Rylan

Im at my whit's end. I have a 1993 Honda Civic hatch, d15 engine.

The car DOESNT over heat. I replaced my thermostat with a brand new OEM Honda thermostat today. Bled the coolant system completely of air.

I drove the car up and down the road at operating temperature. Just a little below half on the temp gauge. Up and down the road a bunch of times. The engine didn't heat up, no steam, no overflow, upper rad hose is hot like it should be, but isn't swelling up or anything.

The bottom rad hose however isn't warm at all, is actually cold. The car isn't over heating, or having the temp gauge rise on it above where it normally is.

Im clueless guys, I really need help so I can get this shitty thing togethar and working like it should.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

It sounds like it is working as it should minus a cold hose. Is coolant actually flowing? Possibly the water pump is failing/failed. Does the fan come on?

pityocamptes

What sort of cap (lbs) do you have and is the system pressurizing?

Rylan

Just the stock radiator cap that is run on the 1993 Honda Civics.

The fan doesn't come on because some retard who owned the car before me said it stopped working and wired it to a switch.

The coolant flows, like it bubbles up out of the rad and everything. The waterpump isnt leaking at all, and is not noisy. The system is pressurizing, as after the car has been running the hoses both seem hard to squeeze. Even the bottom one has some pressure, but its not getting warm.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Just saying. If it's still pretty cold where you are (i don't know HOW cold, I'm just guessing) and a radiators job is to cool that liquid flowing perhaps it's doing it's job? Just a wild guess but if all things are working and you have no blockages that all I got.

Rylan

Yeah I am in Canada, winter is just finishing up here, so it is still quite chilly. Maybe your right. I unhooked the fan from the switch that the previous owner hooked up, but it doesn't come on. I guess it doesn't hurt to have it on a switch if you have to.

It may just be the case, because it is quite cold here. The bottom one is supposed to be reasonably cooler isnt it?

pityocamptes

The fan doesn't come on because some retard who owned the car before me said it stopped working and wired it to a switch.


You are running the switch non stop? If so that is your problem. You need to reconnect it back to the thermo switch...

Rylan

It is hooked up to the thermo switch, it doesnt make the fan come on. lol

pityocamptes

So your saying that the fan is not hard wired for constant "on"

Well if thats the case and everything is working correctly I really would not worry about it. It could be a combination of the weather, coolant mix, etc.

flush_EJ1

How did the old coolant look when you drained it? Did it drain smoothly? Its possible the radiator might be clogged. Check the temperature with a pyrometer across the radiator, that will tell you a lot.

I also agree it could be the ambient temperature is too cool for the lower hose to heat up. After you rule out possible blockage.

Rylan

No it wasn't.

The owner had it hooked up to a toggle switch, because the fan stopped coming on.
I don't like the idea of the fan being on all the time so there's no way I would wire it to come on like that.

IF I cant figure out the whole fan thing, I will wire it up to a switch to turn on manually.

Everything is working great, I ripped it down the road multiple times, the engine was hot like it normally would be on a drive. Temp gauge didn't rise, stayed right below the half mark like normal.

Coolant is brand new, Just put it in once I got the car. I drained some out when changing the stat and it drained out fine. Just a small stream, but I dont think it's designed to pour right out with all of its might when you turn the drain valve on the rad.

flush_EJ1

That might be the problem. Yes, the coolant will shoot out with quite a bit of force on a good radiator. I say your radiator is clogged.

Rylan

Really? it was a solid stream but it wasn't crazy.

Is it better to un clog the radiator, instead of blowing money on a new one?

Rylan

Id like to give a shout out to the guys who are helping me troubleshoot this! You have no idea how much I appreciate the help, Idea's and suggestions.

Thanks everyone!

ElliotSiR

Sucks you're in Canada, I could get you a radiator 40% off if you lived near-by, if that is indeed your problem.

Rylan

I know, I wish I was in California where the roads are good and it's warm :D

Thanks for the offer though dude!

ElliotSiR

Oh my, you have been misinformed as to how nice California is. Yes it is relatively warm, but we have the worst roads in the country (don't know how they compare to Canada though) and SMOG makes it virtually impossible to be a car enthusiast or tuner. Stay in Canada, even though it's cold, you guys can import real Hondas via the grey market, unlike us here in California.

Rylan

Haha our roads are garbage, frost heaves everywhere. They use pure salt to melt the ice and snow on our roads thats why our Honda's rot out completely here.

ElliotSiR

Bummer dude... The lack of any serious rust might be the only positive thing about cars in California these days. But I don't want to get off topic anymore than we already have, I'd say keep running your car and don't worry about the hose tempurature too much, worry about the actual engine temp on the guage and only run the radiator fan when you're driving low speed or idling a lot during traffic or around town.

Rylan

Okay man thanks, you guys make me feel alot better about the hose being cold.

I was worried that its a bad thing, but since my temp doesnt rise, and the engines working awesome it should be an issue right?

ElliotSiR

Just keep an eye on it, you should be fine. Don't do anything silly and I doubt you'll have a problem, but get that fan fixed so it comes on automatically instead of you having to do it manually.

Rylan

I will see if I can figure out why the fan isn't coming on, but if I cant figure it out ill just switch it.

I hope that the lower hose being cool isn't an issue... fingers crossed.

Rylan

I am going to buy a brand new thermo fan switch for the stat housing.

The bottom hose heated up a bit today, so it's working fine. I bled the air out of the system again. Top rad hose gets somewhat hot like it should be, and now the bottom hose is warming up a little bit.

Problem solved! Thanks guys