1999 CR-V 4WD EX (may be LX, not 100% sure, I can check if needed)

My radiator cracked a few months ago, and my friend and I replaced it (he did most of the work, I watched and learned everything he did). About a month later, my car began overheating again. We popped the radiator cap and it was almost dry. We flushed it again and it worked great for another month or so, then it overheated again. Now I can't go more than 3 days without having to pour coolant/water in the radiator.

I'm usually able to get by with heat on, windows down, and driving at least 40MPH when it overheats, but idling/driving slow puts the needle in the red almost instantly.

In addition to the overheating, my AC isn't working at all - ever since we replaced the radiator. Might the two things be related?

We replaced the thermostat thinking that was the issue, but it's still happening. My question is, what else should we check, and in what order?

 

Pop the hood and plug the fans and the a/c compressor back in. Since it overheated you may have a head gasket issue.

 

yep, sounds like he did it wrong. How did you fill it up and top it off to get the air bubbles out? how is the overflow res? Is it noticeably leaking anywhere? Is there smoke out of the exast, and how do your plugs and oil cap look?

 

He's pretty good at this stuff, not sure what's messed up. If somebody can post pics of how it's supposed to look that'd be cool, I can check against that. My forte is computers, and I'm slowly learning the car stuff as we go here. I may be able to get some pics of my car to post here and maybe somebody will catch something that he and I have been missing.

The fans are plugged in - I watched them get plugged in and saw them spinning when we tested the car - I'll check the AC compressor but I'm not sure that it was unplugged to begin with.

We did the flush right, no leaks, no smoke, spark plugs have been changed and oil is fine.

How might I go about checking the head gasket? I read that might be an issue and I pissed my pants when I saw the cost of replacing it...I'm broke enough as it is and I owe a ton of money to the state because the CHP is (well 99% of it anyway) a bunch of [censored].

 

Ok - [at least one] problem located.

Left fan was unplugged, AC Compressor is unplugged. I found the connector for the fan and got it plugged back in, but I was unable to find out where the black wire coming off the compressor is supposed to go...looks like it came out of the plastic piece it's supposed to be in...need some help there. Still need info on head gasket as well.

 

got any pics?

 

Sorry, forgot to update this thread amongst real life crap like working and sleeping.

The black wire coming from the AC compressor into the plastic connector somehow managed to come loose, and I couldn't get the wire back in. My friend and I did a DIY fix that's not super stable, but it's safe and working.

As for the head gasket, that's a test I can't afford right now, and the car is running which is about all I can ask for

Thanks for the replies :D

 

not to thread jack but i've got a chance to get a crv that has been overheated "severely" as he said for $900. is it worth it?

 

So we know it's a cr-v that's been severely overheated. That's not too much of a mental picture to see what you're getting here...
It could still be a great or terrible deal...

 

said that a lady drove it til it died and it was severly overheated. he said that it runs but not really drivable. he thinks that it would be cheaper to replace the motor than to fix it. just wondering if it's worth it

 

Not to thread jack, but *jacks thread*...

Anyway, for $900 it might be a good deal, but it depends on how "severely" it was overheated, and what exactly is broken on it. The info you need is best obtained through a local mechanic friend, preferably more reliable than mine It may not be the engine that's broken, maybe radiator/head gasket, in which case you'd be getting a pretty sweet deal (depending on mileage/year).

Now, not to thread jack back, but *jacks the thread back*

Both fans and AC Compressor are now plugged in and working. When I start the car, it shakes and makes a "chugging" noise until i give it a little gas, then it settles down. Still having issues w/ overheating. I'm going to try filling the radiator back up but I was told either there's hot/cold spots on the radiator (bought new and installed in January), or the water pump is dying (or both). Any suggestions on what I should do from here?

 

sorry about that!

but i would go ahead and throw a water pump on it. i know it's spending more money but it's cheaper than replacing the motor. that's why i threw my question on here because i don't know if i'm going to have to go through the same thing you are or not.

 

dont throw parts at it, figure it out, if you cant, find someone that can. We cant trouble shoot from here.

f22, 900 for a car, even a shell, is not bad. Start a new thread with more info. Make /model/year/condition - interior/exterior/brakes ect..... So the motors dead, get a new one.

 

This vehicle has to have a blown head gasket. If all this has been done, and it is still overheating, the gasket has blown and is pumping high-pressure, high-temperature exhaust gases into the cooling jacket in the cylinder head. The chugging in the morning is caused by coolant being sucked into the cylinder when the piston is headed down at the time the engine stops. Coolant will neither compress nor combust, so it has to be slowly expelled by the piston going up and down a hundred times or so til the plug dries out enough to spark. Just make sure someone runs a flat bar across the cylinder head to make sure it hasn't warped, or they can put all the gaskets in the world on it and it won't do any good.
It's also possible the head has warped or cracked from being driven all this time with a blown gasket.
Another one bites the dust!

 

thats just a stupid way to waste your money. a jdm motor only cost about $600. and its plug and play. drain the oil. if you see white milky substance you have a blown head gasket. $900 + $900 motor shipped. $1800 for a crv is not bad considering the blue book is around $7k in good condition.

 

I'm replacing the head gasket and water pump, as well as a few other parts (thermostat, timing belt, etc.) on my car. Total repair is about $1500.

 

Ok...here's something I know you guys can help me with

When I brought the car into the shop, it was giving two errors. P303 (3rd cyl. misfire) and P1399 (random misfire). There were no additional errors.

They just called me and told me that I need to spend $150 on an O2 sensor because it's bad, and that the error code only showed up after they reset the codes on the first two. The OBDII wasn't reporting this at all when the car was brought in.

So, I have two questions:
1) Does this sound like the shop broke it/unplugged it themselves, or does this sort of thing happen sometimes where the engine gives a misfire error and stops reading others, or something like that?
2) Should I buy the one for $68.99 shown here or should I get the next one up at $115?

 

Listen to the guy I quoted below, he knows what he is talking about.

From experience, I got that "Random Cylinder Misfire" code on my Civic after it had overheated due to a broken radiator. It kept appearing and would not stop, finally replaced the headgasket and now tha car does not overheat, I don't have missing cooloant and the car has run fine for 1.5 years now.

You are getting that Random Cylinder Misfire code because the coolant is leaking into the cylinder.

 

The O2 sensor is what I'm asking about now - does it make sense that the error code only showed up after clearing the cylinder misfire errors?

I had them do the O2 sensor for me anyway, though I'd like to find out where it is and see if they actually put one in or if they shafted me since the guy said they weren't charging for labor.