My 97 (manual tranny) seems to be overheating when I'm in neutral. Its weird, when I'm driving it seems fine. But after a while of driving, I notice the tempature gauge starts to climb when I'm at a red light...or whenever I'm not in gear driving. Another thing, if I see it climbing and I rev it a few, the needle starts to go down.


Anyone ever experience this?

 

Sounds normal to me, specially in 100+ degree heat and the a/c on.

 

lol, actually, the A/C is off. Matter of fact, my A/C don't work.

Its freaken hot though.

 

I forgot to mention, the cooling fan turns on when the needle is climbing...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by avargas28 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My 97 (manual tranny) seems to be overheating when I'm in neutral. Its weird, when I'm driving it seems fine. But after a while of driving, I notice the tempature gauge starts to climb when I'm at a red light...or whenever I'm not in gear driving. Another thing, if I see it climbing and I rev it a few, the needle starts to go down.


Anyone ever experience this?</TD></TR></TABLE>

When your in neutral or at a stop, your water pump isn't spining as fast as when your reving the motor, therefore less water is flowing.

When your driving, more air is being passed through your rad. therefore your rad is able to cool down your car better. Like I said, this is normal in 100+ degree weather, as long as you don't go over like 3/4 or get into the H. Mine gets up to 1/2 at the most on a hot day, in traffic with the a/c on. In the winter though, my gauge rarely gets above 1/3.

 

In honesty, I think my car is due for a new water pump anyways. I inherited this car from my brother and I know he didn't do any major maintenance to it besides oil changes.

And I have no clue what the guy before him did to the car. It has 130k miles on it so who knows if the 100k maint. was done.

BTW, is there anyway to find out besides car fax and written records? Can the human tell whether the water pump was worked on or not?

 

I had a question...it might be a dumb one but Im not to car savy...


Next to the radiator there's a tank that has a hose connected to one another...what is suppose to go in there? I noticed that its nearly empty. If anyone has photos, please share them too.


Thanks,

 

ok, so I took it to a mechanic and he said he doubts its the water pump.


He said its either the thermostat, radiator clogged, or not enough water.

 

or your coolant mix ratio has too much coolant and not enough water. That little plastic bottle is your overflow. it has a "max" line on it, just top it off to that line with fresh coolant mix.

Also, when the car is cool, take off the radiator cap and look at the level. if its low, that's your problem. and you may have a small leak somewhere if it is low.

 

nahh, the fluid in the radiator is not low. He suggessted flushing the radiator.


I'm going to give that a shot first thing tomorrow morning and see how that goes.

 

I would start with changing the thermostat, and flush the radiator, but if none of that helps you may have a bad radiator. If you decide to change the water pump go ahead and do the timing belt. This is my first time posting so exuse me if it is incorect.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by myteggy95 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would start with changing the thermostat, and flush the radiator, but if none of that helps you may have a bad radiator. If you decide to change the water pump go ahead and do the timing belt. This is my first time posting so exuse me if it is incorect.</TD></TR></TABLE>

nahh, you sound just about right. That's my process. Gonna go pick up some coolant and a thermostat at the honda shop tomorrow morning and get that started. Mechanic said radiator seemed fine.


Water Pump will eventually be replaced when I get some more $$. Mechanic said it shouldn't be the water pump though. Im just gonna replace it for preventive measures.

 

Nevermind....I think I found out what the problem is. I believe my radiator is low on fluid. My resovoir is below the max line too. I'm an idiot..my bad. The reason I didn't believe it was low was I opened it up...just glanced at it and noticed fluid. The fluid I saw was fluid laying on the radiator opening thing.


Is adding a bit of water ok just for tonight? I plan on having it flushed out tomorrow morning.

 

Yes adding water is perfectly fine. And your overflow tank is supposed to be below the MAX line, lol.

 

i had the same problem, there was air bubbles in my radiator and ripped my upper coolant hose. dont be dumb like me and make sure you bleed your radiator!

 

So I added water to the radiator....about a full normal size drinking water bottle.

Took the car out and didn't see my needle climbing at all. Granted it was really cool tonight. However, my fan did come on a few times but the tempature gauge didn't really move at all

 

anyone mind telling me how I'm supposed to bleed the radiator? Some quick instructions would be appreciated.

 

next to your upper rad hose going back to the motor there is a little nipple...you can't miss it...I believe its a ten...run some clear hose like the one used on your windsheild wiper lines...make sure to use a bottle with some coolant or water in it and submerge the hose in it so only air comes out and liquid in....helps to have a friend give the car some gas while u have the bleeder open to rush more air out...i did it in my DA and it never overheatd again...it had tons of air from when i changed upper and lower hoses..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SPOONfed-Rex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">next to your upper rad hose going back to the motor there is a little nipple...you can't miss it...I believe its a ten...run some clear hose like the one used on your windsheild wiper lines...make sure to use a bottle with some coolant or water in it and submerge the hose in it so only air comes out and liquid in....helps to have a friend give the car some gas while u have the bleeder open to rush more air out...i did it in my DA and it never overheatd again...it had tons of air from when i changed upper and lower hoses..</TD></TR></TABLE>

I just looked in my motor and saw no nipple. I followed the upper hose that connects from the radiator to the engine. I did see a little brass screw that will require an allen wrench to unscrew. Is that what you were talking about?

 

I'm not sure all OBD2 cars have this nipple. You can bleed the system without that nipple tho.

When the car is cold, get a jack under the front center jacking point of the car, and jack it up a few inches, enough so that where the radiator hose connects to the top of the radiator (at the cap), is higher than the thermostat. It *should* be a bit higher on level ground, but jacking the car up a couple of inches will only help. You don't need to get the wheels off the ground or anything though.

Now, take off the radiator cap, and set it aside. Start the car and have your can of coolant ready. As the car idles, any air bubbles will travel up the top radiator hose and top tank of the radiator, and come out of the fill neck. top off with fluid as necessary. When there are no more bubbles, let the car continue to idle until the fan kicks on and off. Top off the overflow can too, then replace the cap, and you should be done.

 

Had my friend do it for me. \


Problem solved. I ran it for a few....parked it in the drive way, reved it for a few second until the fan came on and no over heating.

easy as that. Im an idiot.