Alikat

About 2 weeks back I noticed my car getting warmer than normal, so I check the coolant levels and oil, everything was fine. The car didnt overheat again for at least another week. Then it was like, everytime I drive it the car was trying to overheat and I'd have to run the heater non stop to keep it from getting really hot. My overflow tank was getting really high and spitting coolant out at times. So I replaced the thermostat and that seemed to fix it. Until last night when I drove about 100 miles on the highway and once I got off the highway it quickly began to overheat. I pulled over, popped the hood and coolant had spit all over the place. The overflow tank is completely full. Is it most likely that my radiator is broke? What are your guys' ideas? I really want to fix this but dont want to replace parts that aren't broke. Thanks guys!

97 Civic EX btw I'm TurboMark on my gf's S/N

Alikat

ttt

HitEm'Up

Well it is possible you have a bad radiator..Or what does your oil look like??have coolant in it??Where did you get the stat sometimes if you just get one from a parts store there cheap and do fail early..

kevbo82

sounds like you might have air in the system. Have you actually opened up the rad and checked if there is coolant in it? your rad can be empty while the overflow is full if you have air stuck in the system. There is a bleeder valve on the rad, but if you break that (which happens alot when you try to open them) you basically screwed. You can get the air out by parking the car on a hill, with the front end going up hill, make sure you rad and overflow are full, leave the cap OFF the rad, and run the car while parked on a hill (or with the front end jacked up) with the rad cap off. All the air will be forced to the top and out of the system.

turbo95eg6

blown head gasket is my guess

Alikat

no, I dont think its the headgasket. My oil looks great and the car runs perfect, no smoking either. Another friend told me air in the system too so I'll try to rule that one out first. Thanks for the help so far guys.

ncnative

My question is if you have air in your radiator, how did it get there. If your car is running fine then out of the blue you start having overheating problems then something had to cause the problem. Air didn't one day just show up in the radiator, yes I agree that it may be an air pocket in there but something else was the original cause. Once you get the air out you will need to find the real problem. As for the headgasket being blown, mine was and I had some of the same symptoms you have. I did not have any oil in the coolant and the car ran fine, it just kept trying to run hot. Driving on the highway the temp gauge would just about hit the red line then back off to about midway then repeat the cycle. On mine I did notice it steaming some out the tailpipe apparently that was where the coolant was going. When the engine is cool take the top off your overflow tank, start your car and see if you see any bubbling in the overflow tank, that would be a good indication of a blown headgasket.