My wife ownes a 2006 Accord EX 4 cyl 130K mi with dual climate control feature. I drive a 04 GTO so I appologize for ignorance to Honda engines/workings.

Sittin at idle the heat will not be hot, but raise it to 1000rpm the heat will get hot.

After doing research and looking at her car I have found the following:

1) The inline heater valve on the firewall will open and close like normal (i assume)
2) With car off but key in ON position and the fan off, I can turn the temp control button and I can hear the blend door in the dash move as you click hotter and hotter or colder.
3) Temp gauge will rise to a little under "half way" and stay steady...so I assume no air bubble and thermostat works right?
4) fluid level seems normal in overflow tank and is right under radiator cap and is visible.

Is there a bleeder valve on the thermostat housing on 2006's? Maybe I need to "burp" the system?


Other than that I read to try and reverse flush the heater core by disconnecting the supply/return lines from the motor end and putting a garden hose in the return line...obviosuly with the heater valve open.


Thanks for any replies guys. I'm sure my wife would REALLY appreciate it with winter upon us in KY lol.

Dean

 

would anyone have a picture of it's cooling system and components so I can understand the direction of flow and get a better idea of how things work?


I noticed the inlet pipt to the heater core gets fiarly hot...but the outlet/return pipe is not nearly as hot. What I don't know is if this is normal because the heater core is taking THAT much heat out of the fluid or if the heater core is clogged.

 

no one?

 

Turn the heater control to max heat, take a look at the heater valve in the engine compartment. Which position is the heater valve arm at? Does it look like the attached pic. which is at the full open position?

To answer one of your other questions, there is no bleeder valve for the cooling system.

 

I forgot to say, turn the ignition to ON before turning the heater control to max heat. It's electronically controlled.

 

The valve in her car looks like what you posted. The arm looks horizontal..or parallel to the ground. And when you turn it all the way cold, the arm will go vertical.

I took the radiator cap off and started it and let it idle for 20 min or so. With full heat and full cold. I then squeezed hoses to try and move any air bubbles in the system...I don't think it did anything.

I would still get MORE heat raising the rpms...the car idles at 800-ish rpm and only takes to raise it to 1000rpm to get more heat. I say more because the air is luke warm, warmer than "cold" setting" but nothing like my GTO is when I warm that car up.

So my assumtptions:
-thermostat must be working if upper and lower radiator hoses get hot.
-heater valve works since I can see it move
-blend door is wroking since I can hear it move and feel the temp drop as I use temp button.
-coolant level is ok because of no leaks and have not needed to add any coolant.
-coolant is getting to heater core because I am getting heat...just not at idle

redbull-1 would you happen to have a coolant system diagram so I can picture the flow through the hoses?

 

It might be that the thermostat isn't closing completely? (although otherwise working OK)

In order to have dual temp.control with only one water valve, there must be more than one air-blend-door. I didn't have the dual temp.control version, so not sure how to tell they're all working.

Radiator flows top to bottom, so the lower hose returns coolant towards the thermostat. T-stat in turn feeds into the suction-side of the pump.

Less certain about this, but I think the heater hose with the valve is flowing towards the heater core.

 

I could see the point of the t-stat not closing...but that would just mean it takes longer for the car to reach operating temperature right? It seems to warm up after 10min in a 50* F night.

In terms of the dual temp control and having multiple blend doors...good point. I checked the driver side temp control (sitting in drivers seat) and then maybe heard the drivers side blend door working...but still got luke warm air in either defrost/vent/floor settings at idle rpm's. 1000rpms gave me more heat.

Thank you for clarifying coolant flow. My top radiator hose would get hot well before the lower one would. So I take that as there is no flow through the radiator during warming up = t-stat closed right?

Eventually the lower radiator hose will warm up...and the difference in temps to the upper radiator hose is a relation of how much the radiator cools the coolant down.

I would also agree with that the heater core hose that has the valve in-line is the supply. It heats up quicker and stays hotter than the hose next to it (heater core return).

 

Are you certain the blend doors are working? Motors can turn but if the attachment is broken then it doesn't really do much.

 

Would you have a diagram of where the blend door arms would be so I can take a look?