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I know, I thought the same thing. But when it clicks coolant gushes down for a second or two. So you a clunk around where the thermostat is and second or two later you hear another one. Between the two clunks the coolant drops fast. I am guessing it has something to do with the cool coolant hitting the supper hot thermostat. If I rev the engine the coolant up top gets hot and it stops doing it as much.
It is in a local shop now. It is not losing coolant at all, but I also know that a leaking head gasket does not mean it always loses coolant depending on where the leak is. I really think there is still air in it.
When the engine is cold if I unscrew the EGR temp sensor I can see coolant but it does not come out. Even if I fill the radiator up with a large funnel attached to the radiator neck there is not enough pressure to push coolant out which make me think there is still an air pocket as well. Another part to the mystery is that when it gets hot I can hear, yes I can actually hear it, the thermostat opening and closing as it makes loud clunking noises. It pops open and closes almost immediately, like a bit of the cooler coolant flows down and closes it but since it is not flowing it does not get the radiator coolant hot enough to keep the thermostat open.
If it is a head gasket, I would be really surprised. The engine only has 105k on it and the dealership had flushed the coolant at 50k miles so if it was something like what Raistian77 said I would think that would have caused it.
Anyway, I will keep everyone in the know. Thanks everyone again for the input and suggestions. Keeping my fingers crossed it is not a head gasket.
It is in a local shop now. It is not losing coolant at all, but I also know that a leaking head gasket does not mean it always loses coolant depending on where the leak is. I really think there is still air in it.
When the engine is cold if I unscrew the EGR temp sensor I can see coolant but it does not come out. Even if I fill the radiator up with a large funnel attached to the radiator neck there is not enough pressure to push coolant out which make me think there is still an air pocket as well. Another part to the mystery is that when it gets hot I can hear, yes I can actually hear it, the thermostat opening and closing as it makes loud clunking noises. It pops open and closes almost immediately, like a bit of the cooler coolant flows down and closes it but since it is not flowing it does not get the radiator coolant hot enough to keep the thermostat open.
If it is a head gasket, I would be really surprised. The engine only has 105k on it and the dealership had flushed the coolant at 50k miles so if it was something like what Raistian77 said I would think that would have caused it.
Anyway, I will keep everyone in the know. Thanks everyone again for the input and suggestions. Keeping my fingers crossed it is not a head gasket.
Yesterday did not pan out although I got it to the point where the return hose is getting hot all the way up to the radiator but the top of the radiator remains cold. So waiting on a tow truck to take it to the neighborhood garage.
Thanks All for the help.
Yesterday did not pan out although I got it to the point where the return hose is getting hot all the way up to the radiator but the top of the radiator remains cold. So waiting on a tow truck to take it to the neighborhood garage.
Thanks All for the help.
I certainly hope it is not the head gasket. The truck only has 105k miles on it, and it was cooling fine before I replaced the timing belt, water pump and radiator. I also think it would be weird for the thermostat to go bad but I have spent at least 10 hours trying to figure this out. I don’t have a way to measure the temp out of the EGR as I am a shade tree mechanic. I could remove the sensor from there though and bleed it I guess.
I would say it is proving to be harder to fix this then to do the timing belt and radiator 🙂
If I can’t get it to tomorrow I will have to have it towed to a shop. Which would be a shame since I thought I was saving a lot of money by doing the timing belt and radiator myself. I did buy a thermostat today, but not so sure that is the issue and it is not super easy to replace on the Ridgeline.
Will see how tomorrow pans out.
-Bennett
I certainly hope it is not the head gasket. The truck only has 105k miles on it, and it was cooling fine before I replaced the timing belt, water pump and radiator. I also think it would be weird for the thermostat to go bad but I have spent at least 10 hours trying to figure this out. I don’t have a way to measure the temp out of the EGR as I am a shade tree mechanic. I could remove the sensor from there though and bleed it I guess.
I would say it is proving to be harder to fix this then to do the timing belt and radiator 🙂
If I can’t get it to tomorrow I will have to have it towed to a shop. Which would be a shame since I thought I was saving a lot of money by doing the timing belt and radiator myself. I did buy a thermostat today, but not so sure that is the issue and it is not super easy to replace on the Ridgeline.
Will see how tomorrow pans out.
-Bennett
I thought the same thing about wetting/cooling the temp sensor but the fans are coming on when the engine gets hot. The thermostat should open no matter what that sensor is doing as far as I know. If the fans were not blowing then I could see that maybe the coolant was not getting cooled off, but they are operating at what seems like fine rpms.
I thought the same thing about wetting/cooling the temp sensor but the fans are coming on when the engine gets hot. The thermostat should open no matter what that sensor is doing as far as I know. If the fans were not blowing then I could see that maybe the coolant was not getting cooled off, but they are operating at what seems like fine rpms.
I am not so sure it is air in the line. I am thinking it may be the thermostat but that is almost not making sense. Here is what it does.
When I start it cold it heats up and then once the engine is hot (meter at the halfway point), it will stay there if I just let it idle. If I rev it up to 2500 rpms it will jump up to 3/4 within 90 seconds and coolant backs up the funnel.
After it is hot with coolant pushed up in the funnel if I turn the engine off the fan continues and then after a few seconds you hear what I think is the thermostat click and coolant rushes back into the radiator. I can repeat this over and over. Now if I spray hose water on the thermostat housing the water continuously flows and no mater how many rpms it does not overheat.
Is the thermostat not working when it gets too hot or is this still a symptom of air in the system, possibly around the thermostat? I am going to pick up a thermostat but would be good to know if that is not the problem before I set out to replace it.
Thanks everyone
I am not so sure it is air in the line. I am thinking it may be the thermostat but that is almost not making sense. Here is what it does.
When I start it cold it heats up and then once the engine is hot (meter at the halfway point), it will stay there if I just let it idle. If I rev it up to 2500 rpms it will jump up to 3/4 within 90 seconds and coolant backs up the funnel.
After it is hot with coolant pushed up in the funnel if I turn the engine off the fan continues and then after a few seconds you hear what I think is the thermostat click and coolant rushes back into the radiator. I can repeat this over and over. Now if I spray hose water on the thermostat housing the water continuously flows and no mater how many rpms it does not overheat.
Is the thermostat not working when it gets too hot or is this still a symptom of air in the system, possibly around the thermostat? I am going to pick up a thermostat but would be good to know if that is not the problem before I set out to replace it.
Thanks everyone
I got a bigger funnel, but not the spill free. Trying again today and if I don’t have love I may try replacing the thermostat. The heater in the truck is working great so I think it is circulating though.