Engine coolant reservoir location??

R

RedSI

Well-Known Member
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3
Hi Everyone,

I know this will come off as an extreme rookie question, but I am having trouble finding the engine coolant reservoir in 2014 civic SI. I tried looking into the manual, but it is not clear where it is located. Normally you would be able to easily find it just by looking around the engine.

For the ninth gen Si, are we only able to check/pour engine coolant in the radiator?
 
@webby thanks I did read page 371 initially, but I missed page 362. It also took me some time to actually find the reservoir, before I realized it was tucked down to the left of the battery and you cant't pull it out.

I wish they have chosen a different design for ease of access.

Also it was difficult to tell if the reservoir needed coolant or not, but I figured it must have been really empty; because when I looked at the radiator fluid it was blue. Therefore I assumed if the reservoir had the appropriate amount of coolant, I would have clearly seen the "blue" part of the reservoir.
 
Here are a couple different, but related questions.

1)
The engine coolant I used was prestone 50/50 (yellow color) and it said it could be added to any color and make/model.

Now because of the yellow color of prestone 50/50 coolant, it was too late until I realized I filled the reservoir literally to the brim. (It is hard to look at the reservoir and see the "yellow" part of it. Especially with its location down in the engine bay and you can't pull it out). My question - is it safe to drive my car with this much coolant in the reservoir? Does our civics have some type of automatic "release valve" in case the pressure of the coolant is too strong?

2) I know it is not a big deal if you don't use Honda genuine engine oil as long as it is the right grade. Does the same apply to engine coolant? It doesn't matter if it is Honda genuine coolant as long as the water/antifreeze mix is 50/50?
 
The max line is shown in the picture in my post above. It's not even half way up the reservoir. I'd suggest getting a turkey baster or something. Look at your bottle of antifreeze. It needs to be "non-silicate", or "silicate free".
 
I don't know why I thought I bought prestone engine coolant, but it was actually Navi Guard that I bought.

I looked at the bottle and online, I couldn't find any phrase that said "silicate free". I did however read it meet the performance requirement of the Japanese industry standard k2234.

I read the JIS k2234 and it states that engine coolant used are mainly composed of ethylene glycol. So I might be in the clear with Navi Guard.
 
Why not get Honda cool and save yourself the headache?
 
webby said:
is the new coolant blue or green?
Click to expand...

In an earlier post I said it was yellow, but upon closer inspection it seems to actually be green with a tint of yellow.

I uploaded an image.
 

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W3R0 said:
Why not get Honda cool and save yourself the headache?
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Because sometimes products at Honda be more expensive than the aftermarket counterparts, but the aftermarket parts are of the same quality or even better.
 
RedSI said:
Because sometimes products at Honda be more expensive than the aftermarket counterparts, but the aftermarket parts are of the same quality or even better.
Click to expand...

This is worse. It has a shorter lifespan, and since it's been mixed with the honda blue.... it'll all need to be drained sooner.
 
be sure you are checking the reservoir with the engine warm. as the engine warms up it pushes coolant out of the radiator into the reservoir.

also, you should not be low on coolant unless there is a leak, as it is a sealed system.
 
The Honda blue coolant is one of the best on the market. It's also already mixed 50/50 for your car.
 
dpetro1 said:
be sure you are checking the reservoir with the engine warm. as the engine warms up it pushes coolant out of the radiator into the reservoir.

also, you should not be low on coolant unless there is a leak, as it is a sealed system.
Click to expand...

You are right. It turns out my radiator was cracked. I just ordered a new radiator from Honda for $180 bucks plus a Honda genuine type 2 coolant for $20. All in all $200 for a new radiator and to put in new coolant. I am doing the job myself so I can keep that $410 labor in my pocket.
 
RedSI said:
You are right. It turns out my radiator was cracked. I just ordered a new radiator from Honda for $180 bucks plus a Honda genuine type 2 coolant for $20. All in all $200 for a new radiator and to put in new coolant. I am doing the job myself so I can keep that $410 labor in my pocket.
Click to expand...
Is the car still under warranty? Sounds crazy that a 2014 would have a radiator issue. Was it damaged by something?
 
webby said:
The max line is shown in the picture in my post above. It's not even half way up the reservoir. I'd suggest getting a turkey baster or something. Look at your bottle of antifreeze. It needs to be "non-silicate", or "silicate free".
Click to expand...

The turkey baster does not work at all. It's only good for the first couple inches inside the coolant reservoir, assuming it is filled to the brim.

A siphon pump works much better since you can actually send the tube all the way down to the base of the reservoir. It only costed me $3 at AutoZone.

I uploaded a photo of the siphon pump I used.
 

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dpetro1 said:
Is the car still under warranty? Sounds crazy that a 2014 would have a radiator issue. Was it damaged by something?
Click to expand...

No the car is no longer under warranty. I covered that 36,000 miles in a year and a half lol. What happened was a rookie mistake on my part. I was jacking the car up to add the Pro Design alpha style front lip to my car. I was doing this at my friend's place so he could help me. We were talking and I wasn't paying attention like I should have been. I slided the jack RIGHT UNDERNEATH the arrow itself....instead of the area it is pointing to (mind you this wasn't my first time jacking up a car)........next thing I know as I am lifting the car up, I hear a crack and blue liquid starts leaking out. It turns out I had the jack underneath the subframe that holds the radiator support rail. So when I started lifting the car up, it pushed up on the radiator support rail hence pushing up on the radiator and it cracked on the top and bottom.

Just simply an unbelievable stupid rookie mistake on my part.
 
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