2018 Honda Accord · symptom sheet
Engine overheats or leaks coolant
- 349owner reports
- 95,000median miles
- $4,800median quote
- 2involved a crash
Newest report Sep 23, 2026 · checked Oct 2, 2026
581 of the 1,883 complaints on this car are about the engine. 349 of those describe overheating, which makes it the most reported problem on the 2018 Accord.
Narrower sheets: Head gasket fails or coolant leaks into the engine (335 reports)
Tick what matches of 349 reports
Overheating on other Accord years
Report counts are for each model year on its own, so a newer car has had less time to collect them. Model years with too few reports of it for a sheet: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026.
What this problem usually is
Most owners in this group notice the coolant before they notice the heat: a reservoir that keeps dropping, a sweet smell, or a bright puddle under the front of the car. Across the vehicles on this site, about four in five of these complaints mention coolant, a leak or a puddle, and roughly two in five mention the temperature gauge or overheating.
What got replaced
Owners who name the part that was replaced mention the head gasket (333 reports), the coolant hose or reservoir (19 reports), the water pump (4 reports) and the radiator (3 reports).
Recalls and investigations
No recall on the engine covers the 2018 model year as of Oct 2, 2026.
NHTSA investigations into the engine on the Accord
Honda high engine speed. Closed may 4, 1987.
None of these investigations covers the 2018 model year.
What owners paid
106 of the 349 reports quote a price. Each dot is one quote. The middle half runs $2,913 to $6,000.
When it happens
The middle half of failures fell between 75,500 and 118,000 miles, from the 144 reports that gave a mileage.
Is this a known problem?
The manufacturer has sent NHTSA 1 service bulletin or notice for the 2018 Honda Accord that deal with this problem. Newest first.
Federal rules make a manufacturer send NHTSA a copy of any notice about a defect that goes to more than one dealer or owner. Most of these are service bulletins, the repair instructions manufacturers send to dealers. NHTSA generally leaves safety recall bulletins out of this file, and recalls are listed separately.
Under certain conditions, the cylinder head gasket effectiveness may be reduced which may cause vehicles to experience overheating, coolant loss, misfire and/or DTCs P0300 thru P0304 stored.
What owners wrote
“I was on the highway with moderate traffic. My car would no longer accelerate due to a blown head gasket out of nowhere, I was on the far left lane and had to traverse over 5 lanes in moderate traffic while other drivers on the highway were going 60+ mph. This is a common issue among Honda Accords with the 1.5 engines.”
Filed Jan 3, 2025 · 69,043 miles
“Drove to work, about 35 miles. Few hours later went to leave to get a cup of coffee, started car and ALL lights came on dash and seems like every feature cycled through indicated nonfunctional. Drove to dealership, head gasket leak and piston misfiring, $4200. Car is a 2018 Honda Accord EX-L with 62000 miles. Seems strange to have such an extensive issue with a honda with such low miles. Can you investigate. Thanks”
Filed Jun 11, 2024 · 62,000 miles
“This 1.5T has had alot of complaints about head gaskets going out. 50K miles i had it headgaskey went bad”
Filed Feb 9, 2024 · 50,000 miles
“101,848 miles on odometer. Blown head gasket. Numerous other 2018-2020 Honda Accords have same issue. Leaking damaged gasket causes car to lose power leading to potential safety issue.”
Filed Jan 25, 2024 · 101,848 miles
Should you keep driving it?
This page can't tell you that. 2 of 349 reports involved a crash. Owners who file are the ones who had a bad experience, and nobody checks their reports. If the problem affects steering, braking, power or a fire risk, treat it as a safety fault and have it inspected before a long or high-speed drive.
File your own report with NHTSA. Complaint counts are how a problem gets an investigation. How reports land on this sheet.
Guide Which lights mean pull over now? Warning lights by color and urgency
Other problems on this car
- Check engine light or misfire 282 reports
- Brakes grind, pulse or wear early 255 reports
- Engine stalls or loses power while driving 250 reports
- Brakes on its own (automatic emergency braking) 228 reports
- Engine failure, knocking or rod bearing 167 reports
- Fuel pump failure 155 reports
- Multiple warning lights come on at once 124 reports
- Infotainment, screen or backup camera fails 109 reports
- Adaptive cruise or lane keeping misbehaves 103 reports
- Turbo failure or loss of boost 101 reports
- Forward collision warning goes off or the camera drops out 92 reports
- Airbag warning light or recall 60 reports
- A/C blows warm or the compressor fails 55 reports
- Battery dies or the car will not start 42 reports
- Loses power when accelerating 41 reports
- Seat belt or seat problems 36 reports
- Paint peels or body rusts 28 reports
- Traction control or StabiliTrak light comes on 26 reports