My girlfriend's car's temp is rising from time to time. She drives like 10 minutes and then the temp starts to rise and then stays somewhere a little under the H.

Does HT know what it could be? I checked the radiator and hoses. They're all fine and I don't think there are any leaks.

 

Make sure that the coolant is the right level, try bleeding the system.

 

take off your radiator cap, and top it off with coolant /water. then start the car, have someone watch the gauge as you watch the bay. When the gauge climbs up pass the 2/3 mark, turn off the car, if the fan didnt turn on then thats your problem. If coolant squirts somewhere then thats your problem.

if her car doesn't overheat during highway driving and overheats during stop and go traffic, her problem is her fan.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ozne99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My girlfriend's car's temp is rising from time to time. She drives like 10 minutes and then the temp starts to rise and then stays somewhere a little under the H.

Does HT know what it could be? I checked the radiator and hoses. They're all fine and I don't think there are any leaks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

first off, how many miles does it have?
is there any leaks around the timing belt?

it good be numerous of things wrong. you can have a slow leak on a return line, your fan might me bad, the relay to the fan might be bad, thermostat, temp gauge.

so lets start with how many miles, and have you done any work to it lately?

 

200k miles. Replaced the radiator + hoses, and thermometer. She hasn't replaced the timing belt yet.

Thanks for all responses. This is very helpful.

 

are you sure the fan comes on?

is a stock thermostat in it? I will put money it's the termostat

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ozne99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">200k miles. Replaced the radiator + hoses, and thermometer. She hasn't replaced the timing belt yet.

Thanks for all responses. This is very helpful. </TD></TR></TABLE>

when were they replaced. were they replaced today, yesterday, last week, last month?

and when you say thermometer, do you mean thermostat?

 

** Yeah I meant the thermostat. She actually just had it replaced like a month ago. I'm thinking it's the fan too because she told me the car's level is normal on the highway.

But, she did tell me that when she threw the car into reverse, it spiked.


Modified by Ozne99 at 5:59 PM 8/12/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ozne99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">** Yeah I meant the thermostat. She actually just had it replaced like a month ago. I'm thinking it's the fan too because she told me the car's level is normal on the highway.

But, she did tell me that when she threw the car into reverse, it spiked.</TD></TR></TABLE>

mmm...i'm taking it she took it to a shop to have the work done. either way i would burb the system first. then i would look around the engine bay for any slow leaks.

now, have you noticed the fan kick on? to find out if the fan is good, you want to make up some jumper cables. with the cable you are going to disconnect the fan from the harness. connect the cable to the fan harness the take the cables and touch the + and _ terminals of the battery (on the harness, black is negative and what ever other color is pos).

if the fan kicks on then your fan is good and it's most likely a relay problem.
but this only if you fan is not turning on.

also, have you replaced the radiator cap?

 

How would I fix it if it's a relay problem? Get another return hose?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ozne99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How would I fix it if it's a relay problem? Get another return hose?</TD></TR></TABLE>

???????
if the relay is bad, they are found in the fuse box under the hood, just follow the diagram. you can go to honda and buy one new or you can hit up a junk yard and pay about $2 for one. so what i like to do is buy about $10-12 worth. it's a hit and miss kind of deal.

as for the return hose, there are a few return hoses that run behind the motor under the intake manifold. sometime those can break or dry rott and cause a leak.

 

what kind of thermostat? OEM? if not then there is your problem already gotta use OEM

 

my buddy had an accord that did this and it was a vapor lock what we did was took the rad. cap off and let it run for like 20-40min and once it stoped bleeding all the air out or the system we replaced the rad. cap that fixed his problem. it might also be the water pump but i really dont think so

 

Thanks for all answers! I'll try this as soon as I see the car (she's in San Diego). Thanks again!