₦airaland Forum

Bad thermostat

This part is the traffic cop that controls when the coolant is allowed to circulate and when it isn't. It's the device that's meant to quickly allow the engine to warm up to its design temperature, but no hotter than that.

Thermostats can stick shut or open, get lazy, or fail to open at the correct temperature. Depending on how and when they fail, they will cause either overheating or underheating. Overheating usually happens when the thermostat fails to open, or fails to open enough. If it fails to close, the engine will run too cool, causing all sorts of other problems.

A cooling system full of rust, scale, silt, or gel will interfere with the thermostat's operation, causing even more cooling problems. Gunk can plug up the thermostat, causing overheating, or make it stick open, causing underheating. Incorrect installation of the thermostat (can be done, even by professionals!) will also interfere with thermostat operation.

Normally mounted in the top of the lower rad hose in modern Hondas, the thermostat senses engine heat in the coolant. It is supposed to open up when the coolant in the block has warmed up enough, allow the cooled coolant in the rad to flow into the block, pushing the hot coolant from the block into the rad.

When the thermostat is closed, a small bypass hose allows coolant to circulate through the engine block, around the business end of the thermostat, through the water pump, and back around again. This keeps block temperature even, and helps the thermostat warm up as well. Once the thermostat opens, the bypass is closed off by means of a special extension on the bottom of the thermostat.

Aftermarket thermostats are highly associated with overheating and underheating. Most Hondas require 78C (172F) thermostats (that's the opening temperature). Too many aftermarket thermostats are wrongly rated for your car and are poorly made. Your emissions system may not work correctly with a different rating installed. In addition, some aftermarket units lack a bleed hole, the absence of which can trap air and lead to overheating.

A new genuine Honda thermostat is about $30 and is guaranteed to work properly in your Honda. In my mind, it's foolish to trust such an important job to an aftermarket part. Changing it every 5 years is excellent preventative maintenance.

Bad radiator cap

The radiator cap does several things. It

seals the system against the outside world (main seal function)
keeps the system pressurized when needed, so as to raise the boiling point of the coolant
allows excess pressure and coolant expansion to vent to the expansion reservoir (pressure seal function)
allows coolant to return to the radiator when the engine cools down (return seal function)

As you may have gathered from the above section, the radiator cap has three seals, any of which may fail independently of the others:

The main seal is the one that seals the cap against the top of the filler neck. Just a rubber gasket that operates just like one on the lid of a pickle jar. Simple and reliable.

A failed pressure seal will allow the coolant to boil at a lower temperature, and coolant will be able to travel freely and foamily to the expansion reservoir. This will cause localized hot-spots inside the engine, which can lead to premature head warpage, and may hasten head gasket failure. It will also cause the rad coolant level to be low, just like a failed head gasket.

A failed return seal will prevent the coolant from returning to the radiator as the rad cools off, causing a vacuum that can collapse the radiator's hoses. This will prevent the coolant from circulating if the hoses don't re-expand as the engine warms up.

A bad rad cap can cause similar symptoms to a failed head gasket, so it's a cheap first step to try before bringing it in. If you replace the rad cap and you still have bubbles in the coolant (or foam in the reservoir), then suspect the head gasket.

If the engine starts to overheat at idle, or in heavy traffic, and the gauge goes down when you rev it, the coolant is probably low.

Moreover, a neglected cooling system can load up the cap with crud and corrosion, preventing proper coolant flow in and out through it. Peel the seals back with your fingernail to check for goop. If you find any, a blast with a garden hose and probing with a toothpick should clear most of it out.

But anyway, a new rad cap is less than $20. Make a habit to change it every 5 years, just in case. It's pretty important.

Radiator or block internally clogged with rust, scale, silt, gel, or externally blocked with road debris


The radiator is the engine's main heat exchanger. Unless coolant can pass freely through it at the speed the water pump and thermostat want to push it, it can't get rid of the heat it needs to get rid of, and deposits prevent fluid movement.

Any deposits at all in the radiator are bad and are caused by one of more of the following:

Incorrect coolant
Mixing incompatible coolants
Old, corrosive coolant
Use of tap water to mix with aftermarket coolants

When you pull the rad cap off and shine a flashlight inside, the coolant should be transparent (plus whatever color it was when put in), and the fins should be clearly visible.

If the fluid is murky, brown, smells like rubber, goopy, or if the fins have white, crusty deposits on them, you've got circulation problems, and likely corrosion problems inside the engine.

Old coolant gets acidic and corrosive, and will eat all sorts of internal parts, from your head gasket to the water pump impeller. It also cannot carry heat as effectively as fresh coolant.

Inexpensive silicated coolants (the cloudy stuff) can cause silt to build up in the engine's water jacket as well as the rad, providing an impediment to free flow of coolant. Honda emphatically recommends that you use their coolant and no other in their cars.

Coolant should be changed every two years with a non-silicate, non-borate type. Long-Life coolant is supposed to be good for five years, but I've never personally been comfortable with that. I change mine every two years or less.

Possibilities include:

Radiator and/or block internally clogged with rust, scale, silt, gel, or externally blocked with road debris
Bad radiator cap
Bad thermostat
Radiator fins corroded and falling off
Water pump impeller corroded
Lower radiator hose collapsing

Divinehenrich:
I intend to get a Nigeria-used car. But with what Op have experienced, am having a second thought about it. Though my budget is not much.

Not all Nigerian used cars are bad.

I hate the term because it should be unregistered tokunbo cars/unregistered tokunbo cars bought for resale in Nigeria versus Nigerian registered cars, and where is why? If it has been driven on Nigerian soil, it is Nigerian used, including tokunbo, unless it was brought in a flatbed truck and never started, and never driven on Nigerian soil, but if it has been driven on Nigerian soil, then for God's sake it has been used in Nigerian and so is Nigerian used.

I personally got one that rocks.

Truth be told, age does things to cars, things often need to be changed, (sometimes minor sometimes major) many users are not ready to replace worn components, and want to pass the bill on.

Which is why it is extremely unreasonable to buy a car at say 1,000,000.00 and then want to sell it at the same price after using it for 3 to 5 to 7 years instead of selling it at say 300,000 to 500,000.00 so that the new owner can use his funds to replace what needs to be replaced. But you know that never happens, as several testimonies on nairaland can testify.

Have I replaced minor components? Yes. E.g., engine mounts, radiator hoses, cooling lines, window regulators, door handles, spark plugs, tires, ignition coils, brake pads, brake disks, brake fluid hoses due to wear and tear or leakage or mechanic failure to secure from abrasion, tie rods, tie rod ends, radiator fans both the blades and the motors, strut and shocks, hubs, distributor, rear springs that work with shocks, shafts, air filters, belts, speed sensors, MAF, oxygen sensors, wiper blades, strut mount and bearings, lower control arms, thermostat, water pump, alternator, belt tensioner assembly, sway bay links, sway bar bushings, power steering pump, A/C condenser, fuel pump assembly , muffler

Have I replaced major components? Yes. E.g., transmission, engine, catalytic converter, suspension sub-frame is a pending replacement which I will do early in the near year

The point am trying to make is this, several components (major and minor) have a service life. Even if you engage a specialist mechanic and he does not have a checklist, you are in big trouble. And if you do engage a specialist mechanic, you still need to troll the forums for the vehicle of your choice and create your own checklist, so you can query the professional intelligently.

He is not God for goodness sake. He can overlook, he can ignore, and he will not give your project all the time in the world, when he has lots of jobs waiting for him. The only way to be sure he has done a good job is to do your own homework, so the issue is this, trust but verify. Acts 17:11 as contained in the New International Version reads: "Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

And unless no one else has used that vehicle, its issues should be somewhere on the internet waiting for you to find them.

Should I blame the former owner? No, I got the vehicle at 80,000 miles, it is now 180,000 miles. That is quiet a distance and things have got to break, and someone has got to fix them, so please don't buy a used car in Nigeria at a price that does not make provisions for replacing all the above and more if it is a 4wd.

Now imagine that it is a luxury vehicle that I bought, I will pay luxury prices for all the above.

And there is nothing to prove that you cannot buy a unregistered tokunbo cars/unregistered tokunbo cars bought for resale with a bad maintenance history and still have to go through hell.

Lexusgs430:
If you can afford for fuel and maintain it, buy it!!! You only leave once!!!

My thoughts exactly! Am actually about to do the same!!

alatbaba1:
Hope you got my message.

Gotten.

I will email you soon, kinda busy

TCD:
If you are using Android phone please download Nokia Here Maps in play store. it has free Nigeria map and navigation and it's fairly accurate. you can use it to plan your route and gives voice guided navigation so you wouldn't miss your way.

I myself will be driving from Calabar to Lagos through the ugep- afikpo- onitsha route which I'm not too familiar with. I hope I Don't get lost.

I have noticed it keeps directing me to take side streets instead of "the express way" when I once traveled from from Benin to Abuja around the ekpoma axis,

I just did it to test its accuracy, not that I didn't know my way

Other than that its indeed very accurate

dgitrader:
you want to do what? I can't even do oil change myself. thanks

i was talking about making contact with the OP but quoting you and responding to your comments

oblo:
From my experience if your tyres have cracks and or bumps on the side wall it would be a good idea to change. I your tyres are worn out merely looking at the treads ....change. Your tyres would sure take a serious pounding on this journey. Please avoid craters as much as you can as Nurey also stated. Your tyres would thank you later.

I will post later a picture of what playing with fire aka pothole did to almost brand new tires, I brought it home as a constant reminder not to joke with such a powerful enemy

If pothole did that to me, what will craters do to you? craters will wreck not just tires, but undercarriage and suspension, you don't want to turn a trip into a major repair bill or do you?

Please head this advice oooo

dgitrader:
nice concept, best for tractors and bigger trucks. but I won't overhaul any car engine for two reasons in Nigeria
1. 99.9 % fake autoparts in open markets.
2. even if original parts available, the cost is almost 70% of tokunbo engine(most cars) with lesser risk.

To me ooo, the cost of overhauling an engine is not almost 70% the cost of tokunbo engine, depending on the heavy parts that may need to be brought in from overseas via courier or shipping agents, the cost is usually several times the cost of tokunbo engines.

But honest to goodness with that sort of experience, i would love to have your contacts because who knows, maybe you are the kind of guy with the sort of experience I have been looking for, am sending you a PM

gmyguy:
Just drove to warri and back to lagos...I maxed at 180km+/hr on the highway, but my gps app read 177/8km/hr...was keeping up with an E-class in convoy, or rather tried keeping up. couldn't use my phone to snap cos my passenger would have coned from that. i was driving a honda accord manual transmission 2007. 4cyl

What is the name of this app please?

emmaak2:
AND I END UP DOING IT,IT WAS FUN BUT I LEARNT SO MANY THINGS

I told you! You can do it if do the preparations and are pretty careful and have a sound car!

If i followed my folks, I would never have.

I did Lagos abuja from 9am (7up junction Ikeja) to 7.30pm (Maitama, Abuja) on my first try.

Not bad, i would say.

I have since then done countless. Now that am very experienced having done uncountable such trips, I want to reduce the time it takes to do that journey to say 6/7 hours minimum and 8 hours maximum.

Come to think of it, on my way back from that initial trip, I saw a head on collision between a Toyota Hiace bus and a full size luxury bus, which proves my theory that is not necessarily years of experience that can make you complete a journey you start.

The second theory is why own a car, and then put my life in the hands of someone with a different set of value systems? And possibly put myself in harms way to save a few naira?

provided your car is in top shape, if there were a direct land route, you can drive it America and back, and nothing would happen!

abujaniv:
Hello MPVGoddess,

Put your best foot forward. There are no official guidelines. The content of your interview is more important than your attire.

Regards,
Abuja NIV Team

Thanks a million. I got the visa!

Any guidelines for dressing to a Visa Interview? In terms of do's and don't s?

very very sensible points, printed out for reference

Mickyboiz:
morning house, Hw much is dollar to naira dis morning my aboki told me #235. abeg e make sense ?

electronic or paper?

Complete papers! FRSC and police can be funny without those!!

Go to google maps and input your starting destination and stopping destination so it will give you the options in terms of routes.

Then go to the AKTC park and try to have a chat with drivers that do Uyo to Ilorin and ask them of all the routes you found, which one do they recommend you take and why.

You can ever broker a deal to follow one of them.

When I took such a trip, I didn't speak to the transporters but I did do the Google thing. And listed all the cities I must pass through on a piece of paper and stopped to ask for directions from time to time.

If you have a smartphone, it would be helpful too, as you can use either Google Maps, Here+ or Sygic to guide you.

It is doable but ensure all fluid levels are at their maximum and carry a spare tire or two since you do not know the way.

Slow down when you meet bad roads and don't play with potholes

Carry at least 10,000.00 to 20,000.00 in cash over and above petrol money for the trip, and keep the rest of the your money in the bank in an account accessible via ATM just in case.

Ensure you have nothing less than 6 to 8 hours of sleep, although for me the excitement of the trip makes me hardly do 6 hours. But you need maximum alertness to ensure you deal with the mistakes other drivers might make, and the conditions that you will meet on the road

Since its your first time on such a route, don't try to drive faster than 120 Km/h.

Vig86:
That area will always be free. You can spend not less than 30mins before you get fuel here, APO, Abuja. Nyanya is where the devil lives.

LOL at the bolded

Whizpeter:
The answer is simple...

Every girl wants to date an 'Hardworking' man and not an 'Hard-Walking' man...

Shikena

You hit the nail on the table.

My question is beyond beauty what does she bring to the table? because beauty alone does not make the cut!

What value will she add to the man?

Or na just to attach to the glory?

Women as a general rule do not want any stress, do not want to suffer.

Women also want a man who takes care of the hard stuff so they can concentrate on the easy to do.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but as a general rule, women simply want it easy, and to that extent do everything possible to avoid heavy lifting

I want to know too, UN and co in fact international agencies like Red Cross love them and use them a lot

On the lighter side...Biker gets surprise visit from 155-mph snake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8rxJRsINU4

Hmmm

everywhere

nurey:
doing 161km/hr on Nigerian express is what fela tagged Double wahala for dead body

Kano boy are you safe?

inze:
. . . what then happens if i give you a Mercedes M275 with a twin-turbocharged and intercooled, all-aluminum, 60° V12 engine?

he will worship you as his god! LOL

austin4real:
Post the engine picture here nurey, is it a QG or an SR engine

i suspect QG15DE

dapaiks:
please need help ugently i wnto travel from niger state or abuja to portharcourt but i av no idea where i can get a bus here pls if u av any idea where i can get a bus frm niger state or abuja to ph n d price i wil b vry grtfl tnkz.

Niger to Abuja AND Abuja to PH, break it that way and you will even have options.
Sienna, 18 seater even luxurious bus

congratulations on making the 160 kilometre journey to Kano from Zaria.

I think Gazzuzz and Siena should be of immense help to you.

Siena because he is based in Europe apart from his renowned expertise.

I cannot find any data on that vehicle given that was never sold in the U.S.

Gazzuzz because he is seems to have an eye for details and might have come across it before, or should have some idea what might be wrong with your ride.

Of course they might be others who I don't know of, just remember that the more humble you are appear to be as might be judged by your words as someone remarked, the more likely you are to get help.

kkulaja:
My MB E320 had issues with the radiator mixing with the gear oil,I had the oil coolant changed but the problem still persists until I changed the radiator,which now solved the proble,the mechanic only drained the oil from the gear box and put new oil,he did not change the gear filter.I tested it and the gears changed initially,but as I parked it to buy some stuff I got back and it would not move in any gears,Reverse,Drive,no movement,what could have caused it,and how can one rectify the problem?

Sue for malpractice!

He should have flushed the entire system!

Now you have a new radiator (which should have ordinarily solved your problem) BUT you/and your mechanic failed to drain the contaminated transmission fluid as well as replaced the transmission fluid and replace the transmission fluid

So assuming its not too late, tow the car to another mechanic who will have to break down the entire system, and flush the system as well

and replace all fluids once more, transmission and coolant

If this does not solve the problem, you will have to buy a new transmission

Negligence of the highest order, I pity you, you might have to shell big bucks to return your ride to normal