Car 88 Wagon RT4wd
D16A6
Running Extremely hot, but not hitting the red!

In the last week, I had my wagons AC repaired (bought a used compressor that worked to replace mine) and the system seems to be running fine, other than the AC condenser fan not working. I did not install the compresser myself, I had a shop do it.

However, it has suddenly started to run extremely hot (just below red or 3/4 "full" on the needle) Off and on. It will be steady for a day, the suddenly start moving around, even on shorter drives.

I have found it to be missing some coolant, which I ran and replaced.
I thought this would solve the problem, as it seemed liked "air bubbles". But it came back today. I added some more coolant (very little) and I just did a compression test:

170 160 175 180

Seems like a big variance, but still everything is above the "minimum".So I would think this is not a head gasket issue.

No oil visible in the coolant, no coolant in the oil that I can see on the dip stick.

Any ideas on what it could be other than head gasket? As of next friday, this car is going on a 18 mile drive, so I need to figure this out this weekend! Any help is apreciated!

 

get the condensor fan working first. you have your rad fan trying to do 2 jobs.

 

Is it possible thats the cause of my running hot problem? I always thought with the condenor fan not working, the only diffrence would be after the car sat stopped for a time, the air con might start blowing hot air. Is this not correct?

 

u need the condensor fan on always with the ac or it will overheat

 

^yeah. that condenser gets hot as ****, get that fan working!

 

I would be SUPER stoked if that was actually the problem. Head gaskets suck.

Ill give it a try and see what happens, thanks guys!

 

I think I may change the thermostat first, then have somone put some power directly to the fan to see whats going on there, but I wonder if its not actually the termostat......

 

The thermostat is a good place to start, I've gone thru this several times with Hondas and the thermostat has been the culprit more than half the time.

 

Okay so I did the thermostat quick after work today, and its not the thermostat.

Tommorow Im going over to a freinds shop in the morning to do some other things, and we will be testing the fan while we are there. hopfully its just a relay, and we can get the fan working and see if that is causing the problem.

 

You need to have the condensor fan running. Otherwise you will blow/ evacuate the a/c system.

just dont drive the car with a/c on until you fix the fan.

 

So we went ahead and got a new AC fan, and I have been driving the car no issue for a day.

Suddenly today, I saw the temperature spike a little, then come down again. I wasn’t sure what to think. I drove for a while more, it didn’t happen again.

I parked the car, and turned it off. When I came back (about 3minuets later) and put the key in (without starting it) I saw the temperature was sitting high again (about 3/4 of the way up the gauge), however once the car stated, (and the fans came on) it went back down to Normal temperature. I drove the car home, and for most of the way home (about 10 minuet drive) the car was fine. Just before I got home, I see the temp move up to the half way point and stay there (it usually sits just a little under half way, like all my Hondas have).

I’m a little stumped here. Anyone have any ideas? This really doesn’t seem like a Bad Head gasket to me. Fans are now working, any other thoughts? I’m going to check to see If there are bubbles in the coolant (Again). Is this normal for a EF/ED with AC? Never had one before so I just don’t know!

 

Sounds like your fan was a problem, and you still have air in your system. bleed the sytem real good with the bleeder valve with rad cap open and poor antifreeze in while its bleeding.
Also make sure car is warmed up so the thermostat is open.

 

From what I have read it doesn't seem to be the head gasket. A clear sign of the head gasket being bad will be easy to check.Just turn on your car and let it run for a min., don't let it get to hot or it will blow in your face. If you open the radiator cap and if you hear pressured air come out almost like when you open a soda can then you have a problem. but that doesn't seem to be your problem. I just swapped a b18 into a crx for my brother and his car would over head a block away from the house. we changed the thermostat twice and nothing. and bleed the coolant many times to make sure there was no air in it but nothing. the whole time we noticed that the engine itself was not really hot. so we when to the junkyard and pocketed a used fan switch, and bingo the car was never running hot it was just the fan switch that wasn't reading correctly. hope this helps you some.

 

I bled the system again yesterday, and drove it around with the air con on all Day. No problems what so ever. So hopefully after the fan, it was just a little air left over, we will see.