What is wrong with my 1997 Honda Accord? Overheating problems.?

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BreeBree

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A couple of questions about my 1997 Honda Accord 4-cylinder.

I know for sure that I have a slight radiator leak and my "fans" are not cutting on - resulting in my car overheating every chance it gets. I have to fill it with water every morning or I'm in trouble.

When I'm idling, my car is shaking like it's going to cut off. It never cuts off, although it did turn off when I turned the AC on while I was idling. I guess it was too much for my struggling engine.

I can't afford to take it to the shop, so I would like to purchase the parts myself. Does anyone know what parts I should be getting? Is it the radiator fan or a clutch fan? I'm not sure where the leak is, should I be ordering hoses? If so, what kind? Does this problem sound familiar?

Sorry if I sound so ignorant but I know nothing about cars except that I need to save money and do it right. If anyone can shed some light, it is much appreciated.
 
deffintly get a radiator asap, as for the fan it should not be a clutch fan, it should be electric there are a few things that could not let your fan kick on, could be the fan motor itself is bad, could b a fuse in the fuse box, or it could be the sensor that turns it on is bad, this problem happens quite often, been there. sometimes you can take your car to a parts store and they can hook a computer up to your car and test your fans or diagnose the problem for you. good luck!
 
Try and track down exactly where the leak is coming from, trace the wet spot back to a hole or loose connection if you can so you have more knowledge about what is causing it and that will help to know what to do to fix it. The fan not working could be a couple things, I have had the same problem recently on a Ford. It could be a fuse, a temperature sensor, which for my car was about $100 for a new one. It could be a bad relay, mine showed that it had gotten hot but a new one didn't do any good. It could be a fan motor, I assume yours is an electric fan, or a loose wire. Do you have any friends that do a little of their own car work? Maybe someone could help you find out if there is electricity where it needs to be to get the fan moving and find out what is really wrong. If you have a 12 volt test light, a little bulb with two wires you can buy cheap at automobile departments in large department stores like Walmart and Myers or auto parts stores, that might be enough to show where you have power and where you don't. But you need to know how to use it.
The shaking may show that you need a tune-up. Maybe new spark plugs and wires, a new fuel filter, and air filter. Or it could be something worse. Change those first and see if it helps. The fuel filter and spark plugs will be the hardest in that order. The wires need to go back on exactly like the old ones come off. One wire at a time so you get them on the right place on both ends. If you haven't done this stuff before, you should get someone to at least help teach you how to do them, because they are easy to mess up in one way or another. The air filter is the easiest but on some cars there is still a small problem getting the case apart and back together that holds the filter. Most newer cars have special instructions when you have to open up the fuel lines, and I haven't done that yet, so you will need help on the fuel filter. The spark plugs on some cars are very hard to get to.
Good Luck
 
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