bboixtc

Hey guys, I'm doing a crap load of maintenance and the rad is leaking. I'm at 130k in a bone stock 97 civic AT dx and i'm doing:

both axles
rad

front pads and rotors
fuel filter
etc.

My question is does it matter what radiator I get? I was going to get it at autozone but they wanted 107 for it and I noticed on ebay they have aluminum ones for almost the same price as OEM ones. Does it matter?

Thanks.

rick_rabies

for AT cars you have dif radiators.
AT radiators have to extra small ports at the bottom to cool the tranny.
so you have to Get an AT radiator.
or you can get another oem radiator from ebay and its like $30

bboixtc

Thanks.

Also, in what order do I bleed the brakes?

and since my radiator has been leaking, my car starts to get hot when i'm idle, and i noticed my reservoir gets low, so i put bottled water in there. I know that's bad, but is that extremely bad for the water pump or more just the radiator? I'm replacing it anyway so I thought it would be ok.

rick_rabies

its ok to put water in it. in some classes or races you can only have water in it. called waterwetter.
as long as you dont let it overheat causing damage to the motor. is the fan kicking on?
bleed the brakes as
FR
RL
FL
RR

bboixtc

Ok, I thought it was only ok to put distilled water since there are no minerals. Yes the fan is kicking on.

I've read before (not on here) that you were supposed to bleed starting farthest away from the master cylinder and work your way closer to it? Is: FR RL FL RR the way it says in the factory manual?

thumper64

Distilled is best. Chlorine and other chemicals can break down the rubber faster. And a bottle of distilled water is like what, $0.50?

Automatics and manual transmission civics actually use the same radiator, just the manual transmission cars don't use the bottom bungs that are used on the automatics.

bboixtc

I've read before (not on here) that you were supposed to bleed starting farthest away from the master cylinder and work your way closer to it? Is: FR RL FL RR the way it says in the factory manual?

apexi_rsx

even if u use a manual radiator. he can buy a seperate oil cooler for his transmission lines.

rick_rabies

thats more $ and more work. i think hes trying to keep it simple but its his car.
with the brakes it doesnt matter at all how you bleed them. iv done it 8 dif ways and its still the same. GL

Jockone

According to Haynes manual bleed brakes"RR FL RL RF"for all civic models,old school says start farthest away from master cylinder and work to the closest.
As for the radiator most aftermarket ones todat come as universal as in the are built for both auto and manual trans cars,if you are going to use Ebay to save money just make sure it does auto trans.

bboixtc

Thanks guys.

Is there a proper procedure on bleeding the coolant? I'm not too familiar with the D series, and haven't ever really had to change a radiator before. Do I just fill the radiator with coolant and run the car with the cap off till all the bubbles come out and it starts over flowing?

bboixtc

Is there a proper procedure on bleeding the coolant? I'm not too familiar with the D series, and haven't ever really had to change a radiator before. Do I just fill the radiator with coolant and run the car with the cap off till all the bubbles come out and it starts over flowing?

apexi_rsx

run the car with the cap off untill its warm and the fan kicks a few times. so u know the thermostat opened

bboixtc

Thank you guys. I have another question and didn't want to fill the forum up with another thread:

The cap/rotor plugs and wires were changed at 99k, the car is now at 130k; How often are you supposed to change them (time interval), and since this is a stock 4dr DX auto, does it really matter which plugs and wires I use?

Also,

How much AT fluid am I supposed to put in after draining?

Red_Army

do believe its close to 1.5-2 quarts. not sure, i can't find my manual off hand and im too lazy to google it for you.

do believe its 50k or like 4 years for cap and rotor. its easy to check just pull those screws off and look at the posts and the rotor blade.

just hope your thermostat doesn't dump out on you like mine did when i changed mine.

bboixtc

Thanks I'll go check later. Yeah I tried googling and got so many different answers. Apparently AT uses 2.9 qts.
but I can't find anything on the spark plugs and wires as to what the time interval should be on replacement.

iRIDElow

if in doubt change them there cheap