Ok, I went out to my garage and got 3 different antifreeze testers. Two are the floating ball type (which I do not recommend) and the third is the Prestone one which I recommended to you. The floating ball type only has a resolution of 15 degrees F.

One ball = +20 F
Two balls = +5 F
Three balls = -10 F
Four balls = -25 F
Five balls = - 40 F

On the Prestone one there is a floating pointer that you read the freeze point temperature directly off of a scale that is cablibrated in both F and C. Make sure that the tester is completely full of coolant up to the top line which is at the neck of the tester neat the squeeze bulb before reading the pointer.

All three of these testers say to test a cool radiator and are calibrated for that.

You could read the fluid out of the overflow container and normally that would be OK. I would read it from the radiator just in case you are having a problem with coolant flow between the overflow container and the radiator. It is not a common problem for them to be different but can be different caused by a loose or defective hose or a defective radiator cap. Reading from the radiator also forces you to look at the radiator coolant level to make sure it is completely full.

So if it is cold out and you want to do this quickly just read the fluid out of overflow container.

As I said before I do not think you have a coolant problem but when you get done. You will have the tool and know how to check it in the future and you will have a base line a baseline number and know you are OK. It will not be necessary to check it again in the future unless you have been adding antifreeze or water to the system which is not normally necessary.

Back to the whirring sound.
PLEASE DO NOT REPLACE THE STARTER based on the following comments.

I wish I could hear the sound. It might be the starter gear not engaging the flywheel. I have seen that caused by water thas get into the start bendix drive area and freezing. The gear then does not move all the way forward. If that is your problem it will go away as soon as the outside temperature stays above 0 C. Over time after that the water will evaporate from driving it the spring and summer.

If it were a grinding sound I would think that the starter gear (bendix) is worn.

Do you only hear the sound when holding the key to the start position and then it immediately goes away?

The noise goes away instantly as the car roars to life. Most likely will not replace my starter.

Regarding coolant, never done it myself. Never. I've always trusted the Honda dealer. Never had to give it a top up either. But we will see the mixture ratio real soon and if it's correct. Or I may be topping up the reservoir and rad tonight.

I agree. You do not have freeze up symptoms.

Latest update. No sloshing noise when I started car. Was a rough start. I popped the hood and noticed the reservoir for coolant is a lot harder to see then in a civic has it's almost like underneath the rad. My two questions are


I looked at my reservoir and legitimatelyy unscrewing it, could not see any coolant.

I have No or little coolant. There is the issue. Reservoir was below min way below. Now I'm going to buy some

Most recent update:

I had almost nothing in my reservoir. Not sure why. Anyways I went to the store bought OEM antifreeze. Yeah Canadian Tire sells it. Filled my stuff up in the parking lot. Rad and reservoir. Reservoir was over filled a little bit. getting a turkey baster tomorrow to remove the access from reservoir. But when I started the car. She was fine:). And that was the issue all along. -37 weather took my anti freeze and my rad was a little low and so was the reservoir. Also my heat really blows out the car now. Before you could feel it blowing but not super strong. Thought it was due to the weather and the fact I was only driving it 5-10 mins each day. But now it seems like issue was fixed. For this brutal winter, I needed a new battery and anti freeze lol. Come spring she's getting oil change, rad flush, and valve adjustment. All by me.

Oh man this never ends. This morning I had the same issue. It's warm only -3 and starting it was weird. Car started on first try but this is what happened. Clutch all the way in, turned key all the way forward, revs shot up sounded like car was starting it went down into stall position and then instantly roared to life. What's goin on here?

Do not worry about the excess antifreeze in the overflow container.
It will NOT hurt anything.

I am more concerned because it was that low. I would keep a close eye on the level in the overflow bottle over the next few weeks. An easy way to check the level since you cannot see it is to get a dry piece of unpainted wood like a dowel or 1/4 round that goes along the base board in a house. Open the top of the overflow tank and use the wood as a dip stick. The wood will immediate absorb the coolant and you will be able to see how much you have. When you are done, leave the dowel somewhere where it can dry so it can to be used again.

I am also concerned that the rad was low while there was still some coolant in the container. The cooling system should not consume antifreeze. This could be a leak in the hose going between the bottle and the radiator. Check it closely. What happens is as the engine warms up the coolant expands and excess coolant if forced into the container. Then when the engine cools down coolant is drawn back into the radiator again.

A bad seal on the radiator cap will also cause this. Remove the radiator cap again and clean the inside the neck with a rag or paper towel where the rubber parts of the cap seat. After 3 or 4 drive cycles all of the air in the radiator should be expelled into the over flow container. Some time next week check the cold coolant level again in the radiator. If it is COMPLETELY full then the coolant over flow tank, hose, and cap are functioning properly. Future checks can be made by just watching the level in the overflow tank.

A new cap, if necessary, is $18.00 to $20.00 at Canadian Tire or NAPA.

There could also be a leak elsewhere in the system but do not get concerned until you can quantify how much antifreeze you are really loosing.

Thank you for your response. Yeah I could almost see the bottom of my reservoir tank lol. The rad wasn't too low I barely put any anti freeze in and I had it filled to the brim of the rad. So now I know my rad is topped off.

So I guess tonight I will be inspecting my hose from rad to reservoir. That little guy. If it needs to be replaced I don't expect that hose being hard or expensive to do.

Rad cap is also going to get an inspection to ensure the seal is fine. I didn't really look at it last night. But it did not look too bad. If the seal is messed up this will be easy to see and determine a new one is required correct?

In a week or two I should pop off my rad cap and should be able to see the coolant in the hose coming up to the rad correct?

Also does anyone have input for the way my car starts? Tonight I will record a video so everyone can see more clearly.

Just take a look at the hose. Do not bother replacing it or the cap unless you are still getting air in the radiator a week or two from now. Many times all that is required is trimming one or both of the ends of the hose back 2 or 3 cm and reinstalling the old one.

Again, none of this (cap or hose) fix is required unless you are still getting air in the radiator while there is still fluid in the overflow container.

On the rad cap, a bad seal will be very obvious. It will be dried out and cracked. Usually the leak is a foreign piece of something on the surface or inside the filler neck and not the cap. I'm just suggesting that you inspect it for now, clean it, and do nothing more until we determine if you are still getting air in the rad with fluid still in the overflow container..

On the starting noise, I'm afraid I'm not much help on the noise without hearing it or seeing it close up. I have a lot of guesses but I do not want to send you off on something that is not even close to the problem.

In a week or two time, how would we determine that I am still getting air in the rad?

Also their is no noise on start up anymore. It's more so of what the car is actually doing. Turn the key, car stalls and then starts as I'm in the srtart position. Pressing the gas a little bit as I'm starting the car helps get her going.

Wait until the engine is cold. First thing in the morning is always a good time. Remove the radiator cap and see if the radiator is full to the top. That's it.

Car is now fixed. Thank you all for your help and support. Rad is still going to be monitored. But from the looks of it everything is fine.

Last night since I have been so stressed out over work and the car I went to honda after work. They were going to charge me $200 just to diagnose and then 150-200 to fix it. Now this is what was wrong.

Once I popped the hood in honda I realized what was going on and left just to fix it myself. Starting issues was because car wasn't getting enough juice, battery terminal for positive wasn't in that tight because it's a 51R and the clamps don't fit perfectly. So I put metal in there and now it's fixed. That solved that issue. When I popped the hood I saw my rad cap with coolant around it. So I went out bought a new cap. This morning. I took off the cap saw my coolant ws literally right to the brim of the rad, so I took a little bit out via turkey baster. As I had mentioned I filled my reservoir way to high. I'm colour blind and couldn't really see the colour or the liquid so I never knew how low it was. Turns out I had enough in my reservoir and I over filled it like crazy the other night. So I took a bit of it out so there would be room for the coolant to go. Inspected the line from reservoir to rad, no leaks or holes.

So now my reservoir has room to transfer coolant my rad is not filled up all the way. You can see it in the hole just under the the flat surface where the rad cap rubber part goes I to. Before it was way above that right to the lip.

Congratulations. A loose battery cable was not on my radar screen. I never would have thought of it in your case.

They make a shim to put over that smaller battery terminal and then clamp the cable over the shim. Around here Auto Zone has them for around $3.00. It sounds like you already have or made one. If I were making one I would use copper, brass, or aluminum sheeting, and try to only shim one side of the terminal assuring that the other half has good direct contact to the cable without going through the shim.

As I said before if the overfllow bottle is over full it will not hurt anything. Any excess would have just been forced out but there is a lot of expansion room in it before you get to that point.

I'm very happy that you found your problems without getting ripped off at a Honda steelership.

Lesson learned. You can over fill your rad. Feel like an idiot. Even bought and installed new rad cap. Didn't need to but oh well. No leakage or anything now. And my mind is at rest knowing the rad cap is fresh. People in my building think I'm nuts. Always checking the rad and reservoir. They are now starting to question what I'm even doing haha. I do wish one thing, better placement of the reservoir. Civics are so much easier to get to. Takes me a couple tries to get my hand down there and open her up haha.

The overflow 'bottle' is there to hold the antifreeze coolant that is excessed from the engine when it warms up; when the engine cools it draws the coolant back into the engine. If there is too little coolant in the reervoir when the engine is hot then when the engine cools it will draw all it can back into the engine and then it will draw air into the engine.Thats why there is a minimum fill line (measured when the engine is cold); the idea is always to have the coolant system devoid of air.
If you add antifreeze when the engine is hot you minimize any air drawn in when the engine cools to whatever air was already drawn in. If you add it when the engine is cold you won't do anything except add to the reservoir coolant level when its hot. That will of course help when the engine is cold again. And be aware that if you overfill the reservoir when the engine is cold when the engine heats ait will expel coolant into the reservoir any excess will be pushed out the overflow on the ground. But thats the only real loss. In other words the cooling system will get rid of excess coolant by itself. You don't need to do it
PS if you're that worried about reading the freeze protection that you need to read the 'gfage' to the degree, please note than any of these systems probably have 5 degree F accuracy limit.