Hello, I have a 94 Honda Civic DX. I recently swapped in a stock engine to put into the dx shell. Now, the cluster didn't have the temp. needle working correctly. When I finished swapping it in, I test drove for 30 mins. When I got home I noticed white smoke coming out of the engine. So ... I called up a buddy to let me borrow his stocker cluster and found out the car was overheating.

Here are the symptoms :

1 - Car doesn't overheat right away. (In other words , I let it warm up .... drove around block ... left it running @ idle ... drove around block .. then it overheated)

2 - Lower Radiator Hose is not hot and upper is HOT.

3 - No Leaks

4 - When reving from idle, car makes a "metal banging w/ metal noise"

5. Fan turns on

I have changed :

Thermostat --> To NEW OEM One
Radiator Cap --> OEM One

.... What do I try next? Should I just buy another d15b7 longblock for like $100? Is my waterpump bad? Any way to test Water pump? Should I flush the radiator?

 

TTTT TT

 

crack radiator, i can almost guarantee it

happened to me twice

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DOHCtorTHRUST &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">crack radiator, i can almost guarantee it

happened to me twice</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep... rad can get clogged up due to not changing the coolant as needed or using straight water

 

well if the lower rad hose is cold, its a sign that the thermostat isnt opening

 

i had that prob... ended up being a SMALL crack in the water pump

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dantastic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well if the lower rad hose is cold, its a sign that the thermostat isnt opening</TD></TR></TABLE>

he just said he has a new oem thermo.

 

check to see if radiator is plugged or cracked...
check if you are following correct bleeding procedure...
check for bad hoses...and pressure check the cooling system!!!

 

I'll check that today... Im going to swap in my friends working radiator.

What are the symptoms for bad water pump?

 

You may have a blown head gasket. Is there any blow-by in the radiator? I had the same problem you did, and after replacing the head gasket my car never overheated again. Good luck bro

 

installed thermostat backwards.

 

You have air in your lines. Take the cap off, start your car, turn the heat on full. Let it run until all bubbles come out of the radiator. It will take about 20-30 mins.

 

What if my car is overheating while I'm airing out the lines?

 

I had a problem similar to yours... I replaced the water pump and thermo. Ran like a champ, didn't take long and didn't cost much. Good luck, overheating can be more than a bitch.

 

UPDATE ---

Got a new radiator (brand new and paid === ZERO). Hooked up everything. Noticed the following:

Car would only overheat when I accelerated. Popped hood and noticed that the clamps on the hoses where hissing. Turns out they were not clamping hard enough and it was losing pressure.

-- Waiting for car to cool down to put new clamps on. Also got a new water pump (for free) and might throw that on if still overheats.

Would it be okay if I ran the car w/o a thermostat? Its 100 degree's plus where I live .. 120 in the june/july.

 

IT REALLY SOUNDS LIKE A BLOWN HEAD GASKET....IF CAR STILL OVERHEATS...DEFINITELY A HEAD GASKET ISSUE. SORRY MAN BUT I HAD A VERY SIMILAR PROBLEM...U COULD GO ON LIKE THAT FOR ANOTHER MONTH EVEN...BUT I AM ALMOST 100% SURE....SORRY DUDE

 

UPDATE---

Got new clamps , tighten them all up. No air leaks anymore. No overheating ... drove around for 15 mins, left idling for 15 mins ... 100 degress outside right now tooo! : (