my friend just picked up a 89 civic dx and is now having some troubles with it one week later.
we would release the clutch and floor the gas and the car would barely move at all, and the tempature gauge would go all the way to H when at running temp and on idle but when we drive the car it would go down to were its suppose to be, i think it needs a new temp sensor.

anyone have any idea what either could be?

 

Thermostat? And you need to adjust your clutch cable?

 

No its not that.. i have a 88 dx and it did the same thing and it was the head gasget.the loss of power might be because of the typ of blow on the head gasget. what you need to do is take the oil cap off when the car is cold and check the bottem of the cap, if the cap has a milk like fome on it thin you need to fix.Also take the cap off the radeator how ever you spell it and start the car. if the water starts to shute out and there is air,thats a head leek.

 

Is the radiator fan working? I would check that first. It should cycle on and off before your engine gets that hot. if it is working I would replace the thermostat. If that is not the fix, you may have a bigger problem (Headgasket?).

 

yea it might be the fan too so check every thing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kialeh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No its not that.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

How would you know

 

maybe coz i work on cars every day

 

And your saying that there is no possibility that his overheating issues are caused by a faulty thermostat?

 

thermostat do go out but for a honda it take a lot of heet to do so. it can be the thermostat but befor he go's taking the engine apart check the oil, water and fan 1st.if there is nothing wrong thin go for the thermostat. the power loss is the part that is the prob......it can be the clutch cable. but if the car was running good at first and now its not thin somthing is wrong and needs to be fixed. Do you have a nastey smell coming from the engin?? cozz if you do it can be that your friends clutch is sliping.

 

Ooo and if the thermostat is out, the car will be running hot all the time because the water will have no time to cool down. a thermostat can go bad 2 ways,#1 the thermostat will stay opened making the car run hot or #2 the thermostat will stay closed and that will make the car run hot too.

 

i just took my thermo out and it worked fine lmao. its kinda like when you put a model together or a car and have pieces left over lol not saying its the best thing to do but i didnt see any diff before my car overheated

 

what year is your car and do you have your fan working all the time??? its true with some car that if you take the thermostat out it will be ok but only if the radiator is so big and or you fix the fan up so it will stay one all the time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kialeh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">#1 the thermostat will stay opened making the car run hot or #2 the thermostat will stay closed and that will make the car run hot too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If the thermostat stays open the car doesnt get hot

It constantly allows the coolant to run through the radiator, meaning the engine will run cold at times


And since when is heat the sole cause of thermostat's failing?

 

LOOK im not trying to fight with you,,,we all know about cars here and i did not go to school for 5 years to have some kid tale me how to work on cars. yea like i said if the radiator is so big the car will be ok but if you do your math about thermostat's you will know that in some old cars it is used for the heater and new cars it is for the heater and to keep the car cool. a thermostat works by temp from the water in the engine. when the water gets hot thin the thermostat will open and the cool water in the radiator will go thru the engine cooling the thermostat making it close so the water in the engine can get hot. if the thermostat is open all the time how dos the water have the time to cool off???? if you have a big radiator thin more air will cool the water down but like a small little 1.5 civic the radiator is small and not much air can pass thru the radiator so you need to have 2 fans working all the time to keep it cool without the thermostat SO please lets not fight and do what every one is here to do, help out and get help. i am 30 somthing years old and dont have the time for the droma.


Modified by kialeh at 2:00 PM 1/30/2008


Modified by kialeh at 2:17 PM 1/30/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kialeh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">LOOK im not trying to fight with you,,,we all know about cars here and i did not go to school for 5 years to have some kid tale me how to work on cars. yea like i said if the radiator is so big the car will be ok but if you do your math about thermostat's you will know that in some old cars it is used for the heater and new cars it is for the heater and to keep the car cool. a thermostat works by temp from the water in the engine. when the water gets hot thin the thermostat will open and the cool water in the radiator will go thru the engine cooling the thermostat making it close so the water in the engine can get hot. if the thermostat is open all the time how dos the water have the time to cool off???? if you have a big radiator thin more air will cool the water down but like a small little 1.5 civic the radiator is small and not much air can pass thru the radiator so you need to have 2 fans working all the time to keep it cool without the thermostat </TD></TR></TABLE>


You need someone to tell you how to use proper grammar and punctuation though.

There are so many wrong statements in your paragraph I dont know where to start. If you went to school for 5 years to work on cars, then from what you just said, you need to go back to school for another 5.

No offense.

 

i know that my spelling is bad and that is because i cant spell that good at all but when it comes to cars for me its not about spelling. No offense takin but some peeps have that probl...it dos not meen that im dumb and dont know nothin...i have A.D.D if you know what that is and the thing that im good at doing is working on cars


Modified by kialeh at 2:57 PM 1/30/2008

 

if the thermostat is open all the time, the car will overheat...its just recirculating the hot fluid. at least that's what i've been told.

 

Thank you...yea with older cars the fan works off the engine and keeps the car cool, but what ever the timp is out side like in this case, "it is winter" the car might be ok, but in the "summer" there will be overheating.



Modified by kialeh at 4:40 PM 1/30/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jamison1486 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if the thermostat is open all the time, the car will overheat...its just recirculating the hot fluid. at least that's what i've been told. </TD></TR></TABLE>

this is right... if it is constantly circulating it doesnt have time to cool down when its goin through the radiator usually it happens when ur goin down the highway for a long period of time but stays cool when ur driving around town.. and i know that from experience

 

thank you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jamison1486 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if the thermostat is open all the time, the car will overheat...its just recirculating the hot fluid. at least that's what i've been told. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I had to replace my thermostat which was stuck open, and it never went above the cold line. If the thermostat is stuck open, it is constantly circulating through the radiator to cool it back down again. When the thermostat closes it lets the engine warm back up again. It open and closes to keep the engine at a constant temperature (opening when it gets warmer, closing when it cools down).

I dont like E-fighting. I just dont like being told that im wrong, especially when it hasn't been ruled out as being a possibility.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ~sp33~ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

If the thermostat stays open the car doesnt get hot

It constantly allows the coolant to run through the radiator, meaning the engine will run cold at times


And since when is heat the sole cause of thermostat's failing? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, this is very much not always the case. This seems to be a very common misconception. I bought a full size chevy blazer when I was younger, and it had an overheating problem, I didn't think to check to see if the thermostat was bad, because both hoses were getting hot, so I assumed it was opening, and operating fine. Later found out that the previous owner had removed it, installed a new one, and never had an issue again. Many cars will overheat as the coolant does not spend enough time in the radiator. The thermostat is very important to have in there!

 

ive ran multiple cars without thermos and with "modded" thermostats and never had an overheating problem. i see the thoery behind coolant moving too fast without one but its never caused any of my cars to overheat. i also have drilled some of them to help restrict flow a lil .. i would check to see if your fan is working first. then check HG, there is a tester u can use to see if exh gas is getting into your coolant too.

 

no... I think you mean this.

The engine has coolant in it. It sits around the cylinder walls. Once the engine reaches the optimum temperature the thermostat opens to let the coolant into the radiator thus cooling it before it re-enters the engine.

To re-hash everything that has already been said, a thermostat that is stuck closed doesn't let the coolant leave the engine thus it overheats. One that is stuck open does not allow the coolant to stay inside the engine long enough to warm up properly.

 

i dont like e-fighting either sp33 . weather, radiator, coolant levels, how long you're driving, yada yada yada all make a difference. if the thermo is stuck its gonna overheat. if its open all the time...in my opinion there seems to be a lot of variables to consider as mentioned above. and it seems that the open thermo being ok/bad is up in the air. im no mechanic, just a thinker. either way, i hope you figure it out. good luck man.