Overheating, sputtering, bad idle - need some advice
 

Hey everyone,

I have a 99 ex (d16y8) and its been giving me problems recently. It started overheating (never got to the point of smoke in engine bay or anything) and idling weird, it goes from 1500 to 2000 and back down over and over, then it started kind of sputtering when i was driving home. Ive been reading up on what to do to fix it and it looks like it could be a bunch of things. There is coolant leaking from somewhere, but not spraying out anywhere, I cant find where its leaking from. There is no smoke from the exhaust, but that doesnt mean that the head gasket is not blown, right?

This kind of shit always has to happen at the worst time, I would really appreciate any help you all can give me on where to start on fixing this damn thing. Heres the list of what I need to start with right?

1- Flush coolant system
2- Check all hoses for clogs and stuff
3- Check/replace thermostat

Bad thing is, that wouldn't explain why its idling bad and sputtering, right?

Low coolant level will cause all of that. Find the leak...Fix it.....Problem solved.

Re: (Bejita)
 

Man, I hope so. I was looking at it and it "looked" like coolant was actually coming out of the engine side of the radiator on the fins. Is that possible? I was thinking it probably looked like that because coolant was spraying onto it and collecting in the fins, but i dont know. Hopefully ill be able to find the leak and fix it easily.

Btw, thanks for the quick reply

Re: (wanabebuff)
 

how many miles, sounds like headgasket problem?

Re: (wanabebuff)
 

if you have a low coolant level or air bubbles in your coolant lines it will tend to cause havok with your Idle Air Control Valve or IACV.

also you might want to double check all your hoses going to your IM. if all the hoses and nipples are good then find and fix your leak and top off your coolant level. it should fix the problem. if all that don't work...locate your IACV on the back of your IM...it should have 2 hoses going into it and a small 2 pin plug. it's held in with 2 bolts ...take it out and douse it with brakekleen and reinstall it.

Re: (hott95ej2)
 

155k, haha. Yeah, thats what I was thinking too, but its hard to tell since there is no smoke in the exhaust and I dont see any coolant in the oil or vice versa. Still, that doesnt mean its not the head gasket, right? Since there is a coolant leak somewhere, that might rule out the head gasket, or am I wrong? Either way, it should probably be replaced eventually because of the miles on the car and its probably gonna happen sooner or later. What do you think?

@ jz98- I also read about the IACV causing bad idles with a lot of people, Ill check it out too. Do you think the leak could be coming out of the radiator? Or do you think its probably a hose somewhere that Im just not seeing?

Of course it could be leaking from the radiator. They wear out. The seams start to leak and your coolant gets low. Then you get your symptoms. Find the leak and fix it. Your problem is probably simple.

Re: (wanabebuff)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wanabebuff &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">155k, haha. Yeah, thats what I was thinking too, but its hard to tell since there is no smoke in the exhaust and I dont see any coolant in the oil or vice versa. Still, that doesnt mean its not the head gasket, right? Since there is a coolant leak somewhere, that might rule out the head gasket, or am I wrong? Either way, it should probably be replaced eventually because of the miles on the car and its probably gonna happen sooner or later. What do you think?

@ jz98- I also read about the IACV causing bad idles with a lot of people, Ill check it out too. Do you think the leak could be coming out of the radiator? Or do you think its probably a hose somewhere that Im just not seeing?</TD></TR></TABLE>

there is still the possibility of the head gasket being bad...but you definitely want to try and rule out the small shit first. you sure as hell don't wanna go and pull the head to replace the gasket only to find it's still leaking elsewhere. check your coolant hose ends first to see if they're leaking. when i say "coolant hose ends" i just mean either end of your coolant hoses (upper or lower main hoses)...either where they go to the radiator or to the engine...also check your coolant hose clamps as well. sometimes the clamps are overtightened and they tend to gradually chew through the hoses causing minute leaks. also take a look at some of the smaller hoses that are routed around the motor as well (eg. IACV hoses)your best bet to find the leaks is check with the car cold...see if there is any coolant that has pooled up anywhere. after checking the cold motor...start it up and allow it to come to normal operating temperature. if you did not find any leaks while the engine was cold you'll probably find them when the motor's warmed up good. the heat helps to create a little more pressure in the lines and coolant will squeeze from the smallest opening. you just gotta be thorough with your search.

Ok, thanks yall. Im gonna check it out today, I am really not looking forward to tearing the top end out of the motor just to find out it wasnt the head gasket. If it is the radiator, that wouldnt be a bad fix, i think I can find one cheap. I thought I check all of my hoses pretty thoroughly, but I was running late for work, so you know how that goes. Anyways, thanks for all of the input and I'll post back with what I find later on today.

Re: (jz98ctr)
 

Well, I think Ive checked all of my coolant lines and they all seem ok. I then decided to flush my coolant system, no big deal....well after I drained it, i plugged it back up, and started adding new water, but as i was adding it, water kept coming out from the bottom and I thought it was because I didnt tighten the radiator drain plug enough, so i took the splash guard off to get better access to it, but it was tight, so i decided to take the radiator out and check it out. Well, heres what I found.
[IMG]https://img514.imageshack.us/img514/...rbustedrv2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://img240.imageshack.us/img240/...busted1mm4.jpg[/IMG]

The seal at the bottom of the front side of the rad (closest to bumper) has popped out and wont hold water. Problem is, if this was where the leak was in the first place, thats great bc now I found it, but if it just popped out because it was either weak or rotten anyway but was still holding coolant, then I still have a prob.

Either way, it looks like I need a new radiator, right? What should I do, I cant really run it right now, haha. Do you all think this is the problem or is it something else?


Edit- Found this on ebay, http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...wItem

That will work, wont it? Anyone wanna sell me theirs?


One more edit- Just so I clear things up a little, when I was flushing the system, I didnt put the hose directly into the radiator, I had it trickle out into the top of the radiator, so the only pressure being added was normal, not forced water pressure. In the pictures, I had the hose directly on top of the radiator just because it was hard to hold and i already found that leak on the bottom.

Modified by wanabebuff at 12:25 PM 6/7/2007


Modified by wanabebuff at 12:46 PM 6/7/2007

Re: (wanabebuff)
 

RCautoworks sells half radiators for about 65 shipped I believe. Check it out and see if he has the right one for your year. https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

Re: (95ProjectEJ1)
 

Cool, thats not a bad price. But that one on eGay is $45 shipped, will that one not work?

This sucks though, my car's outta commission and its 95 degrees right now and my girlfriend and my roommates and friends are all down at the pool while im trying to figure this shit out. Hahah. Anyways, I hope this is the problem though, its really easy to replace a radiator especially compared to ripping out the top end of the engine to change the head gasket.

My new radiator is scheduled to be here on friday. I hope this is the only problem. I guess I should go ahead and clean the IACV while im at it. Does it have a gasket between it and the throttle body or does it just bolt straight on?

Just got my radiator and installed it, cranked it up and let it run for about 10 mins, and everything seems normal! I didnt clean my IACV yet, but so far, it seems to be fine. I flushed the coolant several more times just to be safe and checked for any other leaks with none found.

Thanks for all of the advice yall. Ill definitely stick around and try to learn more and help others with anything I can do.

Re: Overheating, sputtering, bad idle - need some advice
 

Hello I have a 98 Honda Civic ex and I am having the same exact issues as u and it's your idle air control valve on Amazon u can get the part for less than 50 auto part store like AutoZone or O'Reilly's it will cost just under 200$ so hopefully that helps you.