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Hi, I have a 98 honda civic ex that is overheating as of today. I was driving home and noticed my temperature gauge was 3 quarters high so pulled over and shut the engine off and opened the hood. I noticed the coolant tank was really low ( I just filled it up 2 days ago ) once the engine cooled down i removed the radiator cap and it was near empty. I tried to refill the raditor but the coolant didn't appear to hold seemed to drain out, i put the rest of the coolant i had in the back up tank and sped home, once home i opened the hood and same problem there was almost no coolant in the tank as well as the radiator.
I did notice i have a coolant leak underneath my car once i got home, it's not near the radiator it's more under where the windshield is
I hope I don't sound like an ******* but instead of taking pics and wasting time posting online, why not jack up the car and search for the source of the leak?
did you check the hoses that go to the firewall? They are the connections to the heater core behind the glovebox area. Also check the side seams of the radiator, that has been known to go as well, causes some weird leakage patterns.
I plan on jacking up the car I'm waiting for my boyfriend who has the Jack to get home. I'm thinking it's the heater hose but wanted to see what other people thought
yeah if those heater core hoses are original, then yeah they're going to start failing being this old. but also check the side seams with a flashlight.. the welding of the seams fail around this age. I just had mine fail, so I know how mine died.
Thanks oneheadlight I will check the side seams, haven't gotten under the car yet to pinpoint the leak and I only checked the heater hoses from under the hood they didn't feel wet tho
I plan on jacking up the car I'm waiting for my boyfriend who has the Jack to get home. I'm thinking it's the heater hose but wanted to see what other people thought
Sorry didn't know you were a woman and didn't have the tools.
Well I added coolant today and started my car and let it warm up to where it should be and was on the ground to look underneath to see where it's leaking from but of course me nor my boyfriend saw any leakage. I then drove it around a few blocks and nothing, the only thing I did notice is the radiator fan did not once come on. Gonna go outside and recheck underneath the car to see if there is any leaking kinda puzzled now
You must top off the radiator, not just reservoir, with coolant. Then idle engine with radiator cap loose until radiator will no longer take more coolant. Stop engine if it begins to overheat.
Check for leaks with front end raised on stands during this procedure. No need to drive car around.
I did top off the radiator as well. I did see it dripping coolant when I went to recheck it's coming from under where the heater core goes. I do have a bad heater core and have been burning coolant thru it for awhile now. I do have a new heater core to put in just have to get someone here to do it.
My cousin works on cars and he said it sounds like my heater core is now leaking coolant and it's draining through the heater box onto the ground.
In the meantime, if you put the temp slider all the way to maximum cold it should stop or severely slow the amount of coolant going through the heater core.
If your core is leaking that much you should have wet carpets inside the cab of the car.
Heater bypass hose. I recommend replacing all hoses with a silicone. Hose kit off of eBay or amazon. I got mine for $68 shipped and they were very much worth every penny for their piece of mind.
My car had the exact same symptoms and would not leak fluid until at operating temperature. The fan would also fail to kick oN due to the fact that the hot coolant was being leaked out behind the engine
Remove the intake pipe and look at the row of hoses above the lower coolant thermostat housing and you should see the hoses are wet.
Best of luck I really noticed a big difference in cooling effeciency we. I did all of my hoses with silicone Ones as my thermostat would nowant open at the correct pressure and temperature
05-16-2015, 12:05 PM
Car Overheating
