[yaggs]

Was slightly worried as there was a drop or two of milky- coolant on my dipstick. And a single drop on my oil fill cap.
This scared me so I checked oil on dipstick 5 times yesterday and 5 times today, as well as took my valve cover off to make sure oil was clean in head. To which it was thankfully.
Not sure why there was some contamination, maybe from me missing gasket on upper coolant housing?

I think only coolant goes through the upper coolant housing and an egr port. No oil so I'm unsure why there would be coolant in the oil. Has the oil level moved at all?

Do u have a pic of the upper coolant housing? I think u said it was aftermarket? It's concerning to me that there is no heat in the upper hose yet. It might be possible that its not setup correctly. Just trying to rule out some unknowns.

Also please take a pic of the bypass hose going from thermostat to coolant housing. Also how u have heater hoses hooked up.
It's worth a quick visual inspection to rule out connection/installation errors.

 

[Conner_h5]

 

[Conner_h5]

 

[Conner_h5]

There’s some pictures. Lmk if you need more. I’ll continue to try and bleed the air out. Also my oil level hasn’t moved whatsoever. No leaks anywhere and my pressure is good

 

[Bjorn]

View attachment 115828

This looks problematic. That hose supplies the hot coolant from the head to the thermostat, this controls the opening of the thermostat. If it's kinked and not letting coolant flow over the thermostat, the whole system will not circulate to purge the air.

 

[Conner_h5]

This looks problematic. That hose supplies the hot coolant from the head to the thermostat, this controls the opening of the thermostat. If it's kinked and not letting coolant flow over the thermostat, the whole system will not circulate to purge the air.

Understood. I’ll fix. Thanks man! To be honest I thought all this hose did was give the coolant temp a reading to the gauge since it’s connected to the bottom of the intake manifold

 

[Bjorn]

Understood. I’ll fix. Thanks man! To be honest I thought all this hose did was give the coolant temp a reading to the gauge since it’s connected to the bottom of the intake manifold

The coolant flown path is from the water pump, into the block, up through the head and out the back of the head. At the back of the head it can flow 2 different ways depending if the thermostat is open or closed.
When the thermostat is closed, all the flow goes out through that kinked bypass hose, through over the thermostat wax pellet and back into the water pump.

If the thermostat is open then the coolant exits the head into the top radiator hose, through the radiator, out the bottom hose, through the thermostat and back into the water pump.

The thermostat won't open unless the coolant flowing through the bypass hose is above the temp that the thermostat is designed to open. No bypass flow=no thermostat opening.

 

[Conner_h5]

The coolant flown path is from the water pump, into the block, up through the head and out the back of the head. At the back of the head it can flow 2 different ways depending if the thermostat is open or closed.
When the thermostat is closed, all the flow goes out through that kinked bypass hose, through over the thermostat wax pellet and back into the water pump.

If the thermostat is open then the coolant exits the head into the top radiator hose, through the radiator, out the bottom hose, through the thermostat and back into the water pump.

The thermostat won't open unless the coolant flowing through the bypass hose is above the temp that the thermostat is designed to open. No bypass flow=no thermostat opening.

Thank you for the explanation this is all still somewhat new to me!

 

[Conner_h5]

Thank all of you guys for your help! It was great info, I’m going to unkink the bypass and try to get a better fit, that’s most likely my issue

 

[yaggs]

I'm also fairly certain that the kink in the bypass hose is the problem. It also looks like the heater hose is kinked. Definitely take care of both issues before trying to bleed again. Once you get these sorted, please let us know how it turns out.

Thanks for the pics. It's never a bad idea to get a second set of eyes on a problem. A visual inspection is always worth the minimal time it takes. Plus we've got alot of keen eyes here on here so if a picture will show the issue, it will be spotted. Keep us posted!

 

[Conner_h5]

Hey, just going to revive this thread as I’m experiencing another problem. A few days ago, I tried pouring in around half a gallon of coolant directly into the top hose, and let it drain down to the engine block.
I then started the car, and sure enough, both the top hose and radiator got hot. I fontied to run the car without the radiator cap on to bleed the system.
Earlier today I let the heat run and bled the system for around 10 minutes. I finally put the cap on and ran it some more. I noticed I was still running a little hot, but right before I turned the car off, I hear a pop, and see my black heater pipe popped out of the thermostat housing.
so it seems as though there was too much pressure/saidheater pipe wasn’t secured enough. Any thoughts on how to prevent/ fix this? Thanks guys. I’ll include pics of how far it was knocked out.

 

[Conner_h5]

 

[Lotus]

this hard line is supported to be bolted onto the block midway between thermostat housing and coolant outlet. this way it cannot pop out. Unsupported it will pop out once you reach some pressure.

OEM HONDA K SERIES K20A K20Z1 PRB THERMOSTAT DC5 EP3 - GENUINE HONDA

OEM HONDA K SERIES K20A K20Z1 PRB THERMOSTAT DC5 EP3 - GENUINE HONDA

www.jdmyard.com

part 19 & 27

 

[Conner_h5]

this hard line is supported to be bolted onto the block midway between thermostat housing and coolant outlet. this way it cannot pop out. Unsupported it will pop out once you reach some pressure.

OEM HONDA K SERIES K20A K20Z1 PRB THERMOSTAT DC5 EP3 - GENUINE HONDA

OEM HONDA K SERIES K20A K20Z1 PRB THERMOSTAT DC5 EP3 - GENUINE HONDA

www.jdmyard.com

part 19 & 27

View attachment 115903

There’s a 12 mm I took out earlier this week that I may have not tightened enough. Then a 10 mm that’s close to where the hard line ends.
thanks lotus!

 

[Lotus]

and clip 13 locks the two hoses. the hard line will pull on the rubber line that is clamped down.

 

[Conner_h5]

and clip 13 locks the two hoses. the hard line will pull on the rubber line that is clamped down.

Copy. Do you think I can get away with just the 2 bolts for a little? My hardline didn’t come with a clip unfortunately

 

[Conner_h5]

My part 27, which seems to be a stud, is missing. I have a flanged bolt in its place however that needs to be tightened to spec.

 

[yaggs]

If you changed the thermostat housing to a different model, that heater pipe might need some tweaking to fit in with proper alignment. I had to bend mine ever so slightly when i used my rsx housing on the tsx engine. Bend it before installing. Not a bad idea to replace the oring as well. There should be no tension on the pipe once its installed, the mounting bolt just keeps it in alignment and keeps it from moving. The pipe should naturally want to stay in place.

I pulled this pic from my k24 build. This is how far out of alignment my pipe was. Also notice the bypass hose. I think you need to push yours down more and tighten it a bit.

Be careful as the thermostat housing WILL CRACK if you try to manipulate the pipe while it's in there

 

[Conner_h5]

Just wanted to revive the thread as I’m having yet another problem regarding the black hard heater hose.
Rented a pressure test kit today cause I noticed I was overheating with rad cap on.
Quickly realized it’s coming from where the black hard hose is connected to the thermostat.
My only guess is that I purchased the wrong heater hose, part number for mine is 19510-RTB-000.
After looking online, the tsx heater hose uses heater pipe part number - 19510-RBB-000.
Any suggestions or idea on if me (technically) having the wrong pipe could cause leaks, or could the pipe perhaps just not be in all the way?

 

[Conner_h5]

For reference, again, my engine is a K24a from a euro accord. Pretty much same as tsx.