My mom just sent me an email that she had no heat in her car this morning. It was down to Zero last night, so I figured it would take a little longer to warm up, but the needle barely moved.

I'm going to go over tonight and check basics like coolant level, etc, but I'm betting on a bad thermostat, but I've never worked on a D17. I know my way around a B-series, but I have no experience whatsoever with the new generation Civic engines.

Advice or thoughts??

 

It sounds like the thermostat is stuck open, since the engine temp. didn't increase very much. I'd recommend a coolant flush, along with a new thermostat and some new fluid. That should clear things up nicely.

 

I went over tonight and checked out her car... T-stat on that car is way easier than on my B18C... I'll pick one up tomorrow and swap it out and everything should be okay.

 

its freezing today...in NJ...NY

 

And of course, Honda is out of stock on the Thermostat... Really wanted to replace it with OEM, but for $11 with a lifetime warranty, it'll have to work.

 

Alright. Changed the thermostat and it's sortof better... Took the car out for a test drive, and it blew hot, and the temp gauge got almost to the middle. But it was about 10 degrees, so I didn't expect it to get much hotter...

Ran the engine for about 10 minutes before our 5-10 minute drive, and when we got back to my house, I popped the hood and the bottom radiator hose was still ice cold. I figured that it should be at least warm to the touch, but it was cold..

Any ideas what else I could check, or since the the needle was sortof normal and the heat was good, should I not worry about the cold hose (or is that normal)???

Really at a loss here, and I'd hate to have her spend money at a mechanic to fix a seemingly simple problem...

Thanks!

 

^^ Anyone??

 

Did you have the heater running, if so, you might have a clogged heater core.

 

Heater was definitely running. Full hot, blower on 3/4.

Maybe she needs a coolant flush/fill?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C_EJ8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Heater was definitely running. Full hot, blower on 3/4.

Maybe she needs a coolant flush/fill? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh, I thought you'd done that. Yes, I'd say it'd be a smart move. Every time I change my thermostat, I flush the system, so I assumed that you had. My apologies.

 

With my 05, If I run the heat on high before the engine is totally warmed up, I can actually watch the temp gauge go back to "C" when I slow down, or even drive steady, seems that the heater core is pretty efficent at removing the heat from the coolant as the cold air passes through it. It's been in the teens and low 20's in NJ and every morning I can get the heat to do the same thing. My Accord does the same thing.

Also the lower heater hose should still be cold given that you are taking any heat the engine is making right off it using the heater in the car. The thermostat shouldn't open unless the temperature gets to operatoinal temp . It's a small engine and isn't able to create heat that rapidly to make up for the loss. Ever had a leaky radiator and see how fast you can get the temp to go down just by running the heat on high in the summer? Same idea BUT the temperature of the air going through the heater core is fridgid now.


You could always use recirculate to reduce this effect but, you could fog up.