Blazinqwickly's F23A1 ,Happy wife, Happy Life Build.

Connie

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Ughh, no AC in the summer in Texas would be horrible. Went through Texas on the way to Mexico City this past summer in Connie with no AC, and it was 90 degrees and humid as hell. It was horrible, and the leather didn't help. Connie is missing the receiver/drier, the condenser, and half of the AC lines that go with that. Everything in front of the rad is gone. It was like that when I got it; the previous owner had an overheating issue and that was his solution. His problem was actually buildup inside the thermostat housing not allowing the gasket to seal properly no matter how tight the bolts were. It would weep, but not drip, and just be a little damp around the bottom of the t-stat housing; but losing enough pressure to cause the car to overheat on the highway at anything over 70mph. There was green coolant in it when I got it, so maybe that was the problem. 320k km with the blue stuff and never had an issue. 30 seconds with a wire wheel and a new gasket solved that problem. But maybe between my parts cars I can get it working in her again.

The black car has everything in place, hopefully it works. I haven't checked it yet, it's still way to cold to tell if it actually works lol. Obviously this is a much smaller issue that it would be for a Texan, being all Canadian and stuff. But it's still nice for that four or five days out of the year that it's actually necessary up here.
 

Blazinqwickly

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Ughh, no AC in the summer in Texas would be horrible. Went through Texas on the way to Mexico City this past summer in Connie with no AC, and it was 90 degrees and humid as hell. It was horrible, and the leather didn't help. Connie is missing the receiver/drier, the condenser, and half of the AC lines that go with that. Everything in front of the rad is gone. It was like that when I got it; the previous owner had an overheating issue and that was his solution. His problem was actually buildup inside the thermostat housing not allowing the gasket to seal properly no matter how tight the bolts were. It would weep, but not drip, and just be a little damp around the bottom of the t-stat housing; but losing enough pressure to cause the car to overheat on the highway at anything over 70mph. There was green coolant in it when I got it, so maybe that was the problem. 320k km with the blue stuff and never had an issue. 30 seconds with a wire wheel and a new gasket solved that problem. But maybe between my parts cars I can get it working in her again.

The black car has everything in place, hopefully it works. I haven't checked it yet, it's still way to cold to tell if it actually works lol. Obviously this is a much smaller issue that it would be for a Texan, being all Canadian and stuff. But it's still nice for that four or five days out of the year that it's actually necessary up here.


I have used 50/50 (Green stuff) for a decade now and do not have any issues with it cooling or fizzing/causing a system to weep so to speak.
The biggest issues I see causing issues like that is improper mixture of a coolant that is posed to be diluted with distilled water or not using new hose clamps and gaskets with a fresh mating surface and or water pump crapping the bed.

Now If the thermostat was going bad and failed close, I could see that building up pressure and blowing out in the weakest link of the cooling system.
Right now on my DB8 GSR I'm having coolant weeping on the hose at the water neck on the head because I just simply just forgot to put a new band clamp on it, over time they lose their retention and cause leaks.

I can deff see why build up in that section would not allow a tight seal to the mating surface for your case though.
Really sucks the A/C stuff was missing out of your accord though, kind of helps when the windows needs defrosting and you need mix the heat and cold.

Everything is there on our A/C system and even the compressor kicks on, but no cold air. Another one of those things I have got to address after I wake up at the crack of down tomorrow to get started on installing on the new parts that arrived.

My wife has a second interview for a new job Monday that she really needs about 35 min from here and I've got to get the car in shape for a daily reliable commute I can trust to get her safely there and back 5 times a week.

Wrenches and beer here I come !
 

Connie

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I have used 50/50 (Green stuff) for a decade now and do not have any issues with it cooling or fizzing/causing a system to weep so to speak.
The biggest issues I see causing issues like that is improper mixture of a coolant that is posed to be diluted with distilled water or not using new hose clamps and gaskets with a fresh mating surface and or water pump crapping the bed.

Now If the thermostat was going bad and failed close, I could see that building up pressure and blowing out in the weakest link of the cooling system.
Right now on my DB8 GSR I'm having coolant weeping on the hose at the water neck on the head because I just simply just forgot to put a new band clamp on it, over time they lose their retention and cause leaks.

I can deff see why build up in that section would not allow a tight seal to the mating surface for your case though.
Really sucks the A/C stuff was missing out of your accord though, kind of helps when the windows needs defrosting and you need mix the heat and cold.

Everything is there on our A/C system and even the compressor kicks on, but no cold air. Another one of those things I have got to address after I wake up at the crack of down tomorrow to get started on installing on the new parts that arrived.

My wife has a second interview for a new job Monday that she really needs about 35 min from here and I've got to get the car in shape for a daily reliable commute I can trust to get her safely there and back 5 times a week.

Wrenches and beer here I come !

The buildup I has was strange, like crystallized sugar stuck to every aluminum surface inside the cooling system. It was hard and stuck on there really well; I could barely pick off little bits of it with a screwdriver. Luckily the wire wheel on the cordless drill made quick work of it. Very strange stuff, and I don't think I'll ever know what actually caused it. I'm pretty sure the same stuff was what made me need to replace the heater core this past winter. I know there's none in the engine, as I bought the car with a cracked head, and the easiest fix was just to drop a low mileage JDM J30A into it, and only used Honda blue since then, and always follow the maintenance schedule. And I've replaced the thermostat, rad and heater valve since then as well, so thankfully, whatever it was, it's definitely gone now.

Good luck with your weekend plans! Beer and wrenches is the best way to spend a weekend! Remember to take pics of your progress, looking forwards to seeing this clean 99 even cleaner!
 
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Blazinqwickly

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I wonder if that build up was from the previous owner trying to remedy the problem so they would not have to get their hands dirty and put some sort of stop leak in there that built up in the hot spots maybe.

Sounds like you have your cooling system pretty much covered now and hopefully will not have to worry about that for a long time (fingers crossed).

Thank you for the good luck wishes on the weekend plans, I really want this to go smoothly and not be hung up on the control arms not separating from the ball joints or anything parts for that matter (you know how that goes).

I am always aware of what parts to hit to get them to separate without damage, but these old ball joints are going to need a pickle fork to separate more then likely.
I would never use one of those unless the ball joint has already crap the bed and needs replacing anyways cause there a high chance of tearing the boots with one of those.

I will for sure take pictures of the progress and as a matter of fact the wife will be handling the camera as she takes nice photos and my hands will not be in any kind of clean condition to be going near a phone, you know how it is, got to keep them hands dirty if you want to get anything done.
 

Connie

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I wonder if that build up was from the previous owner trying to remedy the problem so they would not have to get their hands dirty and put some sort of stop leak in there that built up in the hot spots maybe.

Sounds like you have your cooling system pretty much covered now and hopefully will not have to worry about that for a long time (fingers crossed).

Thank you for the good luck wishes on the weekend plans, I really want this to go smoothly and not be hung up on the control arms not separating from the ball joints or anything parts for that matter (you know how that goes).

I am always aware of what parts to hit to get them to separate without damage, but these old ball joints are going to need a pickle fork to separate more then likely.
I would never use one of those unless the ball joint has already crap the bed and needs replacing anyways cause there a high chance of tearing the boots with one of those.

I will for sure take pictures of the progress and as a matter of fact the wife will be handling the camera as she takes nice photos and my hands will not be in any kind of clean condition to be going near a phone, you know how it is, got to keep them hands dirty if you want to get anything done.

The front upper control arm ball joint on these things usually come apart ok. I usually get the top one by loosening but not removing the castle nut, and giving it 2 or 3 good whacks to the knuckle with the 5lb hammer after everything else is out of the way, and it's always popped right off for me. I do the bottom one second, loosen the nut then whack up, pops right off. Even on my salty ruined cars. I've never used a pickle fork on them yet.

Rear sway bar links; that's a different story.
 

Rusty Accord

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Rusty where in Texas do you go when you visit with your wife?

We go to my dad's place in Burkburnett Texas. It's the 1st exit into Texas from Oklahoma on I-44. We've been try to help him get his affairs in order, as he's actually living with us, and my cousin is watching the place/his things there. It's a nice little town (we lived there for 3 years back in the mid 80's), that's had a growth spurt. And YES, you need AC from mid April thru mid October there. They've had 100 days of 100+ degree heat every summer for the last 15+ years. That's 1 thing I can say that's nice about my wife's 2000 Accord, the AC works, and works great even on the freeway. When we were there last October (2nd week) it was 100 degrees for the first 3 days we were there, then it cooled of to the low 90s. By the time we left, I was still in shorts and sandals, where back home my daughter told us that she had to turn the furnace on as it had frosted a couple of times while we were gone. It was 36 when we left to go there (Texas), and every time we stopped on the way it was warmer and warmer out.
 
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Rusty Accord

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Ughh, no AC in the summer in Texas would be horrible. Went through Texas on the way to Mexico City this past summer in Connie with no AC, and it was 90 degrees and humid as hell. It was horrible, and the leather didn't help. Connie is missing the receiver/drier, the condenser, and half of the AC lines that go with that. Everything in front of the rad is gone. It was like that when I got it; the previous owner had an overheating issue and that was his solution. His problem was actually buildup inside the thermostat housing not allowing the gasket to seal properly no matter how tight the bolts were. It would weep, but not drip, and just be a little damp around the bottom of the t-stat housing; but losing enough pressure to cause the car to overheat on the highway at anything over 70mph. There was green coolant in it when I got it, so maybe that was the problem. 320k km with the blue stuff and never had an issue. 30 seconds with a wire wheel and a new gasket solved that problem. But maybe between my parts cars I can get it working in her again.

The black car has everything in place, hopefully it works. I haven't checked it yet, it's still way to cold to tell if it actually works lol. Obviously this is a much smaller issue that it would be for a Texan, being all Canadian and stuff. But it's still nice for that four or five days out of the year that it's actually necessary up here.

That almost sounds like block sealer. Meaning someone was trying anything they could to get home kind of fix.

Yeah but that "week" you're talking about it's also muggy when it's that warm out. The AC feels good too. Maybe I'm getting old, but I do like working AC in a car. And if you're living in Texas AC is almost mandatory, and selling a car without working AC you might as well give it away, as nobody is going to want it.
 

Connie

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That almost sounds like block sealer. Meaning someone was trying anything they could to get home kind of fix.

Yeah but that "week" you're talking about it's also muggy when it's that warm out. The AC feels good too. Maybe I'm getting old, but I do like working AC in a car. And if you're living in Texas AC is almost mandatory, and selling a car without working AC you might as well give it away, as nobody is going to want it.

Maybe you're right, makes sense, especially considering the overheating history and cracked block it had on the original engine. I've never tried any of that crap; it might take longer to actually fix the problem, but at least then you can count on it and rely on it instead of waiting for the time bomb to go off.

It's true, it does get gross and hot and sticky here, and I've never actually had a car on the road with working AC aside from the rentals I get from work when I'm out of the country. It would be really nice if it works on the black car and/or the green car. It's not like I don't want AC, it's just that something more important always comes up, with the house or one of the cars or just life in general; and it just gets forgotten, because in the grand scheme of things, it's not THAT important...

You're right about it being easy to sell a car with working AC though. I picked up an old late 90s escort that wouldn't start for 400 bucks a few years back. Got it going and got 2500 bucks for it a week later without doing much of anything else aside from cleaning it. All because the AC worked.
 

Blazinqwickly

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We go to my dad's place in Burkburnett Texas. It's the 1st exit into Texas from Oklahoma on I-44. We've been try to help him get his affairs in order, as he's actually living with us, and my cousin is watching the place/his things there. It's a nice little town (we lived there for 3 years back in the mid 80's), that's had a growth spurt. And YES, you need AC from mid April thru mid October there. They've had 100 days of 100+ degree heat every summer for the last 15+ years. That's 1 thing I can say that's nice about my wife's 2000 Accord, the AC works, and works great even on the freeway. When we were there last October (2nd week) it was 100 degrees for the first 3 days we were there, then it cooled of to the low 90s. By the time we left, I was still in shorts and sandals, where back home my daughter told us that she had to turn the furnace on as it had frosted a couple of times while we were gone. It was 36 when we left to go there (Texas), and every time we stopped on the way it was warmer and warmer out.

That's awesome man, fun family time and friends is always a plus.

Yeah the 100* heat here in the summer will make or break a car's cooling system in a heart beat, especially sitting in rush hour traffic with the A/C going which is going to thermally heat up the bay even further from the heat exchange going on at the condenser.

Normally I opt for things like dual or triple core radiators tucked into the sub frame with pushers fans on the front with a true high rated CFM fan, as many amps as I know the electric line can handle safely.
Then a Jet hot coated header never hurts or even a cooler thermostat and fan switch to take it a step further for the 100*+ days to give the cooling system a "jump start" if you will.
 

Blazinqwickly

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Maybe you're right, makes sense, especially considering the overheating history and cracked block it had on the original engine. I've never tried any of that crap; it might take longer to actually fix the problem, but at least then you can count on it and rely on it instead of waiting for the time bomb to go off.

It's true, it does get gross and hot and sticky here, and I've never actually had a car on the road with working AC aside from the rentals I get from work when I'm out of the country. It would be really nice if it works on the black car and/or the green car. It's not like I don't want AC, it's just that something more important always comes up, with the house or one of the cars or just life in general; and it just gets forgotten, because in the grand scheme of things, it's not THAT important...

You're right about it being easy to sell a car with working AC though. I picked up an old late 90s escort that wouldn't start for 400 bucks a few years back. Got it going and got 2500 bucks for it a week later without doing much of anything else aside from cleaning it. All because the AC worked.

The wife here totally agrees with your A/C comment and I can relate quite personally, she has only had one car her whole life out of owning 4 cars that had it. So it is not always a #1 priority and it kind of works the same way for myself tbh, but man when it works it sure is nice though.
 
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