1995 Honda Accord boils over

I nominate the anything with the Subaru 2.5L and Renault turbos.

Reply to
Michael Pardee
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How about the front of the water pump? Viscous fan clutches were very popular in the '80s. They worked pretty well when new, but the silicone tended to leak out over the years. They would become progressively less effective and the driver wouldn't know until the situation got really bad.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

DING! DING! Mike wins the prize! Exactly what happened in my Supra.

I have the records from the old owner. She spent $1100 traking down an overheating problem.

The first year I had the car, the temp barely got over 90 degrees all summer. Plus, we did a timing belt and the car had all new coolant in it. It never overheated.

Last summer, we had a lot of days over 90 degrees, and it was on these days it was most likely to overheat. I asked the guys in the Toyota forum and a former Service Rep gave me a method for checking the fan (basically, get the car up to temp, stop the engine and try to spin the fan...mine spun with no resistance at all.)

New fan clutch, no overheating! I did notice the previous owner did not install a new clutch...

Reply to
Hachiroku

Check my response to Mike, above.

I was also running without the shroud underneath the engine, and while replacing it helped somewhat, it wasn't until I replaced the clutch that the problem disappeared.

Reply to
Hachiroku

When they designed the car, asbestos HGs were still in use. When building started, asbestos HGs were gone. I guess they went to a semi-metallic HG, which called for higher torque on the head bolts. Toyota *didn't* call for higher torque, and suffered a lot of BHGs.

Luckily, whoever had the car originally either had the head retorqued, or replaced the gasket and had it torqued to the new spec.

Reply to
Hachiroku

I used to work for a guy that sold used Fords. We sold a lot of Taurus', but RARELY one with a 3.8. He *knew* better!

I was working at a CarQuest, and we had a small market across from us. A guy stopped with a Continental to get a paper and a cup of coffee. It was Feb, so he left the motor running.

Normal...a little steam..then a puff...and another puff...and a few more puffs...by the time the guy came out of the store there was a steady stream of steam flowing from the tailpipe. He stopped someone passing, pointed to the tailpipe, and the other guy just shrugged his shoulders and walked on. Before I could get to the door, the guy drove off.

Sure hope he went RIGHT to the Ford dealer down the street!

Reply to
Hachiroku

that's not "old", it's simply designing the heat dumper to match the heat generator. with an electric radiator fan, no healthy car will use anything other than airflow cooling on the freeway.

Reply to
jim beam

around town, sure. but not on the freeway. lack of shroud, insect debris blockage, kinked coolant pipe, slipping belt on coolant pump, out of spec thermostat - these all have much more effect at freeway speed.

Reply to
jim beam

jim beam wrote in news:xf2dnaFbbNr906TbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@speakeasy.net:

Autos use electric fans purposely so they don't have to draw engine power to turn the radiator fan when it's not needed;when the vehicle is at speed and there's plenty of natural airflow.

The old belt driven fans changed to plastic blades because they could flatten out at higher speeds and draw less power from the motor. Electric fans were just the next step after that for economy.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

by "flatten out" do you mean a variable pitch fan blade? that's somewhat exotic and rather expensive. what used them?

Reply to
jim beam

My Supra has one. Also a Celica I had ('85) and an '85 Corolla.

Most of the fans post 75 or so are plastic, one reason being weight and the other being the flexability of plastic. I can't remember the last time I saw a metal fan!

Reply to
Hachiroku

just because it's plastic does not mean it's flexible enough to "flatten out" as if it's variable pitch. what mechanical properties do /you/ think "flexibility" gives the fan?

Reply to
jim beam

I don't know whether they were ever used as OEM fans, but my motorhead brother was pretty fond of aftermarket "flex fans." If the plastic blade is mounted to the hub by the leading edge, it's a good bet it is a flex fan. If the blade is mounted by the whole root it is just another fan.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

interesting - i've never seen a fan like that. seems kind of bizarre to me since i can't see what would keep the blade pitched to improve airflow when it was supposed to be working, but hey...

indeed.

Reply to
jim beam

Who cares?

Reply to
Hachiroku

you should if you want the fan to move the freakin' air that you think is cooling your engine!!! if the blades can adopt a position of least resistance, they will. that means throughput will be minimal - totally defeats their supposed purpose.

Reply to
jim beam

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Reply to
Michael Pardee

did you know that the outer extremity of a fan blade moves faster than the bit nearest the hub? apparently these guys don't since it's the same pitch for the whole blade!!! what a total p.o.s.

Reply to
jim beam

I would be inclined to think that these fans could actually inhibit cooling during high speed driving as the "flattened" fan blades would act muck like a feathered prop in the wrong position which then enters a windmilling mode.

I never had any confidence in these "devices."

JT

Reply to
Grumpy AuContraire

agreed!

Reply to
jim beam

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