my car over heats after about 20mins of driving... when i feel the upper radiator hose its hot and the lower radiator hose is cold. i was think maybe its the t-stat but im not positive does anyone else have an ideal?

 

T stat sounds like its stuck closed. are u leaking any anti freeze?

 

it's cycling correctly. coolant enters the upper rad hose hot from the engine, then transfers heat through the rad, and exits the lower rad hose cold. this is proper.
is the fan coming on? does it overheat when idling? or driving?

 

WTF are you talking about?!?!?


OP you just need to go to Advance Auto or whatever is near you and get an OEM thermostat and gasket.

 

Do you have heat? That right there will tell you if the t-stat is opening and cycling correctly. I have seen a cracked head cause this problem with good parts.

 

it's a common misconception that a cold lower rad hose=improper cycling. this is false.
if you don't believe so, i want you to explain why you believe it to be true. and think first about the placement of the t-stat and the route the coolant takes during its operation

 

OP listen to the advice in my post above.
This is a Honda we are talking about here, don't really know of anything else that goes with what you saying though........

If the lower radiator hose is cold it simply means the thermostat has NOT opened and NOT let the coolant surrounding the cylinders flow back into the radiator to cool down...............

 

no. that would make the lower rad hose hot, as coolant would not be circulating as it should be and heat would transfer from the cylinders to the coolant BEFORE the t-stat, and yada yada yada, the story goes on..
however, a cool UPPER rad hose may indicate a stuck closed t-stat

 

You are crazy the heat from the anti-freeze heats the wax on the thermostat causing it to open. You are a nut that is why we have a thermostat. It stays closed to warm the motor when the motor reaches operating temp the thermostat open. forum troll go run around the block. change the thermostat and new gasket!!

 

^^i think you need to re-read the thread. during normal operation, yes, that is how it works. but he was talking about a stuck t-stat. a stuck closed t-stat will not cause a cool lower rad hose. if you disagree, i'd like to hear your reasoning.
and unless you're under the age of 14, you should really refrain from childish name calling

 

It is stuck, stuck closed.
It's cool because there is NO coolant flowing through it.

 

Jeezzzz, this has become pissing contest., and without getting into it...
To OP, EgK2o09, there are a number of reasons why your car is overheating, a stuck thermostat is just one of them, other then engine overheating, a cold upper rad hose is the most common symptom of a thermostat that is stuck closed, [no coolant flow.]

If the upper rad hose is hot it is a good indication that the thermostat is opening, but no indication of how much it is opening, if it was stuck closed it would take a lot less then 20min. for the car to over heat.

The other possibilities are a bad water pump, a restriction, [plugged rad] or some other restriction and there are others, but the above are the most common.

So I would start with the cheapest/easiest, replace the thermostat, if that does not solve the problem have the system flushed, you can test for blockage in the rad by symply removing the lower rad hose, and use a garden hose to try and fill the rad, if flow out of the lower outlet can not "keep up" with what you ar putting into the rad, [rad filling up and not draining out fast enough] the rad has "blockage, replace the rad, a blocked rad is not uncommon on a car as old as yours.

If flow through rad is good, [thermostat is new] then your problem is the water pump, also not uncommon on an older car, time to replace the pump, do a timing belt at the same time if it is not already new. 94

 

Haha t-stat thread gon wild

 

how does that even make sense?
look, i don't come on this site to banter.
i'll break it down for you, as the operation of a typical honda cooling system is really very simple:
energy is released in the form of heat through the cylinder walls. this heat is then transferred to the coolant through the water jackets in the block surrounding the sleeves. when this coolant in the block reaches a certain temperature, say roughly 70 degrees, the thermostat opens before the upper rad hose allowing the hot coolant into the radiator where the heat is transferred into the atmosphere. the lower temperature coolant then is pulled from the bottom of the rad, via the lower rad hose, by the waterpump. and the cycle begins again. i have excluded the heater core in this cycle, but it is irrelevant in THIS "argument". unless the op is not getting heat through the vents.

now that we understand this simple cycle, you tell me how a stuck closed t-stat, trapping coolant in the block, and therefore lower rad hose, is going to keep that coolant cold.
i'm sorry, but unless our cars magically defy the laws of heat transfer, it won't
i'm not saying it indefinitely isn't a stuck t-stat causing the overheating, but rather pointing out that a cooler lower rad hose does not indicate a stuck t-stat

 

but anyways, back to trying to help the op here.
is your radiator cap opening and closing as it should? allowing coolant into the reserve and back into the cooling system? a faulty rad cap can cause excess pressure causing overheating
rad fan coming on?
better yet, when does this overheating occur?

as stated prior, you want to start with the cheapest possibilities, with as little guess work as possible. pretty much a given for any repair. as always, try and isolate the problem.

 

JUST TAKE THE THERMOSTAT OUT!!.. if it overheats again, then the engine is going... (GRANTED - ur radiator is NOT clogged).... if it dont, bad thermo........ i just brought two back to advance... POS