Well my 98 EK hatch began to overheat this morning while my wife was driving it to work. She said the needle reached the H and she didn't notice that until she was outside her job, the car was smoking a bit after that but then she called me and I told her to put the heater on full blast and the smoke disappeared.

Now my questions are as follows:

1. How much damage should I be worried about at this point?

2. What are the common overheating problems I should look for?

 

Depending on how hot the car got and how it was smoking the head might have got warped (worse case senerio of course).

What i think happened was the thermo is crapping out on you. Ask her to take a look around under the car for leaks and ask where its coming from. With this damn weather were having lately im voting for thermo removal until winter.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Luserkid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Depending on how hot the car got and how it was smoking the head might have got warped (worse case senerio of course).

What i think happened was the thermo is crapping out on you. Ask her to take a look around under the car for leaks and ask where its coming from. With this damn weather were having lately im voting for thermo removal until winter. </TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL, well the car was fine last night, I had just checked the radiator fluid level last weekend! The fan seemed to work fine last week, I hope it is something as easy as that temperature sensor going bad.

I just wanted to get a list of the common overheating problems to pretty much have a checklist. Thanks!

1. Temperature sensor

2. Thermo

3. ?

4. ?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EL Vap133 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
1. Thermo

2. Radiator Hose

3. Radiator/Bleed system

4. Headgasket

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

Since you said it was smoking i would rule out the temp sensor because smoke shows signs of over heating. Check your oil and see if its milky yet.

 

I'd check the thermostat first, it might have just crapped out, that would explain the symptoms, it wouldn't be the fan because she's driving....

 

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

Since you said it was smoking i would rule out the temp sensor because smoke shows signs of over heating. Check your oil and see if its milky yet. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Gotcha, if it is then she owes me a new engine and I'll drop in an LS this time!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Syndacate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'd check the thermostat first, it might have just crapped out, that would explain the symptoms, it wouldn't be the fan because she's driving....</TD></TR></TABLE>

What do you mean it wouldn't be the fan because she is driving?

 

When I've got a car overheating, I immediately check:

1. fluid level and condition of fluid and make sure nothing is blocking the air flow to the radiator(like a dead bird, cat, or small child) lol

2. see if thermostat is opening
1. If its not, I pull the T-stat out. If that fixes the prob, I replace it.

3. see if the fan is turning on.
1. if its not, I check the fan motor by hooking it directly to batter power. If it doesnt come on I replace the motor.
2. if the motor is good, I check the temp sensor/fan switch with a multi meter. If I remember right, as the temp goes up, the resistance of the sensor goes down. If the resistance does not change, I replace the sensor.

4. If everthing else checks out, I then usually do a flush on the cooling system

5. If its still overheating after the flush, I'd assume its the radiator itself needs replacing.


I dont think I left anything out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EL Vap133 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Gotcha, if it is then she owes me a new engine and I'll drop in an LS this time!

What do you mean it wouldn't be the fan because she is driving? </TD></TR></TABLE>

I mean that the only reason you have a fan is because the air that hits ur radiator when ur driving cools off the water....when ur not driving (idling) there's no air hitting ur radiator, so ur fan kicks on after the water temp sensor detects a certain point, then it forces air onto ur radiator cooling the water.... She was driving hwen it overheated, so I highly doubt it's the fan, because the fan's very very very very very very very rarel - to NEVER on when the car's in motion...

I mean ****, look at the old VW beetles, they were completely air cooled, no radiator at all....it was all air cooled when driving by air....

If there's no leaks, ur radiator won't just CLOG all of a sudden one day, ur temp would be running hot for awhile before you overheated, so I doubt it's a clogged pipe, could be a blockage in the cooling system but I wouldn't jump to conclusions, the first thing I would do is swap out the thermostat, it's like 2 bolts if I remember correctly, it's incredibly easy, and it's probably the problem...oh yeah, and it's like 10 bucks or less...

Buy it, put it in, see if you still have the problem...

 

I would check the fluid lvl(as stated above) then i would check the oil color...if its a milky brown color then you probably(well...more than likely) blew the head gasket...depending on how long she drove the car while it was hot you might want to replace hte head gasket anyways...i would also check the thermostat...checking to make sure fluid is flowing through the radiator is always good too

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bleakdragonmage &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would check the fluid lvl(as stated above) then i would check the oil color...if its a milky brown color then you probably(well...more than likely) blew the head gasket...depending on how long she drove the car while it was hot you might want to replace hte head gasket anyways...i would also check the thermostat...checking to make sure fluid is flowing through the radiator is always good too </TD></TR></TABLE>

dobut it's a clogged radiator....w/ a clogged radiator usuallyy it goes from SOT to overheating slowly, like it's hotter and hotter every day until eventually it overheats, it's not just like a lightswitch :-\

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slopoke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When I've got a car overheating, I immediately check:

1. fluid level and condition of fluid and make sure nothing is blocking the air flow to the radiator(like a dead bird, cat, or small child) lol

2. see if thermostat is opening
1. If its not, I pull the T-stat out. If that fixes the prob, I replace it.

3. see if the fan is turning on.
1. if its not, I check the fan motor by hooking it directly to batter power. If it doesnt come on I replace the motor.
2. if the motor is good, I check the temp sensor/fan switch with a multi meter. If I remember right, as the temp goes up, the resistance of the sensor goes down. If the resistance does not change, I replace the sensor.

4. If everthing else checks out, I then usually do a flush on the cooling system

5. If its still overheating after the flush, I'd assume its the radiator itself needs replacing.


I dont think I left anything out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Very detailed, thank you!

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

I mean that the only reason you have a fan is because the air that hits ur radiator when ur driving cools off the water....when ur not driving (idling) there's no air hitting ur radiator, so ur fan kicks on after the water temp sensor detects a certain point, then it forces air onto ur radiator cooling the water.... She was driving hwen it overheated, so I highly doubt it's the fan, because the fan's very very very very very very very rarel - to NEVER on when the car's in motion...

I mean ****, look at the old VW beetles, they were completely air cooled, no radiator at all....it was all air cooled when driving by air....

If there's no leaks, ur radiator won't just CLOG all of a sudden one day, ur temp would be running hot for awhile before you overheated, so I doubt it's a clogged pipe, could be a blockage in the cooling system but I wouldn't jump to conclusions, the first thing I would do is swap out the thermostat, it's like 2 bolts if I remember correctly, it's incredibly easy, and it's probably the problem...oh yeah, and it's like 10 bucks or less...

Buy it, put it in, see if you still have the problem...

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

Well if the temperature sensor doesn't wok the fan won't come on, right? It happened to me in a different Civic once before.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bleakdragonmage &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would check the fluid lvl(as stated above) then i would check the oil color...if its a milky brown color then you probably(well...more than likely) blew the head gasket...depending on how long she drove the car while it was hot you might want to replace hte head gasket anyways...i would also check the thermostat...checking to make sure fluid is flowing through the radiator is always good too </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks, will do!

 

Ya, if the water temp sensor doesn't work, the fan will NOT come on....

 

Update!!!!


Went to see the Civic on Friday and noticed that the stock radiator had blown!!

Went and bought a new radiator today, drove all the way to my wife's work, replaced the radiator in the parking structure, boy is replacing the radiator for an automatic a pain in the ***! Added some coolant, turned the car on and waited for the fan to kick in! Car runs great!! Checked the oil and coolant and no mixture of each whatsoever!! I guess you can say I got lucky!

 

Cool!

for manning it out in the parking lot. lol

 

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

for manning it out in the parking lot. lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thank you, and again thank you for your help!