In my experience, Accord won't overheat while driving due to lack of cooling fans; ie air flow from foward motion is adequate to cool engine. That means either low coolant or thermostat. Low coolant seems unlikely from your inspections, and you are replacing thermostat (use OEM for best warmup time).

good luck

 

Unless the radiator is frozen solid then you'll almost never see any frozen or slushy coolant in the tank under the pressure cap. Why? Because that side is typically supplied with "warm" coolant flowing out of the engine. The stuff I'm talking about is literally sitting in/clogging the cross tubes between the cooling fins of the radiator.

As for the fans, if the radiator is clogged, then no amout of cooling fan action is going to help.

Suggestion: Anti-Freeze testers are pretty cheap at auto parts stores; you might want to consider buying one and testing the coolant so you can either rule this option out or confirm that it is a potential issue.

 

So here is the most current status. I have changed out the thermostat, taped up the cracked intake hose and reassembled everything. I topped off the coolant with 50/50 mix from O'Reillys to the top. I then started the car with fan and A/C off and radiator cap off. I let it get to operating temp with the cap off and had a lot of bubbles coming out. When the bubbles stopped I put the cap on and took the car on a 4.5 mile drive, 55 MPH +/- and on a very steep hill close to my house. It stayed at the typical temp location just below halfway on the gauge. I let it idle in a church parking lot halfway thru my trip as well. It seems to be operating normal now, but who knows what I'll find on my drive to work as it's 50 miles.

As far as the coolant freezing, I'll see if I can find a tester and report back. How will this tell me if it was frozen?

Would a block heater help with preventing this? I have never had my coolant freeze before, even when I lived in Colorado so this is odd. I live in Missouri now. The only part of my routine that changed is that I rarely go start my car and let it warm up before leaving. I go in, start it, put my seatbelt on, find a radio station to listen to and then gently head out. I don't gun it or anything, but this morning I let it idle for about 6-8 minutes before leaving.

Thank you again for everyones quick help. Have a good day!

 

Any auto parts store will test the freeze protection level of your coolant for free.

 

Cool, I'll see what they say. Thank you.

 

The testing device will tell you how low of a temperature your coolant can tolerate and stay liquid (it won't tell you if your coolant was frozen per-se, just that if the number comes back and says you're only "protected" to say fifteen degrees and the OAT was eleven, at least some of your coolant was probably frozen). That said, now that you've topped off your radiator with new coolant the number will have changed.

A block heater will not help, and "warming" up the car before driving typically won't help as well. You're doing it correctly, start the car, click on the seat-belt, check the mirrors, put it in gear and drive away at a conservative speed until the squirrels under the hood are warmed up.

 

So I've driven about 400 miles on and off, temps in the mid 50's down to high teens. Mostly hilly highway and some city with no issues. Thanks again for all the quick help guys, its much appreciated.