car died on 401 today
 

so my car died on the 401 today and had to get it towed. after it died and i took a look on the side of the road a puddle of coolant was sitting under the resevoir on the passenger side. So im assuming i blew my lower radiator hose? just wondering what parts i would need to buy to get it going? btw i need to do this tomorrow morning. should i just change the whole rad and all hoses? any suggestions would be great and a place to get these parts quick would be helpful too.

THANKS GUYS

What do you mean the car died? Did it start to overheat? did it turn off and not turn on after. What happened. It may help us determine what is wrong exactly

it didnt overheat it just turned off and wouldnt turn on again.

This is a pretty good question. My intake tube got so hot it melted away my lower hose.

Well here is the thing, if you say you blew your lower rad hose, it wouldn't be just a puddle, half your engine bay would be washed, trust me I know how it is when a hose bursts. It could just be a leaky reservoir. In addition to that if the any of the coolant hoses were to be punctured, you would over heat due to no coolant in the system (it sprays out quick since its under pressure), and the only reason your car would turn off then is if it granaded due to overheating. How big was the puddle? If I'm not mistaking, b series takes about 5L of coolant if the block still has all of it?

Ok, back to your question, does the engine turn over? It could be problems with fuel supply or ignition. With either of those issues, the engine will turn over but will not start. It could be due to alternator failure. In that case the engine will not turn over with no signs of life.
Why don't you describe what is happening when you turn the key so we could give you an educated guess.

when i turn the key the starter is cranking but wont start. when it die on the 401 yesterday there was smoke and there was quite a bit of coolant when i had pulled over. i took the rad and reservoir out this morning. the reservoir is full but when i had drained the rad there was only about 2 and a 1/2 to 3 litres of coolant. the oil temp when it died was still the same as it usually. unless my thermostat might be broken?

^You mean "coolant" temp, not oil temp :wink:

Sounds like you may have blown a rad hose... But the way you're giving us little bits and pieces of information is making it very difficult to determin exactly what happened and what could be wrong.

Take a few minutes and type out IN FULL DETAIL, EXACTLY what happened, in order. This will help us help you. The more detail you can include the better.

Thanks.

ok well i was driving down the 401 going about 120 when the engine just shut off. the temp didnt spike or anything. there was a little bit of smoke coming from the hood but not a huge amount. pulled over to the side of the road and saw a pretty big puddle of coolant on the passenger side right around where the lower rad hose connects. now when i try to start the car the engine will crank but not turn over. my coolant reservoir is still at the max and when i drained the rad there was about 2 and a half litres of coolant

Sounds like you may have blown a head gasket. Can you see coolant leaking out (or where it may have been leaking out) between the engine block and head?

damn

2.5L of coolant seems about right, is it half rad or full rad?

Well if he said a little bit of smoke it could be a headgasket but you are able to see so look around the block to see any visible signs of it.

when a hose burst on my car, it looked like somebody dumped a bucket of coolant on the left half of the engine bay.

Try to locate where the coolant leak originated.

what would be some signs of a blown headgasket? would there be coolant leaking from the between the block and head? not sure how to tell the difference between half rad and full rad?

try to find the coolant leak, if the leak is from head gasket failure, then you should be able to see trace of coolant on the engine.

Though i still fail to see how the car would just turn off from head gasket failure or any other coolant related reason without overheating.

Bingo!:yeah: Could also be blown internally, but you stated you saw 2.5L of coolant leaked out on the ground..

I believe all integra's came with full rads. (full width of the space between the headlights) Only civics came with half-rads. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

If the head gasket suddenly blew, and he lost compression on 2 or 3 cylinders... it would have shut off without overheating... no? That's my guess anyways...

yes, integras came with full rads, but if could have been "upgraded" to a half rad. Half rads are typically used for turbo apps cus of clearance.

And a head gasket doesnt "BLOW" like just completely fall apart, it doesnt fully seal the cylinders. It would be very hard to just have a car die from that. I've seen cars go 6 months with blown head gaskets, the just eat up oil and coolant :)

And are you sure your temp gauge is working properly? And check your coolant for oil, and vis versa.

ok so i finally got the day off today to check out the car. first thing i did was take the valve cover off and low and behold found no timing belt. took the head off and valves are done and the head gasket was leaking. so my plan is to swap out the motor. any suggestions on the best route? i was thinking picking up a b20 and swap that in for a bit and build an ls vtec when i have more cash on hand or a gsr motor and run my ls tranny, i know the gears are longer than the gsr tranny but id run it for a bit until i have more cash on hand.what would u guys suggest? my car is fairly clean but there is a tiny bit of rust starting in the rear quarters. should i just get rid of the car itself or build the engine?

Don't get rid of the car. You can get another ls or B20 for about 200-400$ off the forums. And I believe jdmengine land has B20s for 500$.
So options are there and its not that bad on the bank either.

That'll do it...:eek:

Yes, keep the car, swap another engine in.

thanks for all the help guys. picking up a b20 and doing the swap next day off. is there any guide for the swap? i figured its just like doing a b18 swap using the same mounts, b18 exhaust manifold and intake manifold. if anyone has any tips on doing the swap they would be greatly appreciated

^May need to change a few things like the coolant thermostat housing (can't remember exactly). Other then that, should be pretty much plug and play.

Good luck! :)

At least something good came out of this you get yourself a new motor :) Good Luck with the swap man.

so i just got the call from my shop and i too have snapped a timing belt and the mechanic says its an interference motor so the valves r prolly bent and i should swap a new motor

this is the death of my car i think...the bodys rusting to ---- so i really dont see the point in a motor swap but ive done so many other little things to the ride that its not gonna be easy parting out

i dunno what to do is it easy to but a vtec head on the motor im thinking thats the best cheapest thing i dont know too much about motor but i think my b20b bottom end is still okay and i can slap a nice complete vtec head to get her running again but if i do that will the car work?
do i need a new computer or harness or difficult modifications to but the new head on?

this is gonna be costing me large i know that for sure...sometimes life sux

Sorry to burst your bubble bro, but if you do a VTEC head swap on that it will be costing you MORE in the end...trust me ALOT more. Just buy a $500 B20B and we can help you swap it in for pennies.

Plus its not a very good idea to put a VTEC head on a bottom end that just had valves crash in it....

IM IN FOR A TI SWAP DAY. GET THE MOTOR, AND WE'll BE THERE!