1994 Ex d16z6 - idle surge/coolant loss

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1994 Ex d16z6 - idle surge/coolant loss

By newbie101
- Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:51 pm #320317 Hey guys, college is kicking my ass hence the lack of recent activity from me.

I have a bit of an issue, I have been losing coolant for a while now. I have to replace it when during warm-up my engine starts to surge from about 1k to 2k rpm then back down very quickly. I have to replace coolant in the radiator AND in the resevoir. I thought maybe it is a head gasket but my oil looks and smells more or less the same, i.e. it doesn't look like there is coolant in it.

Any thoughts? I'm kinda scared to drive it until I know what's wrong. Stock everything, BTW.
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By Punksz6
- Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:56 am #320326 So no signs of coolant on the ground or around the block? Do you smell coolant? I know it sounds weird but if smell coolant in the car or. Under the hood you could have leak. The leak could be small and it dries up before it gets to the ground. Your rad could also be bad is it leaking anywhere around its core. Try looking around first to narrow it down. Check the inside too around the passenger side, the carpet wet look behind the carpet too could be the heater core? How's your heater working?


So first look for the obivious and try bleeding your system too. Could be there is a lot of air trapped in the system. Try this stuff and then let us know.
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By newbie101
- Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:04 am #320327 Well my heat still works flawlessly, does that eliminate the heater core as the issue? I'll have to look closer for leaks, haven't had time and won't until tomorrow

By EJ1_MK
- Tue Nov 20, 2012 3:36 am #320333 Check the level in the radiator when it is cold if you don't see anything then add some, your heat will still work to a point. common problem with these is that a hose to the heater core is cracked and it slowly looses or drips into the car so check your carpet and around the firewall.

If you drive it and still loosing coolant you will want to start to look at a few different things, head gasket, or other coolant leak into the motor from the idle control valve.

Easiest way to tell if it is a head gasket problem, is to fill the radiator up then start the car with the heat on full blast, let it idle and leave rad cap off to bleed the system, while it is bleeding once the car is warm rev the engine and see if the coolant bubbles and you can smell exhaust coming out of the radiator. This is also common on 200+ mileage cars.

That is how I could tell my dx had an issue and sure enough the gasket was blown in several spots. But like punksz6 said look around and make sure you don't have any leaks and look at our hoses if they look old might be a good idea to replace them and flush out the coolant as well.
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By teal_dx
- Tue Nov 20, 2012 3:43 am #320334 Also, have you ever popped the hood whole driving on the highway and seen the coolant overflow bubbling or boiling over? If not, then that's a good sign for your headgasket :thumb:
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