Streetneon2185

I have a 97 civic hatch. Car only overheats when not in motion. The fan works (i've seen it turn on, and if its hardwired it works as well), but when the car shows on the temp gauge that its overheating i pop the hood to find that the fan is not running. I filled the radiator yesterday and it seemed to take a lot of fluid (car was running and warmed up with heater on when i was adding fluid) now today on a longer trip, the car started to over heat again everytime i would stop. I popped the hood to find my coolant overflow tank full.

I am not at my house right now, so access to tools and space is limited. I am stumped on what to try next. Thought about trying to replace the temp sensor, but with the symptoms i listed ie, fine when driving, only overheats when i'm stopped - does this sound like it would help?

Any help is greatly appreciated as i would like to be able to get back home - 3 hour drive - on sunday without any problems. Thank you.

[ivi]

It could be one of four things, in order of least to most expensive:

- Coolant flush
- Thermostat
- Water (coolant) pump
- Head gasket

It's better to have a shop look at it for the price of fixing the first two.

Streetneon2185

I have a compression gauge at my house so i can check that when i get home to see if the head gasket is blown, a flush might be a little hard where i am now. I am not too familiar with these engines as i have not worked on them before. I assume the thermostat is a pretty straight forward procedure that can be done with basic hand tools? (all i have available right now). But if it was truely the thermostat housing, wouldnt the car be overheating all the time -ie while driving as well- and just not when it comes to a stop and is sitting?

00eddie00(95eg)

ok a similar thing was happening to me. check your hoses, make sure there not eroted or bent at a weird angle. then make sure there is no air in the coolent system to use the purge valve to get all the air out, if the problem still happens change the thermostat, and repapet what i aid before becasue you dont want any air in the system.......if its your water pump.......after water pumps go bad the start leaking not constant but droplets...... on the right hand side were its located.....the worst that can happen is the gear in the pump got f-d up.... a head gasket is simple good luck my freind

Streetneon2185

great thank you! i will have to go out and look for the purge valve. any quick tips on how to bleed the system? i'm assuming get the car running, heater on, open up bleeder valve and leave open until there is no more air comming out?

jvillagran2000

I bet your cooling fan relay took a crap or your temp fan switch,test them both.

00eddie00(95eg4)

yes let the car run and then purge it till a constant stream of coolent is coming out with no interuptions, i hate this trial thing man ( made another acount just for you buddy lol) dont know if you can tell the diff.

Streetneon2185

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jvillagran2000 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I bet your cooling fan relay took a crap or your temp fan switch,test them both.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats what i was thinking as well! But like i said i dont have any of my tools down here...how can i test them without a multimeter? and i'm assuming the relay is right in the fuse box under the hood, but where is the temp fan switch?

00eddie00(95eg4)

theres a brown plug by the thermostat houseing dicounect that if the fan turns in it means thats meesed up as for checking the fan idk with out the meter

Streetneon2185

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00eddie00(95eg4) &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">theres a brown plug by the thermostat houseing dicounect that if the fan turns in it means thats meesed up as for checking the fan idk with out the meter</TD></TR></TABLE>
great! thank you for the fast responses. I'm assuming this is the t-housing that is at the end of the upper rad. hose closest to the head?

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Streetneon2185 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm assuming this is the t-housing that is at the end of the upper rad. hose closest to the head?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope. end of the lower hose on the back of the block.

Streetneon2185

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94EG8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Nope. end of the lower hose on the back of the block.</TD></TR></TABLE>

great! i followed that back and found a plug. Disconnected it and the fan did not turn on. I almost thought about trying this...hardwire the fan to stay on while the car is on until i get home (3 hour trip). Can this damage the fan?

I would check the relay, but i have no multimeter here.

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Streetneon2185 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I almost thought about trying this...hardwire the fan to stay on while the car is on until i get home (3 hour trip). Can this damage the fan?</TD></TR></TABLE>

You should be fine, theres lots of guys who hardwire their fan to run all the time and they never seem to have any trouble, that aside I would look into this a little harder when you get home and figure out exactly whats going on.

Streetneon2185

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94EG8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

You should be fine, theres lots of guys who hardwire their fan to run all the time and they never seem to have any trouble, that aside I would look into this a little harder when you get home and figure out exactly whats going on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes i will be doing that for sure when i get home. As for now i'll hardwire it to stay on while i drive home. I will more than likely replace the thermostat first as the car is high mileage and who knows if its still the origional housing or not. If that doesnt work i will flush out the system again, and if that doesnt work i'll try to find a rad at the junk yard and pop that in there. hopefully its not a head gasket or water pump as i just dont feel like replacing them haha.

I really appreciate the fast replies here guys it was a huge help.

couple of closing questions here...

-i couldnt locate this purge valve. I looked near the end of the lower rad hose in the back and couldnt find it. any quick tips?

-also why would my overflow tank be full just from the trip down here? is it possible that i overfilled my radiator yesterday?


Modified by Streetneon2185 at 2:19 PM 9/5/2008

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Streetneon2185 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">-also why would my overflow tank be full just from the trip down here? is it possible that i overfilled my radiator yesterday?</TD></TR></TABLE>

A blown headgasket will push coolant back into the resorvoir. If it does turn out to be a blown head gasket my advice would be pull the engine and drop in a low mileage JDM replacement engine. From what i've seen if you blow a head gasket once in these they tend to repeatedly blow head gaskets, the head can warp, block deck surface can warp. On top of that they usually start burning oil soon after you replace the headgasket anyway. SOHC JDM engines are cheap and IMO a more cost effective solution in the long term, sometimes even the short term.

Streetneon2185

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94EG8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

A blown headgasket will push coolant back into the resorvoir. If it does turn out to be a blown head gasket my advice would be pull the engine and drop in a low mileage JDM replacement engine. From what i've seen if you blow a head gasket once in these they tend to repeatedly blow head gaskets, the head can warp, block deck surface can warp. On top of that they usually start burning oil soon after you replace the headgasket anyway. SOHC JDM engines are cheap and IMO a more cost effective solution in the long term, sometimes even the short term.</TD></TR></TABLE>
i thought about that as well, but the resorvoir was basically empty as of yesterday before i topped off so i'm hoping i just overfilled my radiator.

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Streetneon2185 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i thought about that as well, but the resorvoir was basically empty as of yesterday before i topped off so i'm hoping i just overfilled my radiator.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Its possible, it would be nice if thats all it was.

Streetneon2185

i cant for the life of me find this purge valve for the coolant tho

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Streetneon2185 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i cant for the life of me find this purge valve for the coolant tho</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not sure what the story is on that, the 5th gen civics have it where the upper rad hose connects the head, its just a bleeder valve. But the 6th gens don't have it there, you'll see where it appears there should be one, but theres nothing there.