Hey everyone, I am VERY new to the Honda world , raised in Chevy and dodges, but bought my first car and got a Honda, but know nothing about them.
I spent $750 on my 1989 Honda Civic EF with no muffler and needing lots of work, but I thought I knew my cars, but this is way out of my know how.
I had the car for about two weeks and finally got a muffler on it, all stock, soon after it started overheating. I checked the fluid, re-wired the fans to make sure they turn on, replaced the thermostat and even took it to a radiator shop, nothing has made it stop. There is no way to know when it is going to overheat and it goes all the way into the red and soon after starts to cool down.
My car looks as if it has been in an accident, looks like it rearended something bigger than it and my radiator does not have any of its clamps holding it to the car intact.
very lost on what to do, any suggestions would be great!

 

Do a complete coolant flush you might have air in your system. If that doesn't work check the thermostat and fan switch. And if all fails you might have a crack in your motor.

Also when flushing and filling your radiator turn on the car even if it has no coolant and then start pouring that fluid in. This helps to prevent air from getting into your system. Good luck and welcome to the world of Hondas.....not so easy as they seem huh ? lol

 

first of all, seal every point of hose to radiator and hose to block with the proper clamp, fully tightened. you can get them at any auto parts store for like $5. once you've done this, flush and bleed the system.

after that, start the car, and let it fully warm up at idle, and grab the lower radiator hose with your hand, it should be fully warm.

if its cold, you might have a stuck closed thermostat. also, there are multiple coolant temp sensors on a d-series motor. although the 2nd one really only operates the guage in the cluster.

its also not a good idea to fully overheat a motor... you can warp the head and cause all kinds of anomalies. these motors are aluminum, not iron.

dont bother doing any troubleshooting until you've eliminated the air from your system, as said above.

 

yea definately do whats said above to get the air out of the system and see if that fixes it, if not its possible you have a blown head gasket