Dzanjin

Hey guys, been a while.

My car started overheating out of nowhere while I was parked for about 10 min. Didn't realize it til I backed out of the parking spot and went to drive and steam came out everywhere and the sound of coolant spraying hit my ears. Let it cool for a while, got it going for a couple minutes and rolled into my near by jiffy lube where I have a couple friends. They checked it out and said it was probably the thermostat. Had to let it cool for about 45 minutes and it still barely got me back home (about 10 min away).

Been pretty down financially, but found out that if it is the thermostat, I can drive without it - I just wont have heat.

Took out the thermostat today and the car was running better, but still overheating. :-(

Help guys? Anything diy and cheap because I cant afford to take it anywhere (and I wouldn't want anyone else working on it anyway! ;-p )

HondaPartsHero

is it overheating while driving or idling (fan related)? did you bleed the cooling system?

Dzanjin

It overheats while driving. Stays hot while idle....

When I removed the thermostat, no fluid came out of the hose, and no water poured out from behind the thermostat.

Did not bleed cooling system. Is there a guide for this? I only found one but the pictures were gone and it would be nice to have some direction.

What could cause this to happen practically overnight?

p nut

Did you fill up the radiator? How is the coolant level?

BTW, thermostats are $12 or so and 15 min to change out.

Bleeding the system is easy. Fill up radiator, start car without the cap on. Wait 10 min or until the car is warmed up. You'll start seeing bubbles. Run a little longer and see if more bubbles pop up. If not, you're done.

I'm willing to bet if you typed in "how to bleed radiator" or something Like that, you'd get tons of results.

Dzanjin

Thermostat isn't the problem....I currently don't have a thermostat in the car so the car should be completely cool.

Coolant is more than full.

I'll try bleeding tomorrow.

Dzanjin

Ok, so I couldn't find a how to on bleeding the radiator. I did find someone trying to do the same thing with the same engine d16y8 from their 2000 civic si. Apparently it is self bleeding since there is no bleeder valve.

What that person did was the same steps...turn heat on blast with rad cap already off, after car warms up see how the water is flowing where the rad cap is.

I did this and there was no water flowing at all....when I went to jiffy lube the guys said that the only time fluid should be flowing through there is when the coolant tank overflows....

Oh, and I did all of this after I put the old thermostat back in. I'm not getting any heat now. So maybe the thermo is broke now?

Also, I felt and squeezed the top hose from the radiator to try and get air out. It heated up. It got way too hot to touch.

The bottom radiator hose did not heat up and as I squeezed it after I put a ton of coolant via rad cap; coolant began to come out of the top of the rad near where the rad cap is...

Any thoughts guys!?

Dzanjin

BUMP

Anyone else? Please help! Come on guys, this is my daily driver! No car = no job = even worse financial situation.

Dzanjin

BUMP 2

itsnotfast

Where did the "coolant spraying" sound come from? Are you losing coolant? Have you checked your compression?

.w3rd.

If you heard a steaming sound, I would check to see where it was coming from. I had a similar instance, where the car was running fine, and then start to over heat. It had a tiny crack on one of the radiator hoses, that would start squirting out coolant (Making that steaming sound you described) after reaching a certain temperature. I wasn't losing very much coolant, but it was causing an over heating issue, after I replaced it everything was fine.

Dzanjin

The sound came from the coolant tank, the top popped off from the pressure buildup.

I don't have a compression "checker" or w/e. I don't know much about cooling systems but have good base knowledge about most other things and do all my own work.

itsnotfast

That could possibly be a blown head gasket.

gsr on boost

start by flushing the whole system, go to advance auto and buy radiator cleaner .. you may just have a clogged water pump and causing bad circulation. you could also have a blown head gasket, check your oil and if its slimy and watery looking then you have a blown gasket, also don't fill your radiator with water, ( water causes the temp levels to rise faster the coolant, thats probably why you see steam

virgineg6

let the car sit on for a while if you see water moving through the rad cap then your head gasket is blown if not then its your water pump. either way its overheating only while driving without a thermostat its going to be more than 12 bucks.

Kista20

Make sure your oil and coolant isn't mixing together. Is your fan working like it should? The fan relay switch is a fairly common problem among our cars.

Dzanjin

Thanks to all who are replying!!

Alright, I never pour straight water into my cars - always heard bad things from that. Nothing was flowing through the rad cap....heard nothing was supposed to in this car unless the coolant reservoir overflows...thoughts?

I'll check the oil. When I tried the bleeding method yesterday the car overheated while it was parked. Seems blasting the heat (even though it's not getting hot now - don't know if that's because I may have damaged the thermo taking it out originally or something else) makes the car heat up faster.

This sucks guys, the only other car is my gf's 96 olds and I think its timing chain slipped day before yesterday!! So we are both relying on a friend to drive us in between his busy schedule!

yellow hatchy

maybe your fan has been weak (i mean the motor of fan)

Kista20

this isn't likely on a honda civic but I had a toyota once and from going offroading I had enough mud stuck in between the fan and radiator to where it couldn't pull the air through properly and caused it to overheat... but still make sure nothing is blocked and you can get enough airflow through your radiator.

Dzanjin

Anything else guys?

Nothing blocking between fan and rad....fans work fine....

Kista20

how long has it been since the coolant has been serviced? You might have to back flush the system and run a cleaner through it.

Here are some items that cause overheating some of which have already been mentioned previously:

low coolant level
air in the cooling system
faulty radiator cap
stuck thermostat
clogged radiator
bad heater core
bad water pump
headgasket
radiator fan not working and/or blocked radiator

I would check the free/cheap methods first such as bleeding the air out, new thermostat, radiator cap, etc... then go from there.

I've never had any trouble bleeding the air out but evidentally these can be a bit of a pain cause you typically see a lot of threads on that.

gsr on boost

if your to the point that you have to use your car and haven't found a solution from what we posted above then the best way to reduce heat will your driving is to turn your heater on in your car. this removes heat going through your cooling system, turn it on full blast and drive slow in high gear. because if you continue to drive the car the way you are your gonna blow your head-gasket

Dzanjin

I've heard of doing that...putting the heat on. I tried that one of the last times that I drove and it made the temp level rocket to H.

I tried bleeding the system with no luck. The top rad hose got hot and the bottom didn't. Someone said if there is nothing flowing through the rad cap then its the water pump, but if there's water flowing then its the hg?? What is supposed to flow?

Kista20

Also make sure the lower radiator hose isn't collapsing on ya. It could be squeezing shut and not allowing the proper flow from the radiator.

yellow hatchy

maybe the headgasket bro

2000silvercivic

If the bottom hose isnt heating up then there is no collant reaching it. Could be a bad thermostat or bad water pump. If the head gasket was blown you would be getting alot of pressure coming out of the radiator, unless it is blowing it in to the oil.

When you took the thermostat out did the bottor hose get hot or stay cold?

I was told to bleed the coolant system you need to jack the front of the car up so that the radiator cap is above the highest point of the collant system. That way it will bleed all the air out and you will not have any bubbles stuck in a high point.
After you jack the car up start the car and let it run. Turning the heat all the way up is what i did to help move the collant threw the system. This should get all the air out of the system.
Keep us posted on what u find out.