mike03,95civic

I have '95 honda civic with a LS turboed. Okay, so it's always run at about 195 degrees and 210 on long drives. Recently though it goes up to 210 all the time and it overheats on long drives.
The things I've done to try and fix this:
New thermastat
New slim fan
Adjustable fan switch
Wrapped the manifold, downpipe, and dumptube with heat wrap
Used water wetter
And it already has an aluminum radiator

It still gets too hot. I tried having a pusher fan also but it wouldn't fit without cutting metal. I plan to take the radiator out spray it out with a hose, but I have a feeling that it's not going to fix my problem.

Is there anything I haven't done that you guys can suggest I do to fix my problem?

Thanks,
Mike

still_slow

Check your head gasket it shouldnt be over heating have you tried bleeding the system?jack the front of your car up take off the rad cap and let it run for a while and watch for air pockets.

thi3v3z

You may still have a bubble in your coolant system, How new is your radiator?? have you backflushed it, and no i dont mean put a garden hose in and let it drain, i mean actually pressure backflush it. They make a special attachment that connects to the LRH and forces the water out, helps get clogs out. Try hooking your fan up to a switch, and leave it run constantly, see if that helps.

mike03,95civic

Thats a good idea i'll try that today. I had a compression and leakdown test a few months back and all was good but that was before it started overheating so I might try and have that checked out again.

mike03,95civic

It could be that I have a bubble in it... The other guys suggestion to have the car run while it is jack up would get rid of any possible air bubbles right? I don't know how old the radiator is, I bought the car with it two years ago. No I haven't backflushed it. Is there any way to tell if thats the problem before hand? Do you know how much the attachment is? The fan switch has the fan kick on at 175 degrees, so it probably wouldn't help very much if it came on sooner.

Thank you both for the suggestions so far. Let me know if you think of anything else.

thi3v3z

Well his idea with the jack SHOULD take out bubbles but some are just stubborn. Ive always found you just have to pour coolant in very very slowly when i put mine in and have never had problems. As for the tool, im not sure if you could rent one, or even know where to buy one, i just know we had one at the shop where i used to work. You might be able to try a cheap radiator flush kit at walmart for like 10 bux or something. One other suggestion could be your heater core is all clogged up with that rubber crap from hoses, and not allowing coolant to flow as efficiently as possible. Isnt diagnosing problems fun? Its real easy to backflush your heater core. Just stick a garden hose in your outlet hose, and let it all come out your inlet hose.

mike03,95civic

Lol tell me about it, I have had so many fun diagnosing problems since I've had this car.
So stick the hose in the outlet going to the radiator?

Arthas

Remove radiator cap
Disconnect upper radiator hose from rad
Stick hose in rad cap hole
Turn on water
Drain for a while.

Hanmin

Run a colder thermostat and fan switch if you want. And are you getting any detonation? run colder spark plugs

thi3v3z

Fr backflushing your heater core, you have to go to the firewall and find the two hoses going into it. One hose should be going to your thermostat housing. That is your inlet side. Then find the other hose and find where that goes. I think its the water pump, cant remember. Disconnect the water pump hose and and the outlet hose. Stick a hose nozzle into the outlet hose and give it short bursts of water. watch what comes out of the other hose. then you can reverse it and see if anything else comes out. Once no more rubber is coming out and everything is clear water coming out put it back together.

mike03,95civic

Good idea I could try that.

mike03,95civic

I think I get what your saying, so pretty much disconnect both hoses from the thermostat and the water pump and the spray the water through each side.
I'll try that but I hope it just ends up being an air bubble, I hate taking out the second bolt on the thermostat housing.

thi3v3z

u dont have to take any bolts out. Just take off the hoses. I wish i had my camera, i could show you which hoses.

mike03,95civic

Aren't you saying that the outlet hose is the one that connects to the thermostat and the other hose is the inlet hose? And so your saying disconnect the inlet hose that goes to the block and spray water into the block and then do the same thing after but this time do it to the outlet, which would be where the thermostat is and spray water through there. Is that right? If it is then for the second part wouldn't I have to remove the thermostat to spray water though it?

If I still am not understanding you correctly then let me know and i'll take a picture when I get home and post it up.

thi3v3z

What i am saying to do is just flush the heater core. nothing else. 2 hoses connect to the heater core, the inlet and outlet. The inlet hose is connected to the thermostat housing. Remove the hose clamp. follow the other hose from the heater core and disconnect that hose. Then just put water in through the outlet and let it drain through the inlet. Shouldnt have to remove any bolts, just 2 hose clamps.

mike03,95civic

Oh alright I'll give that a try.

mike03,95civic

UPDATE:
I tried most of the suggestions people had but had no luck. One thing I realized though is that my autometer water temp. gauge reads hotter than the real temp. but still in a short time of driving, the temp. went up to 216. I tried filling the radiator up a couple different ways and same problem. I also tried deleting the smaller hose that comes out of the side of the block and connects by the thermostat, but it did not help so I put it back. I also thoroughly sprayed inside the radiator and inside the where the heater core is.

My conclusion is it must be that I need a new radiator. I'm planning on getting one tomorrow and installing on thursday. Do you guys agree that the radiator probably is the problem?

Former User

Did you try bleeding the cooling system?

Are you loosing coolant? If so, have you tried replacing the radiator cap?

mike03,95civic

I'm not loosing any coolant. As far as I know there is no bleeder valve to bleed the coolant on my motor ('95 LS or it's possible that it's even older). Someone I know who is a mechanic and has drag raced cars for many years also looked and said it didn't have one. Thanks for the advice though.

Former User

When there's no bleeder bolt, here's how you bleed the cooling system:

1) Park the car on an inclined driveway with the front end higher than the rear.

2) Push the dash heater lever to MAX heat.

3) Then follow these steps:

mike03,95civic

Thanks for the post. I did something very similar to that. I don't have a heater though and instead of having the cap on loosely, I had it off while letting it warm-up.

Since 1983

iTrader: (3)

what kind of radiator are you running? If you bought the car with that radiator it could be one of the ebay cheapies that people seem to have nothing but headaches with.

mike03,95civic

I don't know what brand it is. That could be the case, but before recently I have not had any problems with it overheating. From what you've read though, would you agree that the radiator is most likely the problem?

Pothole987

Have you tried wiring the Fan to a switch? it sounds real odd if this has just started for the rad to be getting bad but have you actually washed the rad off to get rid of any dirt (or is there paint on the rad(core) for some reason) Only other thing i could possibly think of is the propeller of the water pump may have lost some of the blades making things move slower to circulate.

mike03,95civic

I have washed the outside and inside of the radiator really well and no there is no paint on it.

It sounds resonable that it could be the water pump. I assume I would have to disassemble it to know if it's the problem? Is it pretty easy to do?