2013 Honda Accord – Cooling/Overheating issue

Greetings viewers,

My wife drove our 2013 Accord 2.4L, city driving. Called and said the car overheats, the niddle is climbing (the fact that she actually noriced that is a miracle by itself, but that’s a different story). She let it cool, tried again – engine overheats again.
I drove myself to her and added some water to the radiator (probably about a gallon). It was drizzling that day so the ground was not completely dry. I think there was a large spot of something underneath the fron driver’s side of the vehcile, but I cannot confirm that it’s from our vehicle. Inside the engine compartment, underneath and around the radiator I did not notice anything that was a clear collant leak.
She then drove home, about 4 miles away, we were on the phone all the way and she reported that the niddle is steady at about 1/3 to half, which is normal.
Since then, twice, I run the engine for about 20-30 minutes. The engine is NOT overheating, the niddle is where it was when she drove it home, about 1/3 to half.
What I did notice however is that the fan never comes on. Even when the car is idling for like 30 minutes. Gauge is steady, not overheating, but the fan never comes on. Both fan work when I turn the a/c on, but the driver’s side fan will not come on.
There is heat, can’t say if it’s normal heat temp, but there is heat.
Another thing: the upper radiator hose gets warm farily quickly. However the bottom radiator hose and the radiator cap remain cold for a long time. When they are finally hot, they are not too hot that it’s impossible to touch them.
Today I drove the car about 2 miles after it was idling for 30 minutes or so. Before driving it, both hoses were hot, meaning hot coolant was flowing through both of them.
When I returned from the drive, the upper hose was hot, the bottom one as well as the radiator cap, were cold. Not warm – cold, like the engine was off.
I am not sure what’s going on. One day the engine overheats, the next it stays normal and the fan won’t even come on.
Any idea how to tackle this, what to look at next?

Thanks.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by NoName.