Matt Doan

My girlfriend has a 2003 Civic with the 1.7 liter SOHC engine. Its been exhibiting some weird behavior in that the temperature gauge occasionally reads slightly above half when sitting at a light. Ive never owned a car that has had an electric fan and it was my impression that cars equipped with electric fans regulate themselves pretty well. I replaced the radiator a few months ago due to a leak that caused it to overheat (the car was shut down as soon as it was noticed that it was getting hot). I bled the cooling system after I replaced the radiator and everything was normal until now. Should I be pressure testing it or is this even anything to be concerned about?

civichxtreme2

If its a hot day and shes running all the accessories, I wouldn't worry about it too much if that's as high as it gets, The fan should kick on around that temp or even a little higher, as long is the fans kick on and off like they should and bring it back down or it goes back down when she starts moving Its probably fine. Just make sure you aren't losing coolant anywhere. Obviously if its doing this when its cold out or when moving it might be a bigger issue.

Btotaram

That’s head gasket bro, just had this issue last month and thought it was thermostat, fan, messed up gauge. But it was head gasket 100%. These cars are “known” to have this issue is what the mechanic said.

Deerock26

Or could be thermostat sensor
Piece of crap car, i just replaced both.

Roadster33

Yup, thats how things started going bad for me. That right there is not normal on the 1.7's, above the halfway line is where the problem started on my civic.

Like the other guys here mentioned, check the coolant levels, signs of leaks, hoses, thermostat, temp sensor.

Mine was a radiator cover leak, which lead to an overheating episode, and then the symptoms above, replaced the head gasket and finally the whole bloddy block.

Dont dump any head gasket repair gunk, waste of money and probably screw up the cooling system as well (happened to me)

G.Luck