i know oil is major player in dissipating heat so is coolant and the fan... what else can i do to make sure temperatures stay in optimal range?

car has been overheating in hot days, especially with a/c on. im thinking of ways to keep the temperature down.

thermostat seems to be working... upper radiator hose is hot to the touch). i've made sure there are no psi losses (all clamps are tightened to prevent coolant loss), have a new radiator cap... both my radiator and a/c fan are working (i've wired it so both fans turn on when it needs to) running d15b1

i am thinking of other ways of keepin my car from overheating.... i highly doubt my car is running lean considering i barely passed smog check in california.

i am planning on getting a new koyo radiator as soon as i am able to... but anyone else have any ideas on keeping my car within the optimal temperature range?

thanks.... i jus bought this car and would love to drive it around daily with the a/c blastin since california weather is killin me.

*i dont want to get an oil cooler... i want to keep this car as stock as possible and keep it as a daily driver..

 

You know running to lean can also cause a bad emissions reading also right? If you have all of the stock measures in place and your fan is kicking on when it should you shouldnt be overheating. Do you mean that your needle is actually going into the red? Is there anything not stock in your setup?

 

might be the water pump? did you check to see if the fan is on?

 

everything is stock. a/c was installed by previous owner. last smog test i barely passed in HC meaning i am definitly not running lean(both co and nox are good as well... it did pass smog test in cali afterall). my needle on temp gauge WITHOUT A/C ON sometimes goes past the half way mark almost to 3/4th. with a/c on it will almost certainly go to the 3/4th mark.

im sure its not the waterpump. a/c fan did not work when i bought the car but i've wired so both fans work when it needs to.

 

Oil cooler is not necessary, the stock cooling system is more than capable of cooling the engine in extreme conditions if it's properly serviced.

You could get your radiator flow tested to see if there are blockages, check there's nothing blocking the air to the front of it as well. I'd also replace the thermostat that 'seems' to be working. They cost next to nothing and are easy to replace. Its quite probable that it's not opening completely and restricting flow through the engine.

 

are you losing coolant? The top hose will always be hot, the thing to feel is the bottom hose is it hot or cool after reaching temp?

 

i know oil cooler is not necessary but just wanted to include that so no one might recommend it. i have a thermostat i ordered from summitracing 2 days ago. i should be receiving it within a few days. when you say flow tested do u mean just running water thru it??? as far as i see there are no blockages in the front to the radiator... however i know the STANDARD model civic hatchbacks did not come stock with the A/C (correct????) and now since the previous owner has installed A/C the condenser is sitting right infront of the radiator. could this be why my car is overheating especially when im driving with the A/C on?? even then im hoping there has to be a way to keep my car within optimal temperature... im beginning to think a high performance radiator and/or high CFM fan is the only way to fix this.

hmm i thought it was the top hose that needed to be checked to see if it was hot?? but i will go ahead and check the bottom hose tomorrow. and no i am not losing any coolant.

 

You honestly need to get off of the fact that you think you need something "performance" or aftermarket to fix this. If you havent added/ modded your engine and your stock cooling system isn't adequate then SOMETHING is messed up. You just havent found it yet. You need to really look at everything. Also, do you know when the last time the waterpump was replaced was?

 

only thing i know of that has been added to my car is the A/C system. The car drives fine and temp goes past halfway mark ONLY when it is extremely hot outside (goes back down once i start driving at a decent speed), OR if i've been running A/C.

I dont know when the last time waterpump was replaced... but ill try to find out.

 

Could be air inside the cooling system.

 

If it only occurs when the car is sitting and not moving you need to be looking at your water pump or cooling fan. Forget about the A/C affecting/ bothering it

 

i've made sure theres no air using the bleeder screw.

I'd like to point out that my car does not overheat on a daily basis. I can drive it around fine with no problems with temperature majority of the time. It only happens once in a while on a very hot day or when i feel like using the A/C.

Thanks for all your input though. really appreciate it.

 

Even so, I still stand with my opinion for what you should look at. Also, don't get to carried away with cooling and running colder temps. Ideally you want your engine to run in the 210-220 range for the best efficiency

 

The A/C condenser shouldn't be blocking the radiator at all. It should be positioned to the side of the radiator core. The Civic radiator is so small that it has room to fit the A/C core on the side of it. Putting it in front will make you run hot on hotter days. I've had this happen with putting intercoolers in front of the radiator before.

Try relocating the A/C so it doesn't block the radiator than see if it fixes things. If not, follow all the advice given here. I doubt adding a performance radiator will fix anything as well.

 

i've never really taken a close look at it but i've just realized that the condenser is bigger than my radiator and its pretty much covering the whole front of the radiator.

i guess ill find a smaller condenser and see if that fixes the problem.

 

try cleaning ur radiator with a pressure washer could be bugs clogging the air flow.