s13hero

Occasionally my hatch over heats, and I check and the over flow is really low near empty, now assuming I don't have a leak is there anything else it could be? It has a new water pump, thermostat, radiator and hoses.

s13hero

Also, I forgot to mention it seems as if the car runs hot in general, not over heating by high usually, and I've changed all that stuff above, plus fan switch and temperature sender for the gauge, and even "normally" it still seems to be slightly elevated, so when I say over heat, I mean it goes all the way to H, in the red. Any help with either of these problems is appreciated.

WeakSauce92

bump.. maybe a headgasket?

b20hatchek

is their any smoke from the exhaust? how old is the motor? like internal wise, how many miles is on the motor it self?

s13hero

No smoke, all stock 95 d15b7, 152XXX miles

95_Civic_4dr

Try a new radiator cap? The cap keeps the cooling system pressurized so the water/anti-freeze won't boil and evaporate, if it's bad or going bad it could cause overheating.

s13hero

The new radiator came with a new cap, been on there for only about 3 months now

95_Civic_4dr

Oh yeah, that makes sense, new radiator should come with a cap lol - overlooked that.
Trying to avoid the head gasket possibility, the engine could be running lean maybe.

Before my HG went out, I noticed that the overflow tank was empty pretty much all the time no matter how many times I filled the radiator back up and bled the cooling system. You ever get real bad vibrations at start up for a few seconds? It also occasionally overheated up to the H.

You should assume there is a leak and start looking for one even if it's a slow leak.

b20hatchek

i got it! check your hoses dude, i just found a hose on my b20 leaking as i was replacing my slave cylinder and the clutch master cylinder, but back when i was in school i was always putting coolant back in the radiator untill i found a hose in the back leaking

s13hero

I said assuming its not one because I've checked for one and I can't find one anywhere, its a really slow leak if it is one it happens every few weeks.

honda_luvr_2000

If you aren't leaking coolant outside anywhere, then there's only one other place it can go, inside the engine. Now more than likely your "burning" coolant because if you were leaking coolant into your oil, then you would also be getting oil in your coolant. Pull your oil fill cap and check for a milky/muddy goo in the valve cover. What color is your coolant? Is it a milky or brown color? If you have either/both of these then your leaking between coolant & oil passages. If not and, again, you don't have any external leaks, then your "burning" coolant. Not always when you burn coolant will it smoke, so don't use that as the only check.

stevej1

Look at your oil and see if theres coolant in it. If there is i'm very sorry. Does it run hot only when you're at idle or when you're driving too? it might also be an oil pump

s13hero

When it does get hot its at idle and while driving. I'm going to go check the oil now.

s13hero

Coolant is green. Nothing in it, in both the over flow and what I can see of the radiator. Oil is fine at the dipstick and under the filler cap.

s13hero

Ran it today til it overheated, my fan is dead, so now I am trying to decide between getting a new fan motor from napa or buying an ebay slim fan, its an aluminum radiator. Anyone have any thoughts?

plethoric33

What brand rad did you get? If its an Ebay one, I have heard many people say the caps on them are junk. I ran an Ebay slim fan on my old car and never had any problems from it.

s13hero

No brand, seems ok, the price was right, the caps don't look bad. its only been a few months so we'll see. What size slim fan did you have?

b20hatchek

you cant visualy see a diff in rad caps if 1 is bad or not

s13hero

Yeah I just re-read what he wrote and was thinking he meant tanks. I can always just get a new cap if this one fails

Rourke10

We are in the exact same boat brother. No leaks, Overflow Empty, No Smoke, Overheats at Idle. Replaced thermostat it ran shittier, Ran it without it and it was better just took longer to overheat. Fans come on also. My dipstick looks good and clean. I checked the underside of the cap however and I saw a slight milky residue as someone mentioned. Headgasket?

stevej1

Seems like everyone has had the same problem. My car overheats at idle. I replaced everything. My cooling fan wasnt kicking on and I realized that the wiring was grounded out so I fixed that and I even ran a switch through into the car so I could switch the fan on and off when I wanted. My oil looks fine and no white smoke too. is there a honda genius out there that knows what the hell this is? Headgasket? Cracked block?

s13hero

Ok, so I was wrong, my fan is not dead, but it is not coming on. When I run the fan plug straight to the battery it runs. When I jump the fan switch the fan spun, so I assumed a bad fan switch and I changed it, but the car is still over heating and the fan isn't coming on. I used a test light but couldn't find power through the plug. Also IDK whether its related or not but my condenser fan doesn't come on either and runs when run out to the battery too. I check the two grounds on the passenger side of the bay (the box and the single one next to it) and they are both good.

D16SiHatch

the car is overheating due to a blown head gasket. as the engine consumes coolant, air is introduced. this explains the high temps, which is a result of the coolant not flowing properly. coolant not flowing and distributing heat is also likely why the fan switch is not being tripped.

s13hero

But there is no sign on a blown headgasket, atleast what has been mentioned here. Oil is fine and coolant is fine.

D16SiHatch

but there is a sign.. disappearing coolant

my old car was doing the same yours is. no coolant in the oil and no oil in the coolant. only symptom was the missing coolant. the engine was consuming coolant but not enough to even be noticeable coming out of the tailpipe.