ok here is the situation. 89 hatchbak civic. car overheats with a/c on while driving uphill. a/c was installed by previous owner -- a/c fan did not work but i fixed so both fans are operating.

im planning on buying a new radiator so here are a few questions
1. which brand/type of radiator would you recommend?
2. do the shorter but thicker radiators have more volume compared to stock radiators? if so would this take care of my overheating issue?

any suggestions will help. thanks.

 

uhh ac on and it overheats? what makes you think the rad is bad? so this is a dx and the prev owner put all the ac parts in to make it work. when your driving without the ac is the car fine? and a stock radiator would work just fine..

 

i dont know if its a dx (theres no emblem... i think its the standard model) but its got a d15b1 and i dont think a/c came stock on this car... and yes previous owner put a/c in. no problem when driving around with a/c off... with a/c on it'll overheat if outside is extremely hot or if i am puttin stress on motor by driving uphill.

i dont think theres anything wrong with the radiator i was just assuming with a new aftermarket radiator (maybe one with even higher volume) would help keep the temperature down.

im going to try replacing radiator cap to make sure boiling point is kept at what its supposed to be... but im jus asking for suggestions on what i can do to keep the temp under control while driving with a/c on n puttin stress on motor.

 

i would try maybe seeing if the flow could be restricting in the radiator, aluminium tends to kinda corrode with the coolant and enough of that could clog up the little radiator passages causing it to overheat...

 

well im pretty sure my stock radiator isnt clogged... and i still want to upgrade to a performance radiator so.