So I have a surging idle problem that has slowly gotten worse over the last few months. For a while it was a little bit while it was cold. Now almost all the time. Well last night i was driving it (im a delivery driver) and it started sputtering a little in first and second and then the heat started shooting up. Went from the the center of hot and cold to the quarter hot mark and kept rising. I got it parked. let it cool for 2 hours then tried to drive it 4 miles home. Didn't make it because it shot up again and i shut it off right away and I "walked it" the rest on the way. When I turn on the accessory. The fan should come on right? Its now. We check the fan by hotwiring it. It still works. Any things I should check?

 

If you can help me. It will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

My first thought is a bad thermostat. How is the coollant level? is it low in the rad is there any coolant in the overflow tank?

 

Well i put coolant in about week and a half ago. BUT i checked it. And it all burnt up. I dont know if this was b4 or after the near overheat

 

This sucks. I gotta try and fix it today. And don't know where to start

 

nothing?

 

How do you know it burnt up? Is it blowing white smoke? Do you know if you have a leak somewhere? You should check the thermostat first though, it might be stuck closed. To check it start the car and let it idle until the coolant starts warming up. Check the main upper and lower radiator hoses and tell us if they both get hot, only 1 gets hot, etc....

oh yeah, just for the future, make sure you make your thread titles specific, such as "Civic idle and overheating problems"

oh yeah and another, what year civic is this?

 

thermo is stuck. replace. surging idle is from air in the lines.

 

I had a very similar issue..
First, as mentioned by instructor, check your Thermostat.. it could have fused shut.. in which case, could limit the circulation of water..
Then, make sure there are no busted hoses.. I usually drive until the temp gauge goes to middle, then turn car off, check for leaks in bay..
If no leaks, and thermostat looks ok, check things like radiator cap, plugged radiator, or perhaps you have broken fins on your water pump..
With me: I had to change thermostat and some hoses and the radiator.. did the work myself, so, was only the cost of parts.. around 150 bucks.. good luck

 

This is a 95 honda civic. And yes I had White smoke whenever i gave it gas. And checked the coolant res. It was dry. I'll add some anti freeze and let it heat up and see what happens then.

 

whit smoke from the tail pipe is never good it points to a blow headhgasket.

 

Oh no.... That would suck!!!

 

+1

 

superbean, even though it has white smoke. Couldnt that just be maybe some oil in the spark plugs?

 

I hope this doesnt cost a ton of cash. I'm poor

 

It all depends on how good you are at working on your car. To pay someone to do the work is going to be around 400 to do it your self figure on less then half that if things aren't to bad. First things first time to fnd out for sure if the head gasket is blow (hg from now on). There are several was to do so you can run a comp test, have the coolant tested for exhaust gasses, cheep test top off coolant run car until warm open hood and see if overflow bottle is full, with the engine cold open rad cap fill coolant start car with cap off wait for temp to come up watch for coolant to bubble. The first 2 test are the best way to find a bad hg. I would still bet that the tstat failed and caused the car to over heat and that in turn caused the head to warp. Here is a quick list of parts you will need if you need to replace the hg . GET A SHOP MANUAL you will need a headgasket,valve covergasket, tstat. You should replace your timing belt, and water pump if it hasn't been changed. Also find a good machine shop to have the head checked and trued if needed. Tools a selection of wrenches, socket set and ratchet, tourqe wrench, large braker bar if doing the timing belt. Plan on spending a ood 2 days doing your first hg

 

if its not your thermostat it could be your water pump. my friends 92 EG hatch had the same problem minus the idle surging. he fixed it by replacing the water pump
good luck and keep us updated

 

yes. white smoke is probably hg. im guessing it overheated due to the thermo failing then blew the hg. hope you didnt drop a sleeve from hydrolock. that will be costly.

 

The surging idle usually comes from some sort of intake leak. One main cause is the FITV, or fast idle thermo valve, under the throttle body. To check it, you remove the intake tube, then put your finger over the lower small hole inside the throttle body while running, after it warms up. It will have suction if the FITV is leaking. There is a way to screw it back together, google it. Otherwise you have a leaking gasket or vac line somewhere after the throttle body.

One way you can kinda check the t-stat is to turn your heater on high (after filling with coolant and warming up). That will circulate water from the head to behind the t-stat, using the heater core as the radiator. Bouncing or fast-moving temp neddle usually indicated a trapped air bubble in the coolant (or no coolant), and white smoke out the exhast ususally indicates a blown HG.

FYI A blown HG in a Civic usually won't cost much vs other cars. A local backyard mechanic could probably do it for around $150 (I would, at least) - a sohc HG is under $30 from a Honda dealership's online store.

 

+1 I would have said the same.

 

i think surgin idle might be from no coolant. if you think about it there will be less resistance on the water pump blades with air compared to if there actually were water in the lines. but if its surging pretty bad or jumping rpm in large amounts it could be cause of other things like fitv, iacv, vac leak or even iat.

 

OK so I added more Antifreeze. Let it heat up to the normal drove it around a little and no over heat but the cooling fan NEVER kicked on. And The hearer is blowing cold.... WILL NOT HEAT up. Maybe that says something?

 

The cooling fan doesn't normally come on until you've been idling for a while. It almost never comes on while you're driving. From the sound of it think blown headgasket, it often makes more sense to replace the engine than to put a headgasket it in it if its a stock D-series and its been overheated.

 

I took off the Valve cover and there was oil in one of the spark plugs. So That could be the smoke. BUT, There is a yellow sludge on the valve cover. What the hell is this?

 

did you change the valve cover gasket??