Just bought a 94 Prelude automatic 4 cylinder non-VTEC, driving it over 45+ for longer than 10-15 minutes starts to make the temperature rise. Radiator can be topped off and the fan will be on but this still happens. Fan also stays on for about five minutes even after car is totally off. There is a slight knocking noise (maybe a misfire?) as well. One person said it may be a blown head gasket, hoping its not but its all i have to go on right now. Any other ideas/possibilities/solutions? Thank you.

 

dang, man sorry to hear about your issue...im currently going through the same thing right now with my 93 lude with a swapped 22. it overheats but then it goes down.

anyhow have you tried replacing your t-stat. it could be that its getting stuck. i would start there cuz its cheap, easy to replace and you have the peace in mind that there is a new one in there. As soon as i get out of work i am heading over to pep boys to buy one for mine....

 

same issue w/ my 97 - start with the thermostat, if that does not work check your waterpump. If it is not those two pieces; you definitely have a bigger problem. Do you have an aftermarket radiator? If you do, then you need two fans in front of and behind the radiator, and you need thermo tec exhaust wrap for headers and down pipe - that solved my issues

 

i had same problems almost every cooling/heating components replace but still overheats. and it turns out the ground located under transmission was a little loose and coroded .. now no more overheating

 

I had the same thing happen to me, but not with that ground. I didn't have the one by the passenger headlight all the way tightened down, and I had to replace the one coming off the driver side of the valve cover.

CHECK GROUNDS! If your gauge says you're overheated, turn the car off and turn it right back on and see if you're still overheated or your grounds are ********.

 

It could very well be the gauge acting up but I would check your thermostat too. AFter my swap the temp gauge went strait to 3/4 temp or more instantly. Turns out it was the ground that connects to the drivers side motor mount wasnt connected. Its really weird how it works.

 

You could check to see if the car is running lean - could be a Main Relay issue. The often have problems with their main relay, the soldering isn't too great and crack can appear causing the fuel pump to not perform as consistantly as it should.


I've acutally got the problem where the guage shows that the car is overheating, but if I turn the car off and then on again it's sitting right on the middle temp.
Having headlights on seems to make the car appear to heat up faster too...

Could this be the grounding/earth issue mentioned??? (I'd not heard of that before)