply to
Chip Stein

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