Joined today and thanks for having me. Now my problem and i'm sure there's plenty of help here.
My daughter's 2002 Protege has a history of coolant problems.
Bought car
Called me broke down with radiator spilling out bottom, it was under warrenty then, dealer replaced due to defect (it just came apart at bottom seam)
New radiator lasted 3 months, same problem and replaced again. Ran fine. One year lated started overheating and losing some coolant (not leaking). Found bad fan on passenger side. Replaced. No help. Overheat driving and setting in traffic BUT, not all the time. Would do fine for a while then overheat at 70mph or in traffic BUT not all the time.
Bubbles in coolant resivoir, not leaking and coolant but have to add some pretty often. Relpaced thermostat and cap, no help.
Now, started missing at slow idle while at traffic light, gas it and it clears up after 20mph.
Took it to shade tree mechanic and he said "head gasket or cracked head". Holy crap!
I read through other posts and found a similar problem solved by new radiator. Can I be this lucky only to replace radiator or do you think shade tree mechanic is right?
I did put a can of stop leak in there once to repair a small pin hole due to the fan came loose and fell against the fins and the vibration rubbed a pin hole.
If you can, please any advice or help. Daughter out of a car and has two kids to get around.

 

33 hits so far and no help. I think this forum is dead.

 

I guess nobody has ever heard of or had an overheating problem but me.
Maybe, where can I find a repair manuel for this vehicle, I ask myself..........

 

Check the oil. If there is a white film in it, then it's head gasket time. Also look for white smoke coming from exhaust. Willing to bet that the constant overheats weakened the gasket. Where this is an intermittent problem. I will bet the fans have been cutting in and out without you noticing. A bad connector will do that.

 

Thanks for reply. No white fim in oil anywhere. No white or any smoke from exhaust. Replaced one fan and checked both for operation. They work as far as I can tell.
Do all head gasket problems and/or cracked head problems produce white film in oil and white smoke from exhaust?
Now what to check?

 

yes they do (white film, I like to call it cafe latte....)... most of them.... I could be a number of things.... I can tell you that a bad conector will cause you a bad headache..... I recommend electrical connector contact cleaner in all your connector, not leaving out troubleshooting your fan relays.... they may start the fans, but overheat (the actual relay)and turn them off while driving..... I will go with replacing cheap parts first... like your coolant temperature sender.... if you have a friend with a similar car, just trying to swap relays with the other car, or doing it with the same type of relays in your car.... I have had problems with cars that the fans never turn off, thus overheating the wires and causing the conductor cables to loose their properties.....

A long shot...... there is a common problem with Honda cars, if you do not "bleed" the cooling system, the air in the system makes the water pump to cavitate (definbition, in better english http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavitation) ... this means in an easy way that the pump is not working correctly, not moving the coolant like it should..... maybe is a bad water pump......

hope this helps..... I always try to not spend any money while troubleshooting stuff......

 

I don't have the answer but also have suggestions, from experience.
The radiator has been changed enough times to blame the radiator. Well, that's unless they just repaired the old one. That would leave passageways that were clogged to still be clogged. Ofcourse, those are supposed to be cleared during a repair. I've had a fan go bad and then, after replacing the fan motor, have the thermostat go bad from the overheating. After replacing it the car doesn't overheat anymorer. Yes, I know you already replaced the thermo.

On another car, the relay went bad and I had to replaced it twice. It no longer blew after that. The overheating soon came back and a brand new radiator, to replace the one bought at the junkyard a couple of years earlier, solved the problem. Is your temperature gauge showing it overheating?

 

Yes temp guage shows overheating, but not all the time. Can drive for a week and no overheat then all of a sudden guage goes to hot. The mechanic I took it to said head cracked or head gasket leaking but nothing in the engine oil that looks "white" or cloudy. Nice clean oil only. I'm still investigating and thanks for replys.

 

Blown head gasket. Bubbles in the resevoir is a dead giveaway. You can use a block tester to verify. No water in the oil does not mean it does'nt have a blown head gasket.

 

Yes bubbles in resevoir. Enough said.
Average cost for head gasket repair? Or, find another engine?
WWYD?