Accord idleing/overheating

ARD26DESI

MEMBER
HONDA ACCORD

I drive a '97 Accord, 2.2, with 115,000 miles on it. Recently it has been idleing rough on start up, subsiding in 10-20 seconds or when I give it some gas repeatedly. In addition to this, the sensor indicated overheating once while it was idleing for a few minutes. I had my repair guy run some tests after the engine light came on. He said it was a valve misfire, and came to the conclusion that the head gasket needed replacing, taking into consideration that my radiator blew a couple months back and the car overheated. However, there is no noticeable leakage from the head, and a bad head sounds unlikely. Furthermore, today the car started to 'overheat' while I was idleing for only a couple of minutes, yet the fluid resovoir was full. Could the two issues be unrelated? - Could the idleing be caused by something like an air filter or fuel injector problem? And why the overheating?
I appreciate any advice you can offer. Thanks.

1 Reply

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,753 POSTS

Cooling system is a closed system. Yours is probably not so much anymore. The misfire is possibly due to a blow by of coolant in to the cylinder. Take a look at this website.
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/mitchell1eautorepair-car-repair-manuals

The leak down test is cheap and easy. You will know what is causing the problem I would bet. The system, cooling system, doesn't have to leak out of the head to the outside of the engine and yet it can be hard to notice in the exhaust. The system is supposed to pressurize but can't with a leak and that affects the way the coolant circulates.