hey guys ive searched the pages and pages of no heat. the thing is i have heat.

story: i put a d15b2 from my sedan into my hatch. i drove the sedan daily and the gauge as well as the thermostat worked fine. when i swapped the motor i used the hatches radiator. which i knew nothing about (because the sedans was busted) the main fan on the radiator runs ALL the time as soon as the key is in forward position its running, is that normal?

the car will heat up after a LONG time of driving 15-30 minutes. i know the gauge is fine because until its operating temp it runs retarded and idles anywhere from 1-1.5 rpms as soon as the motor is at operating temp it drops back down to 750-800 at idle.

i think the culprit is the new radiator/wiring and or temp sensor but dont know much about either any ideas?

 

the fan is NOT suppose to come on when key is in ON position.

 

awesome i didnt think so and i figured that would be my problem. now i just need to figure out whats wrong. the previous owner must have either hardwired it (which i didnt see any wiring) or somethings not plugged up or a switch is bad or something. someone tell me where to start!

 

no one?

 

for your heating up problem see if someone took out your thermostat completely, as for your fan problem you're going to need to know how to read a wiring diagram and use a DMM to properly figure it out. Unless someone knows something special about what you swapped into it that would change this

 

hmm lets see. First check to see if maybe the previous owner has hard wire the fan to some sort of power when key is on.
or how about
is it plugged in the wrong plug?
i once plugged my fan in my ac plug (same plug as rad fan) which ran all the time when my ac button was on.
no? check to see if your fan switch is working properly. use a volt meter. check to see if there is continuity when the key is on.

As for your heating up problem, i suspect the thermostat could be stuck open.

 

i personally think its not heating up because of the fan. it does heat up to operating temp it just takes much longer without a therm it would hardly get to operating temp. so i think your right with your initial train of thought. problem is i dont really know how to check wiring. i DID have this problem on a 89 civic before and i went under the hood and just unplugged the fan switch so it never ran. car never overheated ever and most wouldnt unless you do a lot of stop and go city driving. with that said ill unplug the switch (and check my ac switch) and report back.

i never know how to test for continuity do i unplug the switch down by the rad. and put a voltmeter on it (V setting for volt or what?) and what numbers and im looking for just anything aside from zero? ive reason somewhere that those switches go out keeping the fan on at all times. wouldnt that be giving it constant continuity anyway

 

The engine can still heat up with a stuck open t-stat or no t-stat at all.. it just takes a while like you said.. so you should check it out. that happened to me when I first bought my hatch.. sometimes the temp gauge would even go down to 0 from normal operating temp on really cold nights when I was driving. t-stat was just stuck open

Best thread title ever btw.

 

i have the same problem. i even unplugged the fan because mine was also hardwired into the ignition, i get horrible gas mileage too. b16 engine though and full size radiator. have not checked the thermostat yet. but after a 200 mile trip the engine never went past the first line. and yes the gauge works and stuff. i also felt the engine and it was warm but not hot. im about to block the radiator if there is a thermostat in there