UPDATED: Coolant issue w/pics (resolved)

[striktlyaccord]

Before I get hated on, I've already read the "hot to drain and refill your coolant" thread, as this was the set of instructions I used to do this procedure about a year ago on my own.  But, I have some post-job questions that are baffling me now.

First off, back when I did this drain and refill, I ended up putting steel braiding over the upper radiator hose for dress-up, after which I kept smelling coolant after every drive and seeing small spots of coolant leaks near the hose.  Come to find it, it was just because one of my o-ring clamps on the braiding was not tightened enough, so I tightened it hella tight and the leak stopped.  Problem solved?  Not really.  To this day, I can still smell coolant after every drive, and I seem to lose a handful of tablespoons of coolant per month (at this point, my car's reservoir tank is just above the "min" line after a 25-minute drive).  Unfortunately, I can't seem to find where the smell is coming from.  So, any ideas where it could be leaking from, if at all (upper hose, lower hose, drain plug, etc.)?  Or, is it just normal that a car with 68,000 miles is losing small amounts of coolant per month??

Second issue is that when I did this drain and refill, I did it all per the how-to on this forum, but when it came to bleeding the system as per the Honda manual's directions, I got all confused.  To bleed the air out, I guess you run the car and let the fans run so that the engine heats up.  It seems as thought some special kind of funnel needs to be used to fill the coolant well past the top of the radiator so that as it expands, the air is released, but the fluid still stays topped off.  I did not have any sort of special bleeding tool or funnel, so once I filled the radiator and started the car with the cap off, the fluid started to raise and pour out of the top of the radiator, so I said “Oh shit, this is spilling over”, so I stopped the process, capped the radiator, and that was it.  So, I need to know if it’s okay that I did this and I have nothing to worry about, or if I did it hella wrong and need to re-bleed it.  Also, I now wonder if this may be adding to the first I’m having with the coolant mysteriously getting low.  Thoughts people??

[Mike]

Do you have an issues with your car getting hot? Also can you elaborate on the brading? Is it a cover on the rubber hose, or a replacement?

[striktlyaccord]

Do you have an issues with your car getting hot? Also can you elaborate on the brading? Is it a cover on the rubber hose, or a replacement?

The car has never overheated since the coolant has never been allowed to drop drastically low.  The braiding is just a cover... the oem rubber hose is inside it.  I did some under-car maintenance today and noticed a lot of green stain spots towards the back of the engine near where the exhaust manifold bends and meets up with the flex pipe.  Any idea if there are coolant lines or hoses all the way back there?? 

[Mike]

I don't think so but, if it is leaking while you are driving it could blow back there. I wasn't thinking it would over heat because of the coolant getting low but, wanted to see if it got hot because of air in the system. Perhaps remove the dress up hose and inspect the rubber hose.

[MyNameIsThien]

Could you take a pic of where your coolant leaks are at?

[striktlyaccord]

Both the front upper and lower radiator hoses do not seem to have any visible leaks at this point Mike.

Could you take a pic of where your coolant leaks are at?

The pics won't show much because the green stains are pretty "in there" and in an ackward spot. 

[striktlyaccord]

UPDATE:

Today I took another look under the hood because when I parked on my hill and had the A/C vents blowing some air into the cabin, I got a nice whiff of coolant.  I checked towards the back on the engine bay again near the exhaust manifold, and like my previous posts, I saw some green blotchy stains in that area.  I then rummaged around with my hand and noticed that the device pictured below (which is very similar-looking to a throttle cable, but is actually a cable that moves up or down when you change your HVAC settings to either cold/blue or warm/red) had fresh coolant all on the underside of it.  See below:





This mechanism seems to have send and return hoses for the coolant system, and it seems to be an on/off switch for either cool or heated air being sent into the interior.  Regardless, there's a clear leak here which is not good since the whole bottom side of it was wet with coolant, and it might even be leaking out of the screw that you can see in front of it.  I need to know what this device is called, and if it'll be an easy or hard fix.   Thanks.

[Mike]

I'm assuming 12 is the cable in this picture maybe it's number 7 I'm not sure.

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp?inputstate=5&catcgry1=ACCORD&catcgry2=2004&catcgry3=4DR+LX&catcgry4=KA5AT&catcgry5=HEATER+UNIT

My best guess is that the valve opens to allow coolant (Hot) into the heater core to produce heat.

[timot_one]

That thing you're talking about is called a heater valve arm.  Mike is right on the money about what it does.  It's #1 in the picture below.  My guess is that you just need to replace the clamp (#8) on both ends of the valve assembly.  I can help with that if you want.

[NVA-AV6]

Actually from the looks of the pics the seal at the arm is leaking and the valve needs to be replaced, only takes a few mins and the valve is only like $20 new.

[timot_one]

Paul has a better eye than me and more experience.  Dave, if you buy the part, I will help you replace it.

[striktlyaccord]

I think Paul's input might be dead-on because I also think it's the valve assembly itself and not the clamps on the sides.  We'll see how I apporoch this; I might just have the dealership do it quick if/when I take the car in for the recall on the ignition pin.

[striktlyaccord]

I had the water valve assembly totally replaced today.  Hopefully this new part will fix my issue.  I'll check tomorrow if I still smell or see coolant in that area.

[striktlyaccord]

It seems as though the new water valve assembly fixed my coolant leak, so that def. must have been the faulty part.

[CYANiDE]

Glad to know you got it solved. I'm going to be washing down my engine bay then starting to observe for leaks and going to do an oil change in a couple weeks to send it in to Blackstone.