dfalkowsky

Im having an overheating problem that just started randomly the other day, before the temp guage would read in the middle all the time, and the other day i noticed going up big hills the temp would start to creep up to the top line on the guage, then if i turned on the heater and put the fan on full it would go back down to normal. yesterday i noticed it slowly goes up while just driving around and then it will go back down slowly with out having to blow the heater, other times it will go up and i till blow the heater and it goes down alot quicker. anyone have any ideas on what is happening. also if you start the car cold and let it idle, what amount of time or at what point in the temp guage should the rad fan be coming on?

andoxviii

iTrader: (1)

Check for coolant leaks.

Check to make sure the rad cap is securely tightened.

If problem persists, buy new thermistat and/or radiator and/or water pump.

Does the temperature go normal if your on the freeway? How long has this been happening? Have you performed any modifications recently? Is the ECU throwing a CEL?

dfalkowsky

i dont see any collant leaks, oil is not milky, rad reserve is not black, rad cap is tight, on the highway it for the most part seems to stay normal, if going up a hill is when it will shoot right up with in like 10 seconds, then would slowly go back down once ive leveled off unless i turn on the heater motor which makes it go down faster. only a couple days, 5 days ago lets say the temp guage never moved from the middle position.

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by andoxviii &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check for coolant leaks.

Check to make sure the rad cap is securely tightened.

If problem persists, buy new thermistat and/or radiator and/or water pump.

Does the temperature go normal if your on the freeway? How long has this been happening? Have you performed any modifications recently? Is the ECU throwing a CEL?</TD></TR></TABLE>

why does he have to buy a new thermo, radiator, and pump. that is the most expensive way to trouble shoot. and what does the ecu have to do with this?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfalkowsky &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Im having an overheating problem that just started randomly the other day, before the temp guage would read in the middle all the time, and the other day i noticed going up big hills the temp would start to creep up to the top line on the guage, then if i turned on the heater and put the fan on full it would go back down to normal. yesterday i noticed it slowly goes up while just driving around and then it will go back down slowly with out having to blow the heater, other times it will go up and i till blow the heater and it goes down alot quicker. anyone have any ideas on what is happening. also if you start the car cold and let it idle, what amount of time or at what point in the temp guage should the rad fan be coming on? </TD></TR></TABLE>

chances are your temp switch is bad or your radiator fan is.
one way to verify is:
1. make up some jumper cables.
2. disconnect your radiator fan
3. plug one end of the wires to the +&- of the fan.
4. take the other end and plug them to the repsctives sides ogf the battery.

if your fan comes on then it's most likely your temp switch. if the fan doesn't come on, then you know you have a bad fan and it needs to be replaced.

andoxviii

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by philosofy1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

why does he have to buy a new thermo, radiator, and pump. that is the most expensive way to trouble shoot. and what does the ecu have to do with this?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I said "and/or" because I don't know which is bad. I'm not telling him to buy a whole new cooling system. If the ECU was giving him a CEL, then he can start there. Some people don't mention that the check engine light is on because they don't know how to check what it's saying. Meanwhile it could just be a sensor that needs replacing, which is cheap to do in most cases.


In regards to the OP, listen to philo....sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

95ProjectEJ1

iTrader: (5)

Unplug the thermoswitch too and put a paperclip in the connector (connect the two points). If you hear a "click" your relay is doing its job.

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95ProjectEJ1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Unplug the thermoswitch too and put a paperclip in the connector (connect the two points). If you hear a "click" your relay is doing its job. </TD></TR></TABLE>

forgot about the relay!

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by andoxviii &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I said "and/or" because I don't know which is bad. I'm not telling him to buy a whole new cooling system. If the ECU was giving him a CEL, then he can start there. Some people don't mention that the check engine light is on because they don't know how to check what it's saying. Meanwhile it could just be a sensor that needs replacing, which is cheap to do in most cases.


In regards to the OP, listen to philo....sounds like he knows what he's talking about.</TD></TR></TABLE>

the ecu will never light up if he is overheating, there is no sensor running to the ecu!

dfalkowsky

ok i just tryed to burp the system, i took the cap off, started the car and let it run for like 10 - 15 min, temp never went higher then the 8 o'clock position on the guage ( just below half way i guess) i opened the bleeder screw let coolant come out. i squeezed the upper rad hose and it seemed to get air bubbles to come out, i went to squeez the lower rad hose and it was still cold after 10 - 15 min or running the engine, fan also never came on.

bare with me ive only had the civic about a month, first one ive ever owned. so i dont know as much about them as my other car, haha

95ProjectEJ1

iTrader: (5)

I would say now that you have done that to just let her run a few more minutes to about 20+ if you need. The fan should activate shortly after 20 minutes or so depending on what the outside temp is where you live. Keep track of the temp inside the car and if you see the needle hit halfway and you fan isnt on then you know where to look and how to look thanks to philosofy.

Overheating sucks because there are always a number of causes that you have to narrow down. GL

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfalkowsky &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok i just tryed to burp the system, i took the cap off, started the car and let it run for like 10 - 15 min, temp never went higher then the 8 o'clock position on the guage ( just below half way i guess) i opened the bleeder screw let coolant come out. i squeezed the upper rad hose and it seemed to get air bubbles to come out, i went to squeez the lower rad hose and it was still cold after 10 - 15 min or running the engine, fan also never came on.

bare with me ive only had the civic about a month, first one ive ever owned. so i dont know as much about them as my other car, haha</TD></TR></TABLE>

you should only have to bleed the system if:
A: you have a leak
B: you have exposed air to the system (like replacing a part and what not)

though it did not run hot with in the 10-15min. chances are it will when you start to drive. now with in those 10-15 min you fan should have came on, atleast once.

dfalkowsky

ok i ran it for a little longer after the 15 min still didnt get up to temp, so i took it for a drive and sure enough the temp started to climb to the 10 - 11 position, turned on the heater and it help at around 11, went to the part store to get a thermostat figured id start there. once i got back home i turned off the heater motor and just let it idle in the drive way and it wouldnt the temp was reading at around 11 position and i opened the hood and watched and the fan didnt come on. im pretty sure at that point the fan should be comming on shouldnt it? now does anyone have a link to a thread or site for doing the thermo, i know its simple but like touqe specs, for the housing that the bleeder screw is on.

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfalkowsky &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok i ran it for a little longer after the 15 min still didnt get up to temp, so i took it for a drive and sure enough the temp started to climb to the 10 - 11 position, turned on the heater and it help at around 11, went to the part store to get a thermostat figured id start there. once i got back home i turned off the heater motor and just let it idle in the drive way and it wouldnt the temp was reading at around 11 position and i opened the hood and watched and the fan didnt come on. im pretty sure at that point the fan should be comming on shouldnt it? now does anyone have a link to a thread or site for doing the thermo, i know its simple but like touqe specs, for the housing that the bleeder screw is on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

no offense, but why ask for advice if you're not going to take it?
yeah the thermo doesn't cost much, but now you have to go through the work on replacing it and you want a DIY on how to change, it when it's not the problem.

if you really want to correct the problem take the advice that was given:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by philosofy1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

chances are your temp switch is bad or your radiator fan is.
one way to verify is:
1. make up some jumper cables.
2. disconnect your radiator fan
3. plug one end of the wires to the +&- of the fan.
4. take the other end and plug them to the repsctives sides ogf the battery.

if your fan comes on then it's most likely your temp switch. if the fan doesn't come on, then you know you have a bad fan and it needs to be replaced.</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95ProjectEJ1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Unplug the thermoswitch too and put a paperclip in the connector (connect the two points). If you hear a "click" your relay is doing its job. </TD></TR></TABLE>

and to show that i am a good sport, replacing the thermo is easy.
just let the car cool, unbolt the housing, take out the old thermo and install the new thermo exactly how the old one was sitting. re-install the housing, open the radiator, start the car, add coolant until full.

oh by the way, you did buy a new thermo gasket right?

dfalkowsky

ok i did the fan test, unclipped the plug at the fan, then ran the wires from the battery to the fan terminals and the fan came on, so that would make it the switch? so my question is where is the switch? and where can i get a new one?

95ProjectEJ1

iTrader: (5)

I could be the switch and it could not... its time to test the relay. The switch and the connector are located on the thermostat housing. It should be brass in color. Disconnect the connector and look at it. You should see 2 slits. Take a paperclip and connect those two slits with each end of the paperclip. If you hear a click coming from y our fuse box(top left side of the engine bay) then the relay is good and your thermoswitch is done.

And by done i mean its time to replace it. Its an easy fix ... it should accept a 22mm closed/open wrench if im not mistaken. If im wrong on the size, nevertheless its an easy fix.

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dfalkowsky &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok i did the fan test, unclipped the plug at the fan, then ran the wires from the battery to the fan terminals and the fan came on, so that would make it the switch? so my question is where is the switch? and where can i get a new one?</TD></TR></TABLE>

if i am not mistaken it should be on or near the thermo housing. it should look like this:

http://www.partsamerica.com/pr...Set=A

but before replacing it, make sure you do this:
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95ProjectEJ1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Unplug the thermoswitch too and put a paperclip in the connector (connect the two points). If you hear a "click" your relay is doing its job. </TD></TR></TABLE>

make sure it's not the relay that has gone bad.