Hi,

Great forum. I'm a newbie, please forgive me if this problem has been answered. I've tried to search the archives, but wanted to get more details.

I have a 93 Civic DX with a overheating problem. I replaced the thermostat and radiator cap. Bled the radiator, so I believe there's no air in there. I thought I was fine, but after a week, when I turned on the AC, all of sudden my temp gauge started to rise again, so I have to turn my heat on to keep the temp down.

Could it be my water pump? How can I tell if my water pump is not working? Do I have a bad radiator? Or ignition timing? Let me know if you can help, thanks! Trying to do the work myself cause I'm on a budget, thanks.

-nels

 

How many miles are on the car?

If the water pump is not working the car will contine to warm up higher
and higher and it will happen quickly after driving for a couple minutes.
If the head gasket is going you will probably notice coolant leaking out by the
antifreeze overflow.

 

With the info given...Head Gasket is prolly what your problem is...

 

Most likely air is still in the system. How long did you bleed it? Make sure you bleed it for like half an hour, with the heater on so it gets the air pockets out of the heater core also.

To see if your water pump is still working take off your rad cap and watch carefully, you can see the fluid flowing, that means the pump is pumping.

Are you sure your fan is coming on? The thermo switch likes to break on honda's a lot and not turn the fan on. You can cut the wires to the thermo switch and wire them together, then the fan will run all the time. I personally think this is good.

If all doesn't work for you, you can take to a shop and have them to a hydrocarbon test to see if your headgasket is bad.

 

Thanks for all the responses. This is great! Okay, a few things. The car has 180k on the clock, can't believe it's still running. However, I only know the history from 120k. Not sure if the water pump was replaced previously. I only bled the radiator for approx. 15 minutes. I didn't run the heat while bleeding though. I'll check on the water pump. The fan is coming on. Where is the head gasket located and how do I know if it's blown? Sorry, DIY is new to me. It may be the head gasket, as the coolant overflow tank seems to keep filling up when I know I removed most of it.

-nels


Modified by nels415 at 1:12 PM 9/21/2005

 

headgasket is between head and block.

Not trying to be rude, but if you don't know where the HG is, do not attempt to replace it if bad.

Have a shop to a hydrobarbon test. this will tell your if exhaust gasses are getting into your coolant which means blown headgasket.

Most likely if your car is stock and your blowing coolant OUT of your overflow bottle, the headgasket is shot.