It sounds like it could be your heater core:
Is there fluid leaking into your car underneath the dash of the car?
Have you noticed a spike in your temperature?
You could also check the hoses in the engine to make sure nothing is loose of broken.
Hopefully its not your heater core as they can be pretty expensive to replace through a mechanic or time consuming if you do it yourself.
uh oh! I got fluid leaking out under my dash in my 91 Integra. Does that mean the Heater core is gone? it still works on 3 but not 1,2, or 4.
Hey mate,
Doesn't sound like it will.
Basically the fluid leaking can mean that the seals that run into the heater core are gone. Meaning When the car starts and the pressure of the water / heat builds up it has found a place to escape and will mean a) no heat and b) you car will run out of water pretty quickly which can lead to all types of issues.
The heater core unfortunately is most likely situated underneath the dash. I haven't had to replace on my integra but i did my wife's 97 lancer last year and i had to pull out the entire dash and most of the frame work to get it in. Wasn't too hard a job but it did take about 5 hours and there is a hell of a lot of screws.
I had a few mechanics quote me for the work and with a new heater core ($400 - $600AUD)depending on which mechanic would give me close to trade) the job was going to cost $1500AUD.
Being a massive tight arse and not willing to part with 1500 of my hard earned I sourced a second hand model from a wrecker, made sure all of the seals were still in tact and ripped the dash out myself.
One thing you should do IMMEADIATELY if you are not going to run it down to your local mechanic straight away is bypass the heater core completely from the engine to make sure that when you drive it around you don't lose any more water and possibly do your head gasket or overload your water pump (pretty costly stuff to fix).
To bypass the heater core:
The heater core works by passing hot water from the engine through the heater core and then back through the engine.
Two pipes come off the engine and run through the firewall (left side of teh dash for right hand drive cars, right side of the dash for left hand drive cars) and running into the firewall. These are rubber pipes about 9/16 of an inch thick and should be the only rubber pipes that connect directly into the firewall.
What you need to do (when the engine is cold) is disconnect both of the pipes from the firewall (either by a pressure clamp or a screw clamp).
There will be a bit of water / coolant spill out so do this either with a towel under the engine in a place where you don't mind some stains appearing.
Once the pipes have been disconnected from the firewall disconnect either the top or bottom pipe (it doesn't matter which one but i would choose the one least likely to be flexible i.e. the shortest) completely from the car.
With the pipe that is still left connected, fold it over and connect the free end to the engine pipe leaving two free holes in the firewall.
What this does it completely remove your heaters ability to heat up but it also ensures that you lose no water through the busted seal of the heater core and you can drive (coldly) without worrying about breaking your car further. You will need to blled the water system for the car wafter you have done this to ensure no air pockets are in the system./ THis is pretty easy to do.
Fill the car up with coolant through the radiator and the water reservoir. Leave the cap off the radiator and turn on the car. Let it run for about 10 minutes filling the radiator up whenever the water level drops. You will need to do this a few times as they water makes it way through the car. It will take about 10 minutes.
It will seem like after a minute that the car doesn't need any more coolant but trust me it does. Just let it run and keep topping it up as soon as the water level drops.
If you are going to replace it yourself I haven't got any instructions as i haven't done an integra but I have been able to find the following threads on Forums for you.
Removing dash:
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php...
Once the dash is removed you will be able to pull the heater core in and out pretty easily it's only a few screws / bolts.
Just a tip if you do pull off your dash. Whenever you undo a screw or take off a part make sure you put all the screws for that part with the part. There are a hell of a lot of screws etc that you need to take out so by placing them wiht each part you won't loose any or worse be left over with some.
Good luck with it.
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