eye is JDM

i need some help please

i live in canada and its -20 outside today,(for you guys in the US of A that would be about 3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit) i started up my car ten minutes before i had to leave so it would warm up (as i do almost everyday in winter) but today because it was so cold i put the heat on full blast right after i started the car so it would be a little warm if not fully warm in the car when i was ready to leave. when i got in the car and pulled off the heater was blowing cold air and the temp gauge was at a little less then 1/4 (on winter days that are warmer then this the temp gauge is not that high till about 5 minutes in to my drive) so i found that kind of funny. about half way of my 20 minute drive to work the car was fully warm (temp gauge just below 1/2) and only cold air was coming out the vents. i knew something was wrong so i shut off the cold heat and kept my eye on the temp gauge, as i drove some more i saw that the temp gauge was up past 1/2 and almost hit 3/4 but then i got stopped at a red light for about 30 seconds. as i was sitting at the red light i saw the gauge start to drop (cool down) very slowly. i was about 5 minutes from work at this point so i put on my 4 ways and drove till the gauge hit 3/4 then stopped until it went back down to 1/2 and repeated this till i got here.

just moved to a new city,i work 7 days a week 8am to 7pm now so i don't have time to check it out myself, i don't have any friends here and i don't know and mechanics here. if anyone knows and/or can pin point what the problem is that would help very much, that way i can just have the car towed to a shop today and tell them what to change/fix instead of me just going there and having them rape my wallet changing 1000 things.



the car is a stock motor 1996 integra rs with 220,000 miles on it , last owner said he changed the rad about 2 months ago (i bought the car 1 month ago and have been driving it 40 minutes to and from work everyday with out any problem like this what so ever) other then that i don't know what else has been changed/replaced on the motor.

thank you in advance for any help you may give

mouab18c1

iTrader: (5)

Open the hood and check for leaks. Fluctuating temp gauge is a result of air bubbles in your coolant system, which results in a leak somewhere.

fcm

Ditto the above^^^ sure sounds like you have air in the system,

Try this, remove rad cap, start engine, turn heat on full, top of rad if it is low, make sure rad fluid "overflow" bottle is topped off to full mark, allow engine to heat up untill rad fan turns on.

If there is air in the system you will see it "bubble" out the rad cap hole.94

thewrai6th

If there are no leaks in the cooling system, then you have to think about how the air got in there.
I would do (or ask for) a leakdown test. This will tell you if your head gasket is blown. You basically put pressure into the cylinder and determine where the air is leaking out. If it leaks out of the radiator, you have a blown HG.

Could also be a dead water pump.

eye is JDM

after reading some similar problems on other threads i went to car a checked out a couple things

dip stick - oil is a little thin and brownish

under oil cap - no gunk , oil inside looks normal (not brownish)

rad cap - there was green coolant on top of the rad fan that looked like it might have leaked from the rad cap and/or over flow hose .... the coolant inside the rad looked good and clean to me . neon green liquid

coolant over flow tank - VERY low and coolant inside is FROZEN , hose that takes from the over flow tank has frozen green coolant in it

rad hoses - with rad cap off as i squeeze each hose i can see the coolant in rad move up and down

and i do not see drips of any kind on the ground so i don't think anything is leaking

eye is JDM

gonna get the frozen coolant out the over flow some how , i hope thats the problem

mouab18c1

iTrader: (5)

Frozen Coolant in the overflow has nothing to do with it. Sometimes a hose would have a cut in it that is not visible to the eye. It will only crack open when there is enough pressure. I would do what FCM stated above. That is your best bet as of now or have a shop do a leakdown test.

TheRealTegger

I think this is your clue. If the fluid in the reservoir amd hose is frozen, the fluid in the rad and engine must have been at least partially-frozen as well. This would impair fluid flow and cause overheating until the coolant warmed up.

If this is what's happening, you may have damage from the freezing. Also, this would mean your coolant mix is of insufficient strength to stay liquid in the temperatures you're experiencing. And if so, you need to replace it immediately.

Tomorrow morning, check the rad fluid and see if it's slushy or frozen.

By the way, your "-20" is actually -4F, according to my Metric-conversion calculator. I wonder where the heck you are, because here it's almost 50F.

fcm

I have to agree with the above, you need to get that coolant out and replace it with the correct coolant, [temp.].

TheRealTegger is also correct about the conversion to Fahrenheit either way -20C or -4F it's very cold and you need to make sure your coolant is up to it.

I would also look into a block heater, [if you do not already have one] even better is one of those inline heater/pumps.

I would also like to know where you are, even Winterpeg, [my old home] was "only" -15C yesterday, maybe Flin Flon, it hit -19C on Sat. either way I feel your pain. 94

Hondaman9722

Sounds like a stuck open thermostat it will cause the engine coolant especialy if it has high water content to flow freely and too fast to absorp heat from the engine never dealt with it in cold weather but in hot it will cause it to overheat in minutes also if it is stuck closed it wont allow the coolant to flow threw the engine and into the heater core thus no heat or engine cooling. Also check radiator cap see if it is allowing hot coolant to flow into your overfill tank if it over heats it should also boil over into the tank