02NCAccord

Hi,
I hope someone can help with two issues:
1) I have a 2002 Accord 4cyl. cruising down the road the temp gauge looks good, right down the middle! sitting in traffic the temp gauge will climb climb climb and almost hit red. have to turn the heater on to keep it from hitting the red. The fans don't kick on. I replaced the relay in the fuse box. still same thing. The 20A fuse is good too. The fans both come on when the A/C turns on. Is this a simple thermostat? fan control module? there is no coolant leak.

2) slowing down to stop is a rough idle. rpm drop to almost cutting out. but ridign/ driving, its all good and smooth running.

any help would be great.
thanks,
02Accord in North Carolina

Lost Again

With the ac off, start the car and let it run....keep an eye on the temp gauge. As the temp climbs, do BOTH fans come on?

For more info, is this a 4 or 6 cyl?

tech8

Disconnect the connector at the radiator fan switch, and use a wire or small paper clip to jumper the connector. Turn the ignition to on, both cooling fans should run. If both fans run, your radiator fan switch may be faulty.

02NCAccord

Thanks Tech 8! the fan switch trick worked! going to replace it now just to be safe. Also discovered this morning that there was huge "bubble" in the coolant system. Opened the radiator first thing this morning and it was not even showing at the cap. I "burped" the system from the lower hose up to the top hose. that seemed to help so far. going to change out the fan switch just to be sure.

thanks again, I really appreciate it.

any advice on the idle? seems to be worse when I come up to a stop and its in gear. idle drops some when just sitting in park, but not as bad as when in gear.

tech8

Purge the air out of the cooling system, there may still be more air trapped in the system that may be causing some of your issues.

Turn the heater control all the way to high, run the car with the radiator cap off and top off the coolant as necessary. Make sure the thermostat opens by checking that the lower radiator hose gets almost as hot as the upper radiator hose. The thermostat needs to open before most other air pockets get purged out of the system.

Don't let the car overheat during this process.

02NCAccord

thanks very much Tech8. looks like the coolant issues are solved.

I did have another thing started to happen last night. when I put it into drive (D4) it engages then gives a second jerk. all gears and shifts are fine once it gets going. its just that initial shift into drive. planning on changing the trans fluid today, its looks pretty worn out. its clear but almost brown and seems kind of thin. aside from the worst case (being a trans rebuild) what can I do to diagnose whats going on? maybe a shift/ vacuum modulator or something like that? 188K miles on it.

thanks for the help.