changed thermostat today....my upper and lower radiator hoses are getting REALLY BIG!

[91AccordLX]

hey guys i changed my thermo today....and i jujst got back from dropping someone off at school, and when i got home i popped my hood to see if anything is leaking, and nothing is. but my upper and lower radiator hoses are really swollen, like abnormally large, i know they should get stiff and grow in size when pressure builds up...but they are bigger than normal..does anyone know whats up? thanks, chris

i know that blown head gasket will cause a lot of pressure...but my car doesnt smoke nor do i have water in my oil...so i dont think that is it...

[91AccordLX]

well hey again...i just drove to my moms, which is 25 miles away from my house...and on the way there my car started to get hot.....but only when i was at a stoplight, then when i started going again it cooled back down. what could this be? when i got to her house i popped my hood immediatley to check for leaks, and there we're no major leaks at all...i noticed my inlet hose that goes to the heater was leaking a bit..but the only reason for that is because the pressure was really high because of no water in my car...so i wonder where all the antifreeze is going???? man this really sucks, everytime i fix one problem with my car, another thing goes wrong, so crappy. im gonna shit a brick if does happen to be my head gasket, i wouldnt know how to take my cylinder head off and do all that stuff. i've got a haynes and it goes in good detail of how to take it off, but i know i would screw the timing up or something. and i bet a shop would charge me like $600+. and i just forked out all my money to pay for this semesters college

[ACCORDianate]

If your car gets hot at a stoplight but cools off after you get going it usually indicates that you're low on antifreeze.

Top it off and see if it repeats itself. Have someone follow you to see if you're blowing white smoke while driving.

[91AccordLX]

well i went to autozone, and got a different thermostat...because a buddy of mine said not to get thermostats from o'reillys which i did...and well on my way home today from my moms, my car did not get hot at all.....but the hoses where still swollen!!! so im not sure. so maybe it is fixed, i dunno. i will see tommorow when i drive around a bit more...but i cant fix it right now, i just forked out 57 dollars for a pt6 ECU, and i just payed all my college tuition,so im running VERYYYYYYYYY low on money right now...

[ACCORDianate]

if your rad hoses are swelling like that you may want to replace them.

[mrhonda]

I'm thinking head gasket.....so, like I said before, get it pressure tested.

[91AccordLX]

yeah i planned on getting new hoses next paycheck, because liek i said money is running tight this week.....and i was gonna pressure test it today, but it costs 75 bucks to rent a pressure tester from auto zone.....so once again i will do that next paycheck....and also will a pressure tester even tell me if my head gasket is bad? but like ive said before, im not sure if it is that, because there is no water in my oil, nor am i blowing white smoke...if i blew a head gasket i would see a lot of white smoke, and i see none. but my car did fine again driving back from my girlfriends house, didnt get hot at all...and my car also warmed up much faster..like it should. before i changed the thermo it would take like 3 miles of 35-40 miles per hour before the temp gauge would even move. now it was less than a mile. but as i said in the post before this one, i will definetley see tommorow if its gonna get hot when i drive around. i pray it wont.

[mrhonda]

im not sure if it is that, because there is no water in my oil, nor am i blowing white smoke...if i blew a head gasket i would see a lot of white smoke, and i see none.

yeah, hang on to that dream.....just because there is no coolant/oil mix, or white smoke doesn't mean shit. It could be just a small seapage from a coolant passage to a cylinder. Anyway, pressure test tells the truth.

[ACCORDianate]

Holy crap its mrhonda after a 6 month hiatus!

[mrhonda]

Holy crap its mrhonda after a 6 month hiatus!

yeah, my computer has been down for, well, about 6 months! Its good now tho, so I'm back in buisness.

[accordztech]

since ur having soo many issues id take that into the shop...you tried alot of things already....i wonder

[91AccordLX]

well guys like i said, it did fine on the way home from my moms after i put the new thermo in.....and i will pressure test it next time i get paid.

[DraZtiK]

just checking but you did put the thermostat in the right way right???

[91AccordLX]

yeah with the jiggle pin up......i just woke up, so i havent drove my car today yet, im hoping it does fine today

but for some reason im feeling it will get hot...

[madhat]

if you're dying to see if it is the head gasket that is fucked, all you have to do is pop the hood, take off the radiator cap, get in your car, CLOSE the door and start the mofo. if your radiator erupts and spews coolant everywhere then you got a blown head gasket. i would still get the pressure check though just to be on the safe side.