I have a 93 eg LX with stock d15b7, since I have had the car, I have not taken it on a long trip, until a few days ago. I noticed after about 30 miles, and while going uphill, my temp started to rise, getting pretty close to the red
I turned up the heat full blast, and the temp slowly dropped to normal temps, went 20 more miles with the heat on, and stopped for an hour. got back on the road, and went the 50 remaining miles of my 100 mile trip, and temp stayed normal the whole way (was downhill most of the way), I drove around town, and only had the temp rise once while going up a hill, and while driving home the 100 miles had the temp go up while going up hill again. I flushed out my radiator, and it didint help, what else could it be?

 

it really sounds like you have an air pocket. did you check for any leaks or cracks in the radiator? it could also be your thermostat but usually when they fail it doesnt fix itself and they stay broken.

 

looked around, doesnt look like my radiator is leaking or cracked(im not loosing any coolant), and doesnt look like my water pump is leaking, and I would assume that if my water pump was broken, it would overheat even with the heat on full blast
I tried to relieve the air in the radiator, by opening up the bleed valve, and coolant shot out right away, so I dont think there is air in the system, unless I did it the wrong way.
I think the coolant might not be cirrculating properly, but not sure how to tell if it is.
I also read that it could be my head gasket? I did notice after the coolant flush that there was some white smoke coming out of the exhaust, but never noticed any smoke while driving, but didint notice any loss in power

 

civic plastics radiators are known to crack. Maybe a pressure test to check..

thermostat or fan switch..

Does the fan kick on when your at idle?

Did u bleed the cooling system correctly?


ahh, if it got hot, then the gasket might be shot..head mightve warped..

 

the fan does not turn on right away, but it does eventually turn on. I am not sure if I bled the system correctly

 

i completely forgot about the fans. at idle your temp will rise to the point where your fans WILL need to turn on.

this is also a good question, did you massage the upper hose to release the air pockets?

i may be wrong on this one but why would it matter if his hg is warped? as long as its not burning/losing coolant he should be ok right?

i wouldnt worry about the white smoke. its probably just spilled coolant from your flush or normal condensation. if its a lot of smoke then you have an issue and it should smell sweet if its coolant

*edit*
just saw you psoted

it wont turn on until it reaches a certain temp. i know on my rsx its when the ect reaches 204* so youre fine. as long as it "eventually" turns on you should be in the clear

 

ill have to do a search, and find the proper technique to bleed the air out, any other reasons my car would start to overheat, but then go back to normal with the heat on high?

 

here, since im in a good mood:

start car and let idle till up to operating temp.
Turn Heat on full blast

squeeze hoses to let out air and bubbles.. you fan should be kicking on... add coolant (50/50) as the level starts to go down

If you go thru this while the fan cycles 3 times, you should be good as long as bubbles stop coming to the surface.

during process, rev the engine a little (300 rpms) to get water flowing.

Once theres no more air, throw on the cap and see where your temp is at.

 

i think your thermostat is going bad. Like 2 month ago my eg8 was overheating on me badly. I Check the radiator fan and was still working. So then i decided to buy a new thermostat and it fix the problem.

 

thanks for all the replys, I will try to bleed the system when I get home, to see if that helps... if my head gasket was blown, would pumping the heat even help? or would it just overheat no matter what? cause it only overheated when I was going uphill, but the temp would drop when the heater is on

 

If it is warped, theres a chance of coolant in the cylinders or exhaust in the cooling system making air pockets.

Which is why its important to bleed the cooling system properly to troubleshoot the possibilities. Thermostat could be the issue, but we want to make sure before you go truckin off to the parts store.

 

I have the same problem with my girls accord. The only times it over heats is when going up a hill. I have replaced everything to the cooling system and still have this problem. Everyone says the engine is not used to going up the hills or that its working to hard. I hope you figure it out so that I can fix her car too.

 

holy ****, seems to be an epidemic

 

if the head gasket was bad, wouldnt I notice a loss in power? could a bad/ clogged radiator
give me the same problems that I am describing?

 

yes, compression would be low because it is escaping thru the gasket.

Check your oil to see any signs of coolant. check coolant to see any signs of oil.

 

I was feeling the hoses while it had been running for a while, and I noticed that the bottom radiator hose was not very hot, and it definitely didint feel like it had coolant going through it, and I couldnt really tell if the upper hose had coolant going through it, but there was coolant getting to the overflow?

 

when was the last time the water pump was changed? If all else doesn't work, this is your answer. Also if u want, justt ake the thermostat out and run it like that. no need thermostat :D.
*i think i saw ur post on Forumshawaii.net too lol
good luck, shoots.

 

haha, yup that was my post. I dont know when the water pump was last changed, but I think its working ok, cause im not overheating any other time that going up steep hills