Gimme Wafflez

This post is for a friend. He has a 1996 civic ex sedan with a D16y8. It has an over heating problem and only over heats at idle or moving slow. once he starts moving it cools back to normal temps. He put in new dual core aluminum radiator, fan thermostat, thermo switch, water pump, and silicone hoses. Most of it was all genuine honda parts.

Running out of ideas. Maybe the head gasket needs to be done now? Thanks guys.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Most likely his fan isn't working, or isn't working properly. Open the hood, start the car, and let it idle to operating temperature. Does the fan turn on?

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Stock fan?

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

properly bled coolant system?

Gimme Wafflez

He has the fan hard wired and said he didn't bleed the coolant system. If that does/doesn't work I'll let you guys know.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

boom. get all that air out.

Gimme Wafflez

Well guys after telling him to bleed the system he went ahead and did that. After a day of driving around it hasn't overheated once. Looks like that was all he needed to do. Huge thanks.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

no problem.

Gimme Wafflez

Well, unfortunately it looks like the over heating has returned. After bleeding the coolant system it ran fine that whole day but after he drove it to work today it started over heating while in traffic. The only way he is able to bring the temp down while sitting in the traffic is by revving the motor. What could it be? He stated the previous owner had ran leak stop through the system. Can that gunk everything up to a point where only the revved motor can produce enough pressure to push coolant through the chambers? Running out of ideas now haha.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

revving it? sounds pump related to me

shotoutacc0rd

Sounds to me like he should flush his cooling system and replace the water pump and timing belt stuff

and if that doesn't fix it, replace the head gasket and also clean the hell out of the cooling system.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

im wondering how the cooling system was bled

Gimme Wafflez

I don't think it has to do with the water pump and belt. He replaced them with new honda parts. As for the bleeding. he told me there isn't a bleeder valve on the y8, so he popped the radiator cap and ran the car and heater full blast allowing the air bubbles to escape. Is this the right way?

OptimisticWay

Is the radiator cap damaged? Is it rated at the proper ATM? I have a 1996 Civic EX D16Y8 and stock is 1.1 atm. My 1995 EX has the same rating. I don't know off hand if you change the radiator capacity if the ATM rating needs to change as well. Google would tell you.

The higher the pressure, the higher the boiling temperature of the coolant used. They are directly promotional.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

The cooling system is relatively simple. If all the hardware is intact and working, (ie thermostat, sensors, wiring, radiator, fan, hoses, etc.) then you're looking at air in the system due to head gasket failure, warped/cracked head/block or not being bled properly. Boosted cars may experience headlift that will force exhaust gases into the system during even relatively low boost pressures. I also hope you're using the right coolant. I've heard of people running straight water.

So dual core rad with what kind of fan? If it doesn't have a shroud on it it will do exactly what you're describing. The slim fan's do not flow enough CFM. As for bleeding it that's not the correct way. Heater on hot, cap off and up on an incline. Fan should kick on at least twice. And for that to happen it needs to be wired PROPERLY.

steezhunter

Hey thanks for the help guys, I'm the friend with the overheating problem, I'm new here an just signed up, glad to see all the help. Ok so after flushing the system twice, I went with the double core aluminum radiator, 12" fan with a shroud, oem thermostat, oem thermo switch, oem water pump and timing belt, all new silicone hoses, and I'm running straight coolant NO WATER! I've always ran my ars this way. As far as bleeding the air out, no bleeder valve so I wired the fans normally and popped the cap off, heater on hot and let its run to operating temps, lets the fan kick on numerous times as the bubbles escaped and the thermostat opened I added the fluid as needed after about 30-40 mins no more bubbles and the car ran at a normal temp. Left the fans wired correctly and drove to work once I was in traffic the temp started to climb, again as I drove it cooled back down to normal.


Could it maybe have clogged water jackets in the block/ head, or is the header making to much heat causing it to warm up as I'm slow moving, wrong head gasket? I'm lost!


Thanks in advanced for the help!

OptimisticWay

You missed the part on placing the car on an incline while bleeding the system.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Bottom hose hot?

steezhunter

Ill rebleed the system again and inclined the car.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Squeeze the hoses. Sometimes that helps to push trapped air through to the radiator.

steezhunter

So you all think it's just air stuck in the system? I knew I was gonna hit alot of traffic today due to a fire, I bypassed the thermoswitch by unplugging it and jumping the wire, sitting in traffic now and it's running at a normal temp. This is weird to me due to the fact it's a new switch from Honda

steezhunter

Another update... Now the car is running pretty shitty. Kinda sluggish, and a min or so of idel at a stop sign/light it wants to bogg down real low the rev up and then bogg down almost to where it wants to die. If I'm fully matted on the gas it runs ok but just normal cruising it wants to bogg down thru 1000,2000,3000,4000,5000 rpm and rev back to normal around 1500,2500,3500,4500,5500 and crack vtec. I haven't had the car long and seems like the previous owner that "worked" on it did not know what he was doing.

steezhunter

Almost feels as if he dizzy is going out^^

OptimisticWay

That is a possibility. I had a stumbling problem when accelerating from a dead stop or under 3000 RPM. It also would not start when hot. It would catch only after I disengaged the starter. I swapped the distributor from one of my JDM engines and now I have no worries pulling out into traffic. Find a friend or make friends with someone who has the same engine and swap some parts. Try the distributor first. Make sure the donor car has no issues.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

pause. too much speculation here. diagnose before you throw your money at random parts. do a compression test and or rent a block tester to make sure the head gasket is ok. search here on how to test your coil, and test it.