I asked this on a non Honda forum since there were tons of people there, and they know about several cars. Got no answer though... Course I didn't wait long.... but still........


So here it is:


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's a 1989 model..... I've had it around 3-4 years now, never really had any troubles....

Until recently, the car would have some troubles of overheating when it was sitting in standstill traffic and all. Well, anywya... First time it overheated.... I was going to move into my college dorm. There had been a wreck somewhere, and traffic was crawling. I started to realize at one point the temp gauge was no longer pointing at halfway... It was now pointing at red. So I pulled the car into a gas station that was right there, had called my mom and aunt and they pulled in with me. After waiting a while, and moving some stuff from my car to my aunt's van... My mom left to the auto place that was real nearby..... And I went overafter a little longer... We left my car there and moved the stuff to my mom's car.... Then went ahead to college since I had to be in by a certain time, well, at least wanted to.....


Well I got the car a week later, and they had said they could find nothing wrong with it..... Don't remember if they did anything...

Car ran fine then... Was fine for a while... Nothing wrong....


Then one day I was driving someone from their college to some place... My car got caught in some standstill traffic somewhere...... After a little while it started overheating... I got out of it and let it cool down, then tried again later... long story short, radiator eventually cracked. Got AAA to tow me to the place that had checked the car before... Told them that they'd said nothing was wrong with it before, and then that happened....

Ended up getting a new radiator...


Now then.... It's been a month at the most I'm thinking.... Was gonna go rent a movie tonight... Drove out....... While sitting at the intersection to leave college, the car started idling oddly.... It seemed like it would get slightly higher pitched, then lower, higher, lower, higher, lower... I didn't think too much at first.. Often my car seems to idle roughly if I'm sitting there in drive (yes, auto)... So I shifted it to neutral.... I don't remember if it stopped then or not... But I also realized I still had the heat turned on from a few nights ago... So I switched it back over to AC... Got to the place.... Came back to college.. I drove about a bit, trying to get one good place, then moving to another good one I saw..... Right before turning the car off... I looked down and noticed the temp gauge was pointing almost at red.....


Later tonight I went out and was looking at the engine some, with the car running... It had enough of all the fluids it needs and stuff..... And after waiting about 10-15 minutes (first time it took like 2 minutes) it started to do the weird little thing where it seemed to idle oddly.... The weird little thing of it seeming to get higher and lower.. Though it also seemed to sound more like a struggle... Not sure if it was because I had the hood open and was leaning over or what..... But I turned the car off soon after, not sure what it was and kinda worried... Then came back because my back surgery area started to hurt....

Anyone have any idea what could be going wrong? Or know of some good Honda forum I could ask for aid at? I'm rather annoyed because I had somewhere I needed to be tomorrow..........

Cliff Notes: After running for a short while, my engine seems to idle at a higher, then lower pitch, over and over again. With the hood open, it sounded like a struggle. Any help?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Bump.....

 

the idle going up and down can be caused by air in the engine you may need to bleed it a little bit ... but for the over heating i would check your cooling fans to make sure they are working if they are then change the thermostant ( i would change this first) butyour problem is either your fans not turning on (fan switch or bad fan motor) or the thermostat sticking


good luck

 

Bleed out the air? What do you mean?


I'd hope the thermostat is fine... had to get it replaced less than 2 years ago because it got froze shut overnight one winter somehow.... Yeah though, to tell the truth, I don't remember the fans coming on..... Though I also didn't have it on horribly long... Or feel like a bad heat came from it. It wasn't even that heated when I checked it that night.

 

bump

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MaxDuo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bleed out the air? What do you mean?

</TD></TR></TABLE>
bump

 

if you ever want to test your thermostat, then drop it in some hot water and it should pop out....then slowly close up (out of the water in the cool air).

turn your AC on and see if your fans come on.... most of the time you can hear the S.O.B's turn on....atleast in my accord you can.

 

Oh yes... Earlier today.... Got some new coolant in it.... Turned it on to let it flow through it some.... And realized the car was idling around 1,250RPMs........

 

Actually, I looked at the car during the day, and it turned out to be pretty low on coolant.... Thought I saw pretty good with that flashlight that night..... Actually though it came more from me pouring some more coolant in to see if I was leaking it or something, when I realized how low it was... Before I had just thought the coolant bottle thing was really dirty and hard to see through... whoops...


Anyway.. After filling that up.... I turned it on a while.... Then turned it off.... Had to be somewhere. DRove out today... Car never overheated... And the idle was back down to where it was supposed to be.... Now I just need to figure out where this leak is coming from...