lxrd_vtec

What's up HT,

So as the title states I have a GSR in my eg hatch. For the past few days I've been experiencing a weird over-heating problem. The car is bone stock engine wise, my only after market parts are for my suspension. Anyway, when I drive around the city streets the car runs at its normal temp (needle is at the middle mark, has been there since the swap) and everything is all good. However, I've noticed that when I first enter the highway and accelerate, the needle then begins to climbs up and gets close to the top of the gauge. It'll stay this way for the first minute or two and then it would go back down to it's normal, halfway mark. Now once it returns it'll say there for the rest of my drive, but I find it weird that it consistently always does this when I first take it on the highway. I've even tried entering the highway at a normal acceleration level thinking its something that happens when I go WOT, but nope still gets hot then cools down. My first instinct is to replace the thermostat (did it last year btw around July) and ECT switch again. I've read some forums about people with old water pumps and hoses but none of their problems were similar to mine. I'm on a college student budget so i don't have money necessarily to just go ahead and just start buying parts to see what works. Anybody experience this kind of issue before or have any ideas of where I could look? Thanks for any help.

civic402lx

Try bleeding the coolant first. No cost, you should have extra coolant laying around.

lxrd_vtec

Yeah when I get home today I'm going to bleed and re purge my coolant to see if that helps. Any other possibilities ?

Megalodong

Failing/failed radiator cap as another possibility, though air in coolant is the most likely cause.
Remember to elevate front of car on jackstands as high as possible or park uphill. Set climate control to max heat with fan off. Purge air until radiator fan engages twice.

lxrd_vtec

Yeah I may just get another radiator cap also, trying to start with the cheapest parts first to see what changes. Now, my car's fan doesn't turn on, and it never really has within the 18 months that I've been driving it, even when I replaced the fan switch it just doesn't turn on at all. Also my climate control doesn't work ( no hot or cold air) because I need to install my dash harness (car was a street car so my amenities don't work at all), so to purge should I just leave the car running for about ten minutes or so?

And is it really necessary to jack my car up high ? My front end is too low for me to get a floor jack underneath it so last year when I did this I just parked on the uphill section of my driveway, but its not a steep uphill, would that be suffice?

Megalodong

Buy an OEM radiator cap and no aftermarkets. OEM caps are $15 online or maybe even at local dealer...they fit better than aftermarket.
I have no idea what degree incline your driveway is. A 15-20 degree incline is sufficient. You can drive the front tires onto a pieces of 2x10 inch wood and then slide the jack under (if it's a low profile floor jack).
Read the service manual for proper coolant bleeding. Usually takes me about 20 minutes to properly purge air from coolant system..Purge until radiator fan engages twice.

lxrd_vtec

Well considering I have a 93 civic an owner's manual is hard to come across haha I'll check my local autozone to see if they have a Helms manual. But I just came back from the dealer , have to wait two days for my rad cap and thermostat to arrive so by Friday I should have everything I need for this DIY. Thanks for your input good sir , I'll check back this weekend with an update and see if I made any progress.

Megalodong

Find a free service manual pdf download online.

lxrd_vtec

you just reminded me that I downloaded both the Integra and civic manuals off of honda hookup earlier this year . I owe you a cold one man