acchitt

the wife comes home and her radiator was cracked. rad was steaming and the car was hot. I put a brand new rad in, but now it is overheating. the heater doesn't work, the rad fan doesn't come on, and the gauge is almost to the red, but the rad cap isn't hot at all.

I'm thinking thermostat, or water pump. Anybody know?

HondaPartsHero

Could be. You need to bleed the cooling system first and then check to see if both radiator hoses are warm after the car warms up. If the top is hot and bottom is cold your thermostat most likely is bad.

http://techauto.awardspace.com/overheating.html


Bleeding cooling system: (borrowed from RonJ)

This procedure may take 20-30 minutes:

1) Park the car on an inclined driveway with the front end higher than the rear.

2) Push the dash heater lever/**** to MAX heat.

3) Follow the directions in the diagram below

ghostcivic7_41

Usually, if the heater doesn't work, it'll be the thermostat. Check if you have enough coolant in your radiator and after that maybe check your fuses, there's a fuse for both the heater and the cooling fan, I think it's a 7.5 amp fuse.

acchitt

Thanks for the reply. i'm going outside to check everything you guys just said

acchitt

ok i parked it up hill. filled it to the top, took the cap off, started it up and wala the heater starts working and it isn't showing any signs of overheating. but.... the rad fan still hasn't kicked on. it doesn't kick on when the ac is on either.

Green Crack

Is the lower radiator hose hot and pressurized?

acchitt

oh ya i forgot to write that. the upper one is super hot, and the lower isnt getting hot. i took one end off and filled it with water thinking it needed to be primed, it's still not getting hot

Green Crack

Let it go for a little bit, if it doesn't get hot and pressurized in 30 mins or less then you have a bad thermostat.

acchitt

ok. i'll let you know in about 30

Jimster480

sounds like a bad thermostat for sure. usually they fail in the open position, but I've seen it both ways.

acchitt

ok it seems that the lower hose is hot, but still no fan. i drove it up a hill with the ac on and the fan hasn't kicked on, but the temp gauge is showing below half

Jimster480

jump the fan, that could have bene the problem all along. If it doesnt come on an the car overheats then ya...