My 94 civic ex keeps over heating, Ive already changed the thermastate and gasket, and checked the fuse so I tested the plug in from the harness to the fan motor and both terminals are sending power, would anyone know if the relay could be causing this or do I need to tear into the wires and find the short?

any advice would be great, thanks.

 

I don't mean this in a mean way, but have you checked your antifreeze? It seems like you might be thinking it is electrical, and you could have checked your antifreeze, but a small leak over time would cause your car to overheat

 

You can test the relay by

1. Get a paperclip
2. Remove the connector on the thermostat housing that is attached to the thermorswitch (fan switch)
3. Connect each end of the paper clip to the connections on the plug (harness)

This should activate the relay (hear a click?)

You can also try burping the system

1. Let the car cool and take the rad cap off
2. Make sure the coolant is full (base of the neck), if not then fill
3. Start your car and let it idle for about 15 mins or until the fan activated (w/ cap off)

Be sure to watch your temp just in case the fan doesnt come on when its supposed to. I know you jumped the connection and the fan works, but does it activate on its own?

Also, check your resevoir... do you see a black flim?

 

no I already checked the hoses and clamps, and flushed it out, I know its electrical because the fan doesn't come on, my bad I should have mentioned that.

how long do I have to be trail? five post a day sucks.

 

thanks 95ProjectEJ1 Ill try that today

 

well in that case, I would try the relay before I tear into wires. I always hate electrical problems. But the 30 dollar relay (Dealer price) beats the hell out of digging through wires if it really isn't necessary

 

No problem man. If when you let it idle in the driveway and the fan doesnt activate you can

1. take two pieces of wire
2. disconnect the connection on your fan shroud
3. run the wires from the +/- terminals on the battery to the +/- on the connector (on the fan shroud... this will give the fan power by bypassing the switch/relay)

Do this with the car off. If the fan comes on now, then it could be either your thermoswitch or relay. The paperclip test will determine which of the two it is. If you hear a *CLICK*, then its the thermoswitch... and if you dont hear that *CLICK* its a relay.

OEM is about 40-60 for the relay and I believe the thermoswitch runs about 20. I just replaced all of my cooling components... overheating is a pain

 

thats great thanks.

can you give me some advice on the brakes, I cant find a leak anywhere but There is air in the break lines constantly, when I bled them it seemed as though there was very little brake fluid in the front driver and rear passenger line, I looked at the proportional valve (I think thats what its called) and its fine. also checked under the dash and around the brake booster and master cylinder and no leaks.

 

so I found ou that it was the thermoswitch, I didn't have time to go get one so i figured I would just by pass the circuitry for no so i can drive it. but while wiring the fan up to a switch at the last minute the ground wire fried itself along with the switch fuse and aux. wire and power. I've gone over my diagram many times and cant seem to see what went wrong, luckily the whole fuse box wasn't damaged.

can anyone tell me if this is wrong:
it was a 3 prong switch.
1. switch ground to chassis
2. switch aux. to fuse box
3. switch power to fan power
4. fan ground to chassis

noted if there was a short shouldn't the fuse have blown, it never blew just melted.

its one problem after another.

 

ok before anyone laughs at me yeah I know I did the wiring totally wrong, my bad.

so after 2 weeks of this the car is still overheating or just building up to much pressure. I checked the thermostat, relay, fuse, fan, and thermoswitch. I don't have an temp. gun so I cant tell if the engine is really overheating or if its pressure. there coolant in the reservoir is clean no sludge or anything I also replaced the radiator cap, and the radiator was replaced 4 months ago and does not leak. the temp. gage in the car only goes to normal temp. then stops.

can someone, anyone help me???

 

Hmm. After you replaced basically everything it is still overheating? If only there was a way to check the water pump. Have you ran a compression test?

 

no not yet? I plan on going after work to get a temp. gun but not sure exactly what its called. I've never had this happen before. this may sound stupid but what would a compression test show if the car was overheating or building up excess pressure?

 

A compression test would show if you had a leak in one of your cylinders (hg). Are you filling up with coolant every so often?

 

oh I didn't think of that, no theres no water getting into the cylinders, if there was i would of noticed when changing the sparkplugs and changing the oil, the car runs great until the coolant starts steemming out of the resevoire it also blew the hose that comes off the head.( forgot what that hose was called) I cant think of what it could be, and I only have 1 or 2 post left. But I was told that because the temp gage seemed to be working properly and I checked Every thing else that it most likely was just building up to much pressure. what would cause to much pressure so sudden.

why cant iiiiiiiittttttt jjjuussstttt workkkkk????????

 

My brother has a 95 EX that had trouble over heating, I changed his thermostat and gasket, did a radiator flush and it helped, but would still over heat. The only other thing that I recomended besides a waterpump, was to replace the radiator cap. He replaced that, and it hasnt overheated since.

just another cheap thing to try, before you dump money into it.

 

ok I've come to the conclusion that it is ether overheating or most likely building to much pressure does anyone know if the water pump would cause to much pressure if not working properly? Im almost certain that its not overheating because it would have to be a short in the harness, if it was. this is my last post of the day and will continue to look to see any advice given.

Thanks everyone

and if its not the water pump could the hoses cause this?

 

I would imagine that even if your thermostat is working and your water pump isnt that water would not be able to circulate. How many miles are on the car?

 

allright not trail anymore!!!
There is around 120,000 on it

 

i forgot how the water flows, but the top hose on the radiater is the one flowing into the radiator? it had what i thought was to much pressure. you couldn't squeeze it at all.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by darkwater_ghost &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">allright not trail anymore!!!
There is around 120,000 on it </TD></TR></TABLE>

did you have the water pump replaced along with timing belt yet?? usually supposed to do that at like 90k

 

no but if replacing the water pump will fix it, I will replace the timing belt, if I remember correctly I have to take the engine mount, wheel, timing cover, belts and I think a few other parts off to get to it.

 

well..im not saying that its definitely your problem...but its possible, if you havent changed it yet, it couldnt hurt.

my old accord used to over heat too..coolant was leaking straight from the water pump, the impeller/bearing were shot..changed my thermostat first and still heated up...then got my timing belt/water pump done and problem disappeared

 

thanks. do you know if when the water pump does start going bad would it cause overheating or is it possible that its not circulating and building pressure, the whole deal is that the fan isn't getting the signal to come on and the gage stays at normal though I'm blowing hoses and steaming from the reservoir?

 

hmm, that im not sure of...that didnt happen to me..was the thermostat put in the right way??

 

Wait wait... the fan isnt coming on? Did you check/replace the thermoswitch and also check the relay? Im thinking that one of the two were bad and that you might have switched something up when you messed with the wires.