I just figured I'd use a somewhat clever title to attract someone who can help me.

Okay, so I'm new to all this really. Owning a car (about a year now) and just getting into wanting to know more about it.

So I own a 04 Civic Coupe(close to 170k miles). And the first couples were great you know, but lately it hasn't been the best.
The engine seems to be running hot for some reason, and I have tried various things to fix it. First thing I did was do a coolant exchange, didn't work. I was driving from Alabama to Georgia, it overheats, I put coolant in it, good for a few days, weeks maybe. Happens again, the mechanic tells me the coolant pressure sensor wasn't working, had to change those... Oh snap I forgot the part where I took it to a shop and they said it was the thermostat (a while before the pressure sensor thing) this didn't work either...

Soooo after all that I wanna know what to do, I know very well it could be the radiator, (I witnessed the coolant leaking a couple days ago) but I was thinking if I should take this L and let the car go. And if I did, would an Acura Integra be the way to go. Or Should I keep this and try to figure it out and all that...?

There are some mods I wanted to do to my car whether it is this one or if I get another. (Lower the car, air intake and other minor things such as that)

HELP ME PLEASE

 

Odds are it is a blown headgasket.

 

I'd second it being a blown head gasket, if you have ruled out the obvious causes. Have you confirmed the thermostat was changed correctly? As for leaking coolant, in my opinion, you'd have to lose a lot of coolant to cause it to overheat at highway speeds.

 

I was hoping it wouldn't be 😂
you're right though, might be.

 

Yeah, I'm almost (not 100%) sure that it was a new thermostat put in.

I think the coolant was lost before it overheated on the highway, it was EMPTY.

If it is a blown head gasket, recommended to fix and keep it going or just get another car?

 

That's up to you. If you are fond of the car, you could throw money at it... but if not, that's entirely your choice.

 

as much as I would like to throw money at it, I'm not in the best position being in college and all.

I was thinking of getting an Integra. any advice for that? 🤔

 

Turns out it was the head gasket... Which now is gonna cost my about $900 to replace it, which includes the timing belt.

Starting to hate my car lol

 

Update: Replaced the head gasket, and BAM! still runs hot! Haha (I actually wanna cry)

A couple days after I got my car back from the mechanic, I noticed it got to the half way point, I said nothing.

Another couple days passed and I realized it starting going up again. I'm actually at the mechanic right now (while writing this)

If anyone has any more ideas on what this could be, let me know because I am ready to just set a rock on the accelerator and watch it fall off a bridge or something.

 

So they either did it wrong or misdiagnosed it.

If you paid them to diagnose it and they said head gasket, they need to make it stop overheating on their own dime. At least that's what I'd expect.

 

When replacing the headgasket, did you check the head to see if it was warped?

 

^^^ ask the mechanic this. If the head or block were warped, they should have been milled

 

Okay, another update. And to clear up some things.

There were three different mechanics in my situation.
First mechanic, changed the thermostat.
Second mechanic, changed coolant pressure sensors.
Brought it back to the first, he changed radiator cap, and then diagnosed the head gasket


Third mechanic, replaced head gasket. Still overheated, so I brought it back to him (which was the last update I gave) he actually replaced the thermostat and it has been fine these last couple days. So my guess is the first mechanic did not do it correctly, or put a faulty one in. Either way, its running fine (dare I say for now)