Leon.McCo92

I have a 92 Honda civic Dx 1.5L I've had a slow leak from a radiator hose, but didn't know from where until just the other day. It was one of the hoses that go from Thermostat housing into the firewall. Well I fixed the hose.. Well... Now the car will run fine for a while but after approx. 20-30 min of driving it starts to overheat. I was told that I may need to "burp" or "bleed" the cooling system by taking off the rad. Cap and running the car to op. temp then let the air bubbles escape. I did that for approx 15 min but after a little while it would boil over until the fan kicks on. I don't know if I need to let it continue to do this for a while longer or not... It continues to overheat. Someone please help. Also, I was told maybe it was the head gasket?

UPDATE: I disconnected the upper & lower rad. hoses and flushed both the radiator and the engine. Refilled the rad. ran fine (no bubbles in rad.) revved it and it started bubbling again. So came to the conclusion that there is a minor crack in the HG

fcm

If the bubbles keep coming then it is the HG, but you should see the bubbles right away.

Does the 92 Civic DX not have a bleed nipple on the thermostat housing? 94

Leon.McCo92

I'm not sure if there is a bleeder valve on it or not to be honest... The main thing it was doing was boiling over until the fan would kick on. When the fan turned off it would stay down for a minute then boil over again.

tablecivic

check top and lower rad hose to see if they get hot , maybe flush it see if any nasty **** is all up in there

Leon.McCo92

I check all the hoses (atleast the ones I can get to) just about everytime I open the hood. I just had one hose bust the other day so I'm sure another one will soon enough... So I can say the lower hose does get hot.

chrysler kid

Replace your thermostat and report back if that fixed your problem

tablecivic

take out the thermostat and flush the system

Former User

https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d.../#post38664177

Leon.McCo92

I replaced the thermostat earlier today. Bled the system and test drove it for about 20 min. It ran fine. Then came home turned it off, Waited a couple minutes then tried again and not even a minute after taking back off the temp gauge started going up.

Leon.McCo92

Thanks for the link! Gonna give that a shot as soon as the weather lets up and I will get back to you and let ya know if that works.

24TEN

iTrader: (2)

Real quick, you say it's boiling over. So it's literally boiling? As in it's bubbling like crazy until it overflows the neck of your radiator?

Leon.McCo92

It was, but after changing the thermostat all the antifreeze was out of it and only water in it. we bled the system by removing the rad. cap again. This time it didn't boil over. It bubbled a little bit. Then I drove for approx 20 min and it drove fine. Came home parked for maybe 2 minutes and started driving again, creating the circumstances that started it yesterday, this time the gauge started going up. Well when I brought it home it wasn't overheating but it was HOT... We noticed bubbles in the reservoir. But once the engine cooled back to normal they went away.

Esser

You've got air in the system still. I just filled mine up but I left the top of the radiator hose off while I filled it until it came out the top of the hose so air has a place to escape.

Leon.McCo92

I found out there is a bleeder valve. It's on the top of the engine where the upper rad. hose connects. I'm gonna empty it and try that tomorrow. If it don't work which hose did you leave off? The upper rad. hose? If so, which end?

mk378

The bleeder valve is literally the first thing mentioned in the link that Ron posted days ago.

Take the plain water out and fill the system with antifreeze mix before bleeding. Continuing to run plain water will lead to severe corrosion of the engine block and other parts.

Racingonchange

Tap water in any engine sets the stage for very bad things to happen... Always coolant/distilled water... Nothing else

tony_2018

No water...no water PERIOD.

Mecca8383

IMO.......I would say it's ok to use Tap water if you're still trying to troubleshoot if it's just for a couple days. Using Antifreeze on a car that overheats just causes the reservoir to either full up with antifreeze and overflow out the reservoir bottle, or it just burns off(white smoke out the tailpipe).
In either case, you're wasting jugs of antifreeze just to troubleshoot.(Therefore wasting money)

BUT...of course...maybe antifreeze has the properties to dramatically help reduce/lessen overheating while troubleshooting....IDK..?

Also, next time you drive just peek in your passenger side mirror for any white smoke behind you.
You can also do a small test for a head gasket yourself:
-Disengage your ignition and fuel by pulling their fuses(forgot which fuses off top my head..doh!)
-Take off your radiator cap(when cool please).
-Tell someone to crank the engine for a few seconds

If antifreeze(or water) comes splashing out that radiator, that's your head gasket. Because compression is being pushed through the engine....but it definitely shouldn't be any air being pushed through the head gasket into the chambers fulled with antifreeze.

Leon.McCo92

That's why I'm using water (haha)... For troubleshooting. There's no since in wasting money on jug after jug of antifreeze when I still haven't found the solution to my problem. But, thanks for that info! I'm going to try draining it and bleed it first. Then, if that doesn't seem to help, I'll try what you said. Also, I have kept an eye out for white smoke since it started doing this, I haven't seen any. I've also checked the oil and it doesn't have any sign of antifreeze in it or vice versa, no oil in antifreeze. The part that has me puzzled is the air bubbles when the car gets hot close to overheating then they go away after it goes back to normal temp.

speedlever

I would only use tap water in the radiator in an emergency. The minerals in the water can cause deposits and corrosion in the cooling system. Use only distilled water... available for under $1/gallon most places.

I've had good luck using this funnel to bleed the system when I've changed the coolant in other vehicles:

http://smile.amazon.com/Lisle-24680-...s=lisle+funnel

Use the right cap for your radiator, put coolant in the funnel and fill from there leaving coolant in the funnel. As the system burps, it automatically draws fresh coolant from the funnel until the system is air free. Then put the plunger in the funnel and take it off the radiator. No muss, no fuss. Put the remaining fresh coolant back in your coolant jug.

Did you turn the heater to max when you refilled the radiator?

Leon.McCo92

Yea I did. Im at my car now bleeding it by removing the radiator cap. Just started a few minutes ago. At first had a bubbles coming out slow but turned on heater and the bubbles started coming out faster. Going to give it the recommended 20-30 minutes and see what happens. Think it may be a faulty head gasket.... But there's no evidence except the air bubbles...

mk378

That is the only evidence of a slow leak in the head gasket-- slow accumulation of air in the cooling system which eventually displaces the coolant and causes overheating. You won't see steam in the exhaust or coolant in the oil with a slow leak.

After bleeding, put the cap on and stop the engine and wait to let the system get completely cold. Then take the cap off, start engine, and rev it. If you see constant bubbling the head gasket is probably leaking. There should be little or no action in the radiator with a cold engine.

Leon.McCo92

That's what I figured. Once the engine starts running hot the gasket expands which allows more air. Causing it to bubble in the overflow. Once cooled it stops...

speedlever

Could the overheating (depending on how severe) warp the head and cause the HG leakage?

Leon.McCo92

I'm sure it could. I can't really say for sure. I'm not that experienced on that...