1990 Honda Accord HELP PLEASE!

AMNSHELTON

MEMBER
1990 HONDA ACCORD
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
160,000 MILES

I lent my car to a friend and they said that the car shut off on them. I looked at it and the first thing I saw was the coolant level. The resevoir tank was bone dry. The car was also losing a lot of oil constantly. So I refilled the oil and coolant and after a week the coolant was gone as was the oil. It wasn't leaking anywhere and my engine started overheating even before the coolant ran out. What could it be?

Sunday, December 27th, 2009 AT 3:18 AM

1 Reply

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Hi amnshelton,

If the reservoir is depleting, there definitely is a leak in the system. You would need a pressure test to find out where the leaking is coming from. Hopefully you have not damaged the head gasket yet.

The reservoir is not an inidication that the radiator coolant level is full. Before the reservoir dries up, the coolant level in the radiator would already be low and that would cause the overheating.

The oil consumption is due mostly to worn valve seals and piston rings. To reduce the iol consumption, you would have to at least replace the valve seals.

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Sunday, December 27th, 2009 AT 1:30 PM