crxaddikt

i searched and read thru lot of pages, but helps to describe my specific problem in my own post, my car is 90 crx si with 247,000 miles with ZC dohc motor with an estimated 150,000 miles or so?, everything has run good for a while, i've had it 15 years and its never overheated.

radiator is 11 years old, and 6 months ago it started having a small leak on top of radiator, just loses coolant slowly, but keeps the coolant level to the top for a while before having to fill it again, and does'nt affect driveability or anything and temp gauge stays at normal range, i got a new radiator cap and after putting it on i did'nt see any coolant leaks on the top of the radiator for a while, and thought putting the new rad. cap might of fixed it?.

last several months i noticed i never saw my radiator fan come on, and alot of people said it rarely ever comes on on crx's, i drove car 20 minutes and parked and idled it over 25mins and still never saw fan come on, but it never overheated or anything so i assumed it was fine and just comes on if you were driving a long time in stop&go traffic idling and sitting a lot, which i have'nt done in a while.

a week ago i was resetting my idle and it was idling for a while, then i saw the coolant in the overflow tank was boiling vigorously to the top and had some coming out the top, and i also saw that the small leak on top of the radiator was back again, my friend mechanic told me i probably overfilled the overflow tank, so i emptied it all out, but did'nt refill it any.

after i adjusted the idle, the idle was'nt steady any more and was moving up and down between the 700-1000rpm range, back and forth while idling?

a few days ago i was driving in stop & go morning rush hour traffic, and when i got back home and parked, i noticed that the temp gauge was all the way to the top, shut car off and let cool. but i forgot to check to see if the radiator fan was coming on when it was overheated with temp gauge to the top, cause thats usually when it would be coming on.

the next day i drove on highway for a while and went a couple places, and it was driving fine and temp gauge normal, cause i was moving mostly, and was'nt in stop/go traffic,
but later on, i hit a lot of traffic that was barely moving at all, and the temp gauge started going up to the top again !, and stuck in slow traffic, probly for about 10-15mins?, until i finally was able to exit, and i parked and let it cool down, i poured water on outside of radiator to cool it, and put water and coolant in radiator and overflow tank, and unscrewed coolant bleeder screw and bled the air out, then reset ecu, and afterward the up and down idle thing was gone and was back to a steady idle.


can anyone give me ideas for what might be causing it to overheat and temp gauge going to the top ?, what does it sound like it would be ? from the symptoms i described ?

thanks

ferio-ichi3

Check your fans. Use a paper clip and jump the coolant temp sensor plug. Fans should come on. If not, check fuse.

br8crumb

turning the AC on should trigger the fan to come on. u may have a wiring issue if it doesnt. just because their cheap i would change the thermostat for 13$ incase the current 1 isnt opening/closing correcty also. also try and locate the leak in the cooling system. having air will cause flux idle, and getting air in the system isnt good.

*if all fails and u dont have time to fix, u can always wire a led switch from fan/bat to dash so u can flip the fan on for the entire ride and turn off when ur done drivin

crxaddikt

i attempted to test the fan, connecting wire leads to the terminals on the fan plug connector to the battery, the wire leads i had were ones with alligator clips, i clipped them to the terminals like it said in helms, then touched other ends to the battery, but right when i touched them it got super hot and i had to instantly drop them, and saw a little smoke?, not sure why it did that? and fan did'nt do anything either, but think i need to try it again and use different wires.

i was going to test the thermo switch, after just reading lot of posts similar to mine on search, i saw a diagram showing exactly where it is on the back of the thermostat housing, and has a wire plug that clips into it, but only thing i was'nt clear about was how to "jump" it exactly ?, don't understand how to really?,
how many terminals are on that thing? and which terminals do i "jump"?

the radiator fan worked for sure about a year ago, it had a radiator fan relay i got at junkyard, i got 3 of them, but just tried each of them til i saw one worked, but its possible that relay could of gone bad cause its a used one from the junkyard ? but what i need to do is try putting the other 2 spare relays i got at junkyard to see if either of them work?

the fuses are good i checked

i don't have A/C at the moment, it needs some work to get it working again, so A/C fan is'nt connected, the wiring seems ok, i noticed a real weak wire connection of two wires going to the radiator fan connector plug, so i stripped them and connected them better with a butt connector. i did'nt know thermostats are that cheap, when do they usually start to go bad?, like how many miles they last about?, my car has 247,000 miles on it, but the engine maybe 150,000, did the thermostat come as part of my engine that was swapped in? or would it still be my original thermostat from the crx? i also heard that having a bad thermostat would make it overheat even while driving at highway speed and not have to do with overheating just idling in traffic, which mine is doing?, so i doubt its that?, but i guess its worth putting a new one in anyway if its only $13.

i'll maybe just buy a new radiator, mine is 11 yrs old and just has small leak, but feel better with new one.

thanks for the replies and i'll check those things and see if anything helps fix it?

br8crumb

the fan motors do tend to go bad. theres only like 2 bolts that holds it on to the radiator.

ferio-ichi3

You unbend a paper clip and unplug the fan switch. Stick the paperclip inside the fan switch CONNECTOR. Youll hear the relay click. Fan should spin. If you hear a click but fan dont work, you connect the fan plug(on the fan) to the battery. Dont matter which way it go. Will just spin backwards or forwards. If the fan works that way, then the fan switch is bad. Not if dont spin, the fan is bad. If no click then check relay.

Ef4doorwagon

Yeah i have my fan on a switch, my car is super manual.
Its easy too, all you need is wire and a 3 prong toggle switch.
You then go to the fan plug ( i used one wire end with alligator clip) , you connect the ground wire on the fan plug to an alligator clip, and run that wire to ground.
Then you use another alligator clip to the power wire( on the fan plug) and run that wire all the way into the inside of your car.
Then from the inside of your car, you mount your switch wherever you want ( mine is on my dash)
From the switch, 3 prongs, you run one wire to ground( like near the main relay for example)
One wire to the positive of the battery
And that wire coming from the fan plug, goes onto the last prong of the switch

crxaddikt

forgot i made this post, i ended up getting a couple spare radiator fan relays from a junkyard, from newer model hondas which looked real good condition with the white print perfectly readable and not worn at all, and i tried putting in one of them and the first one i tried worked right away !, and the radiator fan was working again !!!, not sure what happened cause it was working before and i remember messing with something and i might of put the wrong relay back on by mistake and not the working one or something?, but i'm just so glad that it was'nt anything bigger causing it to overheat, and so its not going into the top on the temp gauge anymore idiling or in traffic on highway.

next thing is i'm hoping this was also the reason i was failing the emissions test recently, due to high NOX levels, cause it says reasons that cause NOX to be high is if the combustion chambers are too hot, and since my fan was'nt working, i think that might of caused it to be too hot, so hopefully if i go to retest the emissions on monday, that it will pass since my fan is working now ?

everytime theres a problem with my car, everyone says its something really bad and almost to the point they are saying to get rid of the car and stuff, and inside i always know its probably just something small, and i'm always right, and it always ends up just being some stupid little thing, such as me just not putting the right relay for the fan back after working on something, causing it to not be working anymore, and putting the right relay making it work again!

crxaddikt

i am still going to buy a new radiator, since it has a small leak, also my idle still is going up and down, while at stoplights, it just goes from 850rpm to about 1100rpm , back and forth, so i'm reading online what usually causes that to happen ?, my friend whos a mechanic says for sure that it just means it needs more water (coolant), but it did go away after he put more coolant in and also bled the air from the cooling system, but he also put the idle a little higher too, but i wonder if i need a new EACV or something?, since i think it controls stuff like that ?

d4g4m

Have you thought about replacing the fan thermoswitch sensor? When they go bad, you will have, fan never comes on, fan always runs, fan comes on with low water temp or very high temp.
Should be on rear of engine near oil filter, one wire.

crxaddikt

well my friend whos a mechanic tested the thermo switch and said it was good, and did'nt need to get new one, then he put a good relay and then the fan started working again, but your saying i should get a new switch anyway ? why ?

also, i asked him about the thermostat and if its working ok or stuck open or closed ?, and he said thermostat is working like it should and i don't need to get new one, but maybe its good to get a new one anyway ? if my car is 247,000 miles old and motor is over 150,000 miles old and i've never replaced one before ? maybe its good to just get a new switch as well if its that old ? to just have peace of mind ?

would the thermostat and thermoswitch be as old as the motor ? or the car ?, i'm assuming they are attached to the motor ? so they would be as old as the motor ?, and since its a ZC dohc swap, its around 150,000 miles or more old, but the crx is older and 247,000 miles old.

crxaddikt

its weird, i don't understand how i did'nt have a problem with my idle going up and down until after i went to mess with adjusting my idle, to try to raise it up higher, and then it started doing that ?, but for the whole 1 year since the last time i adjusted the idle, my idle stayed steady and never had any problem and never did that up and down thing ???, so why would it suddenly start doing that just after i re-adjusted my idle ??? recently ? my friend mechanic says when it is going up and down it just means i need to put more water / coolant in, and is low on it, but really it is'nt that low, except maybe 1 inch lower from the max line on the overflow tank only? so does'nt seem to be cause its low to me ?

lastnight i put more coolant, just cause overflow tank was a little below the MAX line, but the coolant was all the way to the top of the radiator, then i drove it around til it was warmed up, and i tried to re-adjust the idle, to see if i could get rid of that up and down idle problem ???, i was thinking that maybe the ECU was'nt reset after adjusting the idle last time, and maybe that if i re-adjusted it and reset ECU, it would adapt to the new changes automatically after resetting ecu and letting it idle.

i unplugged the 2P connector while idling, then adjusted it to what it said in the manual, and then put the lights and heater full blast and made sure the idle was where it should be while running those, then turned car off, plugged 2P connector back in, and started it up and adjusted it til it was at good idle, but it was doing that up and down thing again, so i turned car off, started it again and pulled the 2P plug again, which makes a check engine light come on, turned car off, then plugged 2P up again, then i pulled the ECU fuse in engine bay and waited 15 mins, then put fuse back in, started car up and let idle for 15 mins without touching a single thing, and it was idling perfect without going up and down for that whole 15 minutes, and then did what the steps said for resetting the ecu, and turned car off and immediately turned it back on and not touch anything, and then it stores the new setting, but after turning it right back on, it was doing that up and down idle thing again right away ! ! ! ! ???,

so i need to figure out whats causing that idle going up and down thing ?,

the hose that leads from the back of the EACV and goes to the back of the engine block that has coolant running through it, looks like it is'nt connected tight enough maybe where it connects to the EACV, cause i saw just a little coolant running out of where it connects to the EACV, so i will try and re-connect that hose better, but carefully so i don't spill coolant out of the hose.

not sure what else it could be ?, i have a new O2 sensor, cleaned throttle body not too long ago and was'nt really that dirty, not sure what could be other than a vacuum leak of some sort somewhere ? or maybe has more air in cooling system that needs to be bled out ?, even know my friend mechanic did that twice just week ago?,

my EACV looked good when i cleaned it out really well 1 year ago, and since then i never had any weird idle problems up til now, so i assumed its good, but i also heard the EACV can look fine but be bad and not be working anymore needing a replacement, so it seems hard to know if i need a new one of those or not ?

v4lu3s

when you "messed" with idle what exactly did you do? Usually it means you set the idle wrong when it bounces like that.

crxaddikt

a year ago i did it from the steps on the helms, i even used a handheld tachometer i have, and i did it exactly how the steps were, but later down the road i might of turned the idle screw a little to the left or a little to the right to try to get the idle so it was at the right rpm it supposed to be at, so thats what i mean i guess when i say "mess with it", but i always reset the ecu and all that, but it idled in one rpm for the whole year after doing that, steady and no problems, but i just was thinking of how i saw a guy on here saying how he solved his problem cause his idle screw was too far out and after turning it back in more, his up and down idle went away, so i was thinking or hoping thats what mine was too? but maybe not

but when i just recently re-adjusted the idle to raise it since it was too low, i did'nt use the tachometer, cause i just forgot how i hooked it up last time, i had the manual that came with it but now can't find it, and instead just went by looking at the rpms on the tach on the gage cluster, which is'nt as accurate but seems good enough.

crxaddikt

i bought a new radiator today, which is a direct fit oem replacement, from autzone, its a Spectra brand, was $86.99 with lifetime warranty, and i installed it later in the day, and put new coolant, bled the bleeder screw, and checked and did'nt have any leaks, and was all good, and i drove around and temp gauge was at normal mark, and idle was steady but turned car off and went in walmart, came out and after starting car again, then that up and down idle thing came back, i was hoping it was gone, so i drove around a little, and stopped at a carwash stall, and checked the coolant level and it was at the top of radiator and at max on overflow tank, and no leaks still.

i turned the idle almost all the way to the right, and the up and down idle thing went away and changed to just a steady idle at one rpm !, it stayed that way, but it was a low idle at the mark just above the zero mark, but better than having the up and down idle thing, actually the whole reason i even re-adjusted my idle in the first place was just cause my friend told me my idle was way too low and not good, and so i adjusted it so it was higher up, and after doing that then that up and down idle problem appeared out of nowhere, but now i put the idle back to the same low rpm it was at before and the up / down thing went away ?

crxaddikt

so i went today to try emissions test again,

first thing the guy at the inspection place said was "so what did you do to it since last time?", i told him the stuff, plus that the fan was'nt working on the previous tests and have new rad, etc..., but he sounded all negative and just said "its still not going to pass!", he said "is it hot, were you driving it around a lot recently?", and i was but it cooled off for maybe 2 hours before driving to the inspection place, he said it needs to be cooled off and not hot right after doing a lot of driving, and told me to open my hood to let it cool off more while waited for my turn for them to inspect it.

i was disappointed when he came back and shook his head, and said it failed again, with high NOX in low rpm 15mph test, it was only about 500 less than the number it was on the last test, i think it was around 3160 ? and standard is 1657.

so next thing i can think of i should do is adjust the timing back to stock setting, cause my timing is advanced and has been for a while, and advanced timing can cause high NOX, also clean out my IACV real good, do a fresh oil change and put new hose that goes from engine to IACV since its too short and not connected all the way down at both ends and i saw a tiny amount of coolant leak around where it connects to it.


anything else i should do that i'm leaving out ?

video_voide

High NOX, could mean you are running lean. Too much air is getting into the combustion chamber. Check for vacuum leaks, they could also be why your idle is messed up.

Also when setting idle, do this:
1. get to operating temp
2. pull IACV plug3.
3. adjust idle
4. reconnect IACV plug
5. reset ECU, or disconnect neg battery cable for 20 seconds, then reconnect
6. start engine without touching gas pedal
7. do not touch gas pedal
8. let it run at idle for 5 minutes or until fan comes on without touching gas pedal
9. shut down
10. start engine again and go for a drive.
11. now you can touch gas pedal
12. now return you ignition timing to stock

Perform a standard tuneup: plugs, cap, rotor, distributor wires, change oil, fill tank with low octane fuel, 87-89 and go try test again.

crxaddikt

i know the steps on how to adjust the idle properly, i even have the page copied from the helms folded up and keep it in my glovebox, and i did try doing it like that but did'nt get rid of the up and down idle thing, but for some reason when i turned the idle screw to the right real far, then it went away, so for now i just don't want to try touching anything to do with the idle, and leave it be.

i did put new plugs and cap rotor 1 year ago, pcv valve 1 year ago, O2 sensor 1 year ago, new timing belt 8/2012, i just did an oil change an hour ago, cause my friend suggested i do it, even though my oil looked good and the level was good on the stick, he said its good to do a fresh oil change.

have new radiator also, i also did a valve adjustment 2 months ago, i never replaced the IACV, i cleaned it good 1 year ago, and put new gasket for it, might be worth just getting a new one or a used one thats better condition than mine, just cause thats one of the top 2 things people point to when it comes to my failing with high NOX, along with catalytic converter. i bought a new catalytic converter 1 year ago which was a magnaflow direct fit replacement.

the guy at inspection place said it might not be a good enough cat, and the ones he carries do a much better job, but they run around $325 !!, so sounds like bullshit to me just trying to sell stuff to me.

next i need to adjust timing back to stock, but i forgot how to check and adjust the timing since last time i did it was 11 years ago, i know how to jump that plastic thing, and hook timing light, and aim at crank pulley and line up mark with the sights, while timing light is flashing at it, and i did that and the mark that i saw lined up was the TDC mark thats by itself, and not sure what the numbers on the display on the timing light are?, it said 1030 or 1050 ?,

so i just saw the TDC mark lined up with the sight, but from there i just totally forgot how it all works ?, cause how does that tell me anything just seeing that mark and how its lined up ?, what about the 3 timing marks to the side of it? how can i just see to check where my timing is set currently ?, i remember how to adjust it by loosening the distributor and rotating it either towards the firewall or away, depending on whether you want to advance it or retard it, its just the part where you are aiming the flashing timing light at the marks on the crank pulley lined up with the sight that i don't understand or forgot about how to do ?