willdo

I just had my 93 Honda Civic DX tuned, oil change, and AC worked on. Now it gets hot while I'm idoling. This car has NEVER gotten hot before. Never ever ever. Any ideas?

I'm new... I hope I'm in the right forum.

Michelle.

Jedi_Sol

does the temp go back down once you start driving? If so, then you have a bad thermostat.

-james

built562

did they do anything with the cooling system. like radiator hoses or new coolant or anything. you might have to bleed the coolant.

PS its IDLE not idol

hondahatch741

did your fans even turn on.. my freind jus had the same problem his car never got hot but it suddenly did and its becuase his fans are ran by a prong in the readiator... after thinking for about 25 mins we realized that his fans never even turned on and the prong was fucked up so now we have his fan connected to his ingnition so wen ever the car is on the fans are to

IT'S ME DAVID

iTrader: (1)

1.thermostat
2.coolant
3headgasket problem

could me one of three.

Urban Camo

i would first check the coolant level, if that is fine then go with the thermostat they are cheap.

willdo

I guess I should have stayed up a little longer and I could have chatted with ya all.

Now, to answer some of your questions: They didn't do anything with the colling system and the levels are fine. The fan turns on ok. It cools down right away once I start moving. So do you think it's the thermostate? It's just weird that this happened as soon as I got all that other stuff done.

Thanks so far for all your replies. This is a great forum.

Michelle.

SOLORIO

sounds like a thermo. change it out and it should be good to go. just keep an eye on it and make sure its doesnt start up again

willdo

OK.... then back it goes. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks so much.
Michelle.

Jedi_Sol

DEFINATELY the thermostat.

gabspeed

if its keeps over heating after replacing thermo. the fans work, coolant levels are fine (make sure also you don't have air packets in the system) check radiator cap(replace if its old) if all this is fine, its the head gasket

B18C5-EH2

First of all nobody here can say "definately this" or "definately that" because unless you're there in person checking the car out you cannot tell.

Try this:

1. Pull the cap off the radiator while car is cool and check fluid level. If it's low crack open the bleeder valve (12mm bolt on the upper thermo neck - follow the upper rad. hose from the rad. to the head - it's right there) and fill the radiator until coolant dribbles from the bleeder valve. Hell do this regardless just to make sure you've bled the system. tighten the 12mm bleeder, but be careful because it breaks very easily!!! Check the cap to make sure it's not damaged while doing this, if it is then replace it.

2. Crank the car and let it get to just under halfway on the temp guage.

3. Watch for the cooling fans - I know you said they work, but just double check. If the temp goes above the 1/2 way mark and the main cooling fan (passenger side of engine bay) hasn't come on, then there is a problem with either the fan itself, the sending unit for the fan, or connections somewhere in the fan wiring. A way to verify if it's the fan itself is if it's not coming on, hit it with a hammer handle right in the center of the motor, and if it suddenly comes on you need a new fan motor. These motors will drive you crazy by not working at random, but when you check them they work.

4. If the fans come on, but temp still goes above 1/2 way feel the upper radiator hose first - it will be hot. Now feel the lower radiator hose - if it's not very warm to the touch, or nowhere hear as hot as the upper hose, then you do in fact need a new thermostat. Until you've checked it this way it's impossible to say fir sure it's the thermostat.

5. If the hose is as hot as the upper, your fan is working properly, your coolant is full, and the car still overheats then you may have a blown head gasket. Head gaskets don't just blow for no reason though - something else usually causes the engine to overheat, then blows the gasket.

Let us know...




Modified by B18C5-EH2 at 11:46 AM 7/15/2005

willdo

Thanks so much for the fantastic information!! I will surely let you know how it turns out.

Michelle.

dareseven

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">First of all nobody here can say "definately this" or "definately that" because unless you're there in person checking the car out you cannot tell.

Try this:

1. Pull the cap off the radiator while car is cool and check fluid level. If it's low crack open the bleeder valve (12mm bolt on the upper thermo neck - follow the upper rad. hose from the rad. to the head - it's right there) and fill the radiator until coolant dribbles from the bleeder valve. Hell do this regardless just to make sure you've bled the system. tighten the 12mm bleeder, but be careful because it breaks very easily!!! Check the cap to make sure it's not damaged while doing this, if it is then replace it.

2. Crank the car and let it get to just under halfway on the temp guage.

3. Watch for the cooling fans - I know you said they work, but just double check. If the temp goes above the 1/2 way mark and the main cooling fan (passenger side of engine bay) hasn't come on, then there is a problem with either the fan itself, the sending unit for the fan, or connections somewhere in the fan wiring. A way to verify if it's the fan itself is if it's not coming on, hit it with a hammer handle right in the center of the motor, and if it suddenly comes on you need a new fan motor. These motors will drive you crazy by not working at random, but when you check them they work.

4. If the fans come on, but temp still goes above 1/2 way feel the upper radiator hose first - it will be hot. Now feel the lower radiator hose - if it's not very warm to the touch, or nowhere hear as hot as the upper hose, then you do in fact need a new thermostat. Until you've checked it this way it's impossible to say fir sure it's the thermostat.

5. If the hose is as hot as the upper, your fan is working properly, your coolant is full, and the car still overheats then you may have a blown head gasket. Head gaskets don't just blow for no reason though - something else usually causes the engine to overheat, then blows the gasket.

Let us know...


Modified by B18C5-EH2 at 11:46 AM 7/15/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

Honda Mechanics 101. Your instructor's name is Tom and your final will be comprehensive.

Very good write up.

JDM-EJ1

Definitely a bad thermostat, go ahead and change it and you'll be golden.

B18C5-EH2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM-EJ1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Definitely a bad thermostat, go ahead and change it and you'll be golden.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How do you know?

Tell me how you came to the conclusion that he definately has a bad thermostat.

nota-eg

Anyone think this should be added to the FAQ?

willdo

Oh gosh... I know I put the results on here, but I guess it didn't connect or something. It was the sensor that controls the fan that was blown.

Thanks again for all the input.

Michelle.

B18C5-EH2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by willdo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> It was the sensor that controls the fan that was blown.

Thanks again for all the input.

Michelle.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well where are the "I KNOW it's DEFINATELY the thermostat" people at?



That's why there are flow charts to fix problems - throwing random parts at a problem costs more money.

Similiar thing happened to me with a member in my band. His 1994 Civic DX would overheat at random. I did all the checks, and still nothing. I never got the lower hose to feel cooler to the touch, but at that point I was just going to start replacing everything in the cooling system one part at a time.

I replaced the thermostat - nothing.

I replaced the radiator because it had a small crack in the top tank - nothing.

Then one day the main cooling fan stopped working, but would come on at random.

I replaced the fan switch in the thermostat housing, and STILL no changes! WTF?

It ended up being the plug for the fan switch - evidently it was making poor contact at random. It had no visual cues that it was bad, but after soldering a new plug in place the car hasn't overheated since.

Sometimes throwing parts at a problem is your last resort, but when there's ways of checking it all out first I try to explore those avenues first. Cooling system problems are not the easiest things to diagnose. When you have so many parts that can fail randomly and work other times it really makes for some head scratching if the car does fine while you take the time out to check it over.

I'm glad you got it worked out.