Okay, here is the problem. I recently swapped the engine in my civic and everything was running great. Now, 2 days ago my car started to over heat a slight bit. Just about half or a bit over half. Myself and a mechanic looked at it and determined after a bit of troubleshooting that the radiator hose had swollen thus causing the fitting/clamp to not seal correctly and this was causing a bit of coolant to jet out over the radiator. tightened the clamp and no more over heating.

Now, today I noticed the temp gauge rising while idling (was fine during driving) and so i checked the coolant in the fill tank. It was all gone (it was from the day prior). So I am like what the hell. Fill it up with a 50/50 mix and drive home. Temp gauge was fine until I got home and let it idle a bit to see if it was still going to over heat. It started to, I checked the reservoir and the coolant was gone again. I fill it up and let it idle, watch the reservoir and see if it drops, it did not seem to much. But, while idling my fan wasnt on until after the temp went past the half way point. After that it turned on. And the temp gauge seemed to drop a bit (turned the car off after this though).

Now, I checked my top hose and it was hot, my bottom one i checked and it was kinda cooler down by the radiator but warmer up by the tranny/engine it was warmer (could be because of ambient heat though). I gave both a squeeze and the bottom made a clicking sound happen in the engine bay somewhere and it sounded like a bit of fluid rushed in/out somewhere. Top one just made the clicking sound.

So, since I am not completely a guru or anything. My question is what would the problem be. Also, the timing belt and water pump were replaced with oem honda/acura parts 2.5k miles ago. No large leaks are being noticed and I havent noticed any white smoke. I will check again for the white smoke but the oil is not milky that i could tell. If anyone could let me know what they thought or if they have had the same thing happen I would appreciate it. I searched but nothing was really the same as my situation. Thanks in advace guys.


Cliffnotes: Car/engine (b20b) is starting to overheat. Hella rad fluid loss from fill tank with no noticeable leaks. Brand new water pump and timing belt. Top hose from rad is hot, bottom not as much near rad but warmer near tranny/engine. Oil is not seeming milky and no white smoke being noticed. Gas mileage has not been affected and Fan only seems to come on at 50%+ of temp gauge. Valve adjustment done within 150 miles (was barely off anyway). Thanks.

 

bottom hose goes to the thermostat. If the thermo is stuck closed that could explain the bottom hose not getting hot. Remove and replace the thermostat. Also replace the hoses upper and lower and the clamps while youre at it; swolen hoses aren't good.

 

swollen hoses = need replaced. Do that as you change the thermostat as the other guy mentioned

 

well, the hoses arent swollen like bubbled. but, they swelled a little bit and cause the clamp to not be seated tight enough. so, i tightened the clamp and it seemed to solve it. question is, how likely is it to be a head gasket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B20eg4dr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well, the hoses arent swollen like bubbled. but, they swelled a little bit and cause the clamp to not be seated tight enough. so, i tightened the clamp and it seemed to solve it. question is, how likely is it to be a head gasket.</TD></TR></TABLE>

could be but, a thermostat takes way less money and time to replace than a thermostat.

 

also try changing your radiator cap, i was having a lot of problems with loosing water and it turned ot to be the radiator cap.

 

ok, so it is not smoking at all. i checked the oil and it was hella low (slow leak, oil drain plug was a little loose). put 1 qt in it and filled the fluid and it was good for a while. just let it sit in the garage and idle. temp didnt really go above the 40% area it normally is at. and the coolant wasnt going down noticeably. i let it idle for maybe 10 minutes. it seemed to not be over heating. however, my fan never came on during idle. didnt come one even when i turned the a/c on. the a/c fan did obviously but the radiator one didnt. i am replacing the fuse to be sure it isnt just that but it didnt look blown. i also started the car and let it idle without the radiator cap on and there were no bubbles or crazy fluid going everywhere. it didnt really do much but vibrate a little bit and maybe jump a bit but nothing over flowing. again, there is no white smoke and oil looks the normal oil color.

 

ttt