bakomack

97 4 door ek auto. bone stock motor and tranny wise
car has never over heated before.
was driving to a local car meet, pulled in parked killed car and could hear coolant boiling. some boiled over the reservoir, temp gauge was normall not raised at all.

decided to drive home with heater on, heater only blew cold air. half way home it started blowing hot air, got home and let it idle with heater on and it started blowing cold air again but no boiling coolant this time.

went under the hood with engine idling, the inlet hose for the heater core was hot, the return was cold, not even the slightest warm.

next day drove it with heater on to mcdonalds, in drive through line the heater was blowing hot, then as we sat with it idling the heater blew cold air again and the temp gauge started to rise. once we got back on the road temp went down and everything was fine.


what do you guys think it is? heater core is obviously the most labor intensive, but I just got a used one out of a wrecked 4 door ek last night that was goin to a junk yard. but if it turns out to be something else I will have wasted a lot of time pullin the dash for nothing.

thanks for the help guys

HondaPartsHero

Sounds like thermostat to me. What does the coolant level look like?

http://techauto.awardspace.com/overheating.html

bakomack

full. not oily or anything. checked the oil and under the oil fill cap too nothing.

bakomack

need to get this fuguired out asap so I can fix the car tonight

Dontoh

yeah, i'd put money on thermostat..

the cause of cold air blowing is the thermostat not letting hot water/coolant through

and the cause of the boiling coolant, is cuz thermostat is, once again, is not letting coolant through so it's not circulating and cooling down like it should..

correct me if i'm wrong, but it makes sense

AutoXer

It's not difficult to remove the T-stat and test it. Hell, you might as well just get a new one and just change it anyway. Only use an OEM one, I got one at autozone that didn't work either.

bakomack

rad cap is broken so I was gonna replace the t stat and cap anyways but idk it was seeming like the heater core was clogged.

I have noticed a sort of squealing noise but its like wind coming through the window visoor kinda noise. didnt pay much attention to it cuz it hardly ever happens and is not loud at all.

the water pump doesnt leak at all, is it possible for a honda water pump to go bad with out leaking and only work at times?

AutoXer

You need to do these first before being able to diagnose further.

Yes, it's possible. I had a squeal that I had narrowed down to coming from behind the T-belt cover. I'm pretty sure it's the water pump, since it's time to be replaced but haven't had a chance to pull the car apart yet. My wife also said that sometimes she would get intermittent heat.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/help-what-squeal-%2Avids-inside%2A-2873680/

98civdx

My car was doing the same sort of crap ealier this week. I replaced the thermostat and it is all better now.

I did't use a OEM, well just because I wasnt able to get one. They siad it was going to take a couple days to get one.

I bought one from autozone, and it works just fine...

94EG8

I will say from my experience a real honda thermostat is totally worth the extra cost. It's pretty rare to see them go bad unless there's like 200k on them. I've seen tons of aftertmarket ones now that stick early on. I'm surprised they didn't have one in stock and even more surprised that they said it would take a few days. As long as I put my order in before 1pm or so I have it the next morning at 8am at my local dealership.

vansxskater

If your temperature gauge is going everywhere its probably the thermostat.

98civdx

I agree, I would have loved to buy a OEM one. My car has 210k on it, and I am pretty mine was the orginal.

I was pretty suprised too, I have always been able to get the part the next day, except for one time. It was a special order item, so I cant blame them.

I will be switching to a OEM peice when I do the Timing belt, etc. I just got the cheepo at $8.99, should work just fiine for a few months.

bakomack

put a vatozone t stat in along with new rad cap

was 1/3 gallon low on coolant from just 1 day of driving.

filled coolant put new tstat and cap. drove perfect no over heating and heater worked.

drove it today and had a line burst. so now gotta replace that