guys, hopefully i can get some help on the matter. yesterday i was cruising to a meet in upstate NY. on the way to the meet from NJ i encountered slow moving and stop and go traffic which caused my temp gauge to go dead in the middle. it was blazing hot but i still put my heat on which helped a little bit. after the traffic broke up my temp went back to normal until my caravan got lost and had to turn around and wait in some stop and go for a few mins.

this is when my car officially overheated in the middle of a busy intersection. the engine struggled but i had no choice but to keep moving. once i made it threw the intersection and back onto the highway my engine showed less signs of struggle and proceeded to cool down so i kept going.

so heres the issue. my OEM t-stat is new and i had my headgasket tested a few months ago and it was good. although it could be a faulty t-stat what else could be the cause? im not losing coolant. could there be air pockets in the cooling system?

this only seems to happen during long drives combined with stop and go. the following week i drove about the same distance to philly and with a combination of highway driving and stop and go. and no problems. but yesterday was in the 80's and 90's. maybe that played a factor.

 

can u hear ur fans kick on when u are stuck in traffic? If u know the thermo is good,I would flush the radiator, check fans,and swap out 50/50 mix for just water and redline water wetter.....it keeps ur engine much cooler than regular coolant.If all of that is done and it still persists,I would look into a replacement radiator,and or a cooler thermo.

 

thanks alot.

 

how old is the radiator? if it's never been actually flushed, it could be half-filled filled with gunk and crap and not doing it's job.

 

If you don't have cooling issues when the car starts moving, it's the fan. Make sure it's coming on.

 

thanks guys im leaning toward fan and radiator problems.

 

Huh? Normal operating temperature IS the middle of the gauge.

 

my car is typically below the middle of the gauge.

 

Definitely check your fans, but your needle should be dead center. You might have a bad ECT sensor.

 

X3 Check your fans are working correctly.

 

so i did my first test for troubleshooting the issues.

drove about 20 miles mixed with highway and stop and go. pulled into my garage and let it idle for 3 mins. the temperatures started to rise and reached a little over halfway on my gauge. but the fan never came on.

when i get to work. im gonna flush my radiator for the hell of it. but more than likely im just gonna buy a new fan switch and call it a day.

ill keep you guys updated.

 

what if you turn on the A/C? that should kick on both fans.

 

i dont have AC anymore. so that fan is gone.

 

There could be a problem with the wiring on the other fan then.

 

im gonna buy a fan switch at work tonight. hopefully they have one in stock. im also gonna flush out my radiator in a few mins.

 

when you bleed the system try to park the car on a slight incline, make sure all the air gets out. Also before you spend the money on a fan switch try jumping it out to see if the fan comes on. If it does than that may be your problem but doesn't mean 100% Also make sure you post what you found because I have the same exact problem and thermo and fan switch have been replaced, swapped relays with 2 known to be working along with new honda coolant and a thorough bleeding of the system. I'm too stubborn to hardwire the fan even though it'd be easy, I wanna know what the hell the problem is.

Gl, also if you need anything from the 97 2.2 cl helms let me know since I have one. The problem I'm talking about is on my civic but my cl does the same thing I just haven't spent any time diagnosing that car yet.

 

also hook the fan up directly to the battery to make sure the fan motor is good.

 

you shouldn't even need a fan for normal stop n go traffic, there's definately something wrong with your coolant system. probably a leak to the point where you're low on fluid, don't repetitively overheat your car, it'll destroy your headgasket first then warp your motor.

 

thanks for the advice b18koupe. i didnt get a chance to bleed the system on an incline. and i couldnt find one of those coolant funnels that cap of the radiator. so i used a normal funnel even though i dont like to use those.

and dagle im not leaking anywhere. my coolant level stays pretty consistent.

 

My fan is on and off all the time - especially in crowded or stop/go traffic.

You can also put the old second fan back in and hook it up with a relay to the first fan. I have also seen people just use one of the electronic thermostat type fans and just set it a bit higher than the first fan. Second fan will cycle if needed, but otherwise not run.

 

Hook up 12v to the fan motor and check it isnt stuffed. The motor went on mine
so i just got one from the wrecker. The housing on the fan can vary, it did on
the one i bought so i just switched the actual fan and motor to my original housing.
Goodluck with it.

 

yeah same thing happened to me turned out the fan switch was bad.