Doug2003ex

Any idea what kind if problem? Everything sounds fine, oil looks fine(not milky), no over heating.

dr_spock

Have you tried a pressure test of your cooling system?

camera obscura

I'm seeing many of the symptoms mentioned here with an otherwise great condition 05. I spent 20+ minutes bleeding air out last night.

During this process, the radiator fan only turned on once. I noticed great antifreeze circulation (swirling like a flushing toilet) initially but towards the end, it didn't look like coolant was flowing while looking through the top radiator neck with cap off.

This would suggest my thermostat opened properly but then closed at some point or faulty water pump, correct?

bbarbulo

thermostat closed. not faulty water pump.

EM2abe

when they did the head gasket, did they resurface the head as well??? if not, then the replacement of the head gasket was all for nothing. and your money was wasted...

civic2001......

i have a civic 01 and it has overheating issue
i have noticed that when the temp needle goes up, fans do not turn on
my car overheats only while it is in idle state.... or in a busy traffic when i have to stop again and again, but the temp stays normal while driving on the highways.
i have changed the headgasket, thermostat,fan switch, waterpump, timing belt, checked the fan relay, fans work if i connect them to the battery.

i would really appreciate if anyone can help me to solve this problem

thanks

EM2abe

did you try doing a search in this forum?

MelB

Hi I am a new member and this is my first post and I'll also admit I'm not very knowledgeable with cars although I'm learning now. My Civic 04 LX started to overheat if the car was idle for awhile. I was trying to research the causes so I could try to fix this on my own. Finances are tight right now and I know I would be charged a lot. Anyway, my friend who knows a lot about cars came over to check it out and as soon as he popped the hood we had our answer. Somebody actually stole my coolant reservoir. I got a new one at the auto parts store which wasn't much money. My only problem now is I have no idea how to install it!! Please help if anyone has a link or can just give me the steps. I'm hoping its not a hard process. And any thoughts if I should do anything special for the radiator or anything else? I imagine its been rough on my whole cooling system with the reservoir missing for weeks. Should I get anything else looked at or do a flush for the radiator? Thank you in advance for your help I hope someone will give me. I hope I did okay for my first post.

EM2abe

^can you post a picture of your motor bay so we can see what we are working with and see if anything else is missing that might need replacing?

Jimmyb0000

Hey guys,

I'm having a strange overheating issue over the past few weeks. Three weeks ago, it would overheat at idle on me during a three hour drive to the shore. When I was moving, even at low speed the temp would normalize. When I got back home, I pulled the cap and realized the rad was full, overflow was too. Fans were cycling, heard them on the road and saw them at home (first thing I checked). So I let it rest and when cool I let it run with the cap off. After about 10 mins with heat on high and cap off a small air pocket came out, had to use like 1/2 a soda bottle of water to refill. Didn't have any issues again until yesterday.

Once again, a long distance drive to upstate NY. When sitting in traffic it was overheating on me, moving at 5mph, or putting the car in neutral and holding around 1500rpm and the needle would drop back to normal. Once again, I hear fans kick. So I get home and I open the cap, there's nearly no fluid in radiator, and only half the bottle of overflow. I filled it, let the car run again got out a few air bubbles and the car didn't seem to overheat in the hour I sat out there. Fans cycled too. I'm scared to drive it at this point though.

The one problem I noticed and not sure about, the radiator keep foaming while the car is running. It becomes a thick white foam almost to the point of a gel. I pour water at the top to wash it away and it would come back 30-60seconds later. I never really seen anything like that, bad head gasket i've seen boil and shoot out. So i'm not sure what's going on.

I broke out the pressure tester and with the car off after 10 mins it lost around a pound or pressure. Not sure when/how fast I walked away. So I did it again and lost maybe 1/4 of a pound over 10 mins. So I started the car to check for possible cylinder head leak, and the pressure remained solid over the period of 5min (15psi). I was told it would be jumpy if there was a head leak? I'm not sure, I havn't worked in a shop or on cars for over 10 years.

I'm debating just ripping the motor apart, replacing the head gasket, timing and waterpump while i'm at it since the car's approaching 181k. Everything else seems to be fine...any insight or help would be appreciated!!!

MIBPreacher

for the last month, my car has came close to overheating due to low coolant. If I take off in traffic and the air starts flowing thru, the car would cool down and let me get home or to AZ to get some 50/50 coolant (I am still on the original bottle, 2nd time it seems to take about 1 cup of coolant. Each time this has happened, there is a slight smell of antifreeze in the engine bay, but the only drips (just a few) were near the bottle. I have never had any drips from the engine area or under the belts like it might be the water pump...

I have checked my oil and my cap and there is no froth so I dont under stand where it could have gone other than my exhaust but it never has fouled a spark plug and I still get great 34mpg avg commuting to DC everyday...ginzu style

EM2abe

dont forget to resurface the head before putting it all back together. dont forget to use honda OEM parts, as other aftermarket parts have been well known to fail.

EM2abe

you might have a slight leak of exhaust gas going into the cooling system which is cause pressure to build up. this pushes the coolant out of the bottle every so slightly, and will worsen over time.

MIBPreacher

Is that possibly a gasket related item? or a head problem? I do drive sometimes at high rpms, other times, I try to keep it at 3k or less just depends on how much gas money I have lol.

EM2abe

it has nothing to do with how high you rev your motor. but if your gasket or head are damaged, chances are they are both damaged.

jjmellon

Hi,

My '02 sedan just had a complete loss of coolant from a leak at the back of the engine, near the bottom of the block, on the driver's side. I've got a picture of its location from under the car, but it seems new members can't post pictures, so I'll describe it...

You see the oil filter on the right, and I believe the bottom of the block along the bottom of the picture. To the left and slightly below the filter is a large nut, then to the left of that is the attaching bolt of a curving bracket that runs upward beside the filter. Behind and to the left of the bracket, to the left of the filter, is a protruding black elliptical component with a flange and small attaching bolts. The leak is directly to the left of the bracket, and below the elliptical component. Water will drip out continuously if you pour a quart or two into the rad.

Any ideas on what is leaking would be appreciated.

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Yes they can...

From the FAQ's:

jjmellon

Thanks, here's the picture:

jjmellon

Here's a picture of the area of the leak, taken from above the engine on the driver's side (firewall on the right) using a mirror. The green object on the right is my trouble light, The mirror is in the middle of the picture.

EM2abe

you'll have to clean up the area to see what exactly is leaking before anything.

jjmellon

OK, I cleaned up the area. The red arrow is pointing vertically upwards on the back of the engine, and the drips come from the tip of the arrow. Can someone tell me what the component is that's above the arrow? Also, does anyone have a link to a picture or diagram of this engine from the back?

Thanks in advance for any ideas on what is leaking. Like I said above, if I pour a quart of water into the rad, it will steadily drip from this spot until the rad is empty again.

MIBPreacher

I posted earlier where my 02 civic ex was overheating about once every 2 or 3 weeks unless i maintain checking the fluid every so often to top it off. Of seems to only get low when its 90* or higher. Now I am getting P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, and P0304 codes. Is this all related?

I've got a settlement coming and I have 132k on the engine and the original belts on it so I was thinking having the head gasket done and new timing belt water pump and a/c belt and p/s belt. I just had the 5spd rebuilt and its so smooth but I can't take losing antifreeze. Think dealer or local mechanic should do it? Think 850 or less sounds good?

EM2abe

you're gonna have to get a mechanic to do it all unless you know how to do it. 850 isnt too bad if it includes all HONDA OEM PARTS.

jdp2907

02 civic ex.

Had issues with overheating at idle in Feb. Replaced fan relay, reservoir, thermostat, water pump, and belts at dealer's request. No more overheating.

Get oil change at same dealer in june and they overfill oil. Noticed after 2 weeks and siphoned to right level.

Last week got following:

1). Poor A/C performance
2). Malfunction indicator light
3). Gurgling noises and smell of coolant burning
4). Overheat even with new coolant

Now dealer says issue is that 2 ECT sensors are bad and will cost $300 to replace...am I being taken advantage of here?

EM2abe

sounds like it. the sensors might cause the light to go on but i dont think that they have anything to do with the other 3 symptoms whatsoever.