Car: 1997 Honda Accord LX, 5spd, 2.2L non-vtec.

Issue: I have been battling a cooling issue for some time now. First of all My thermostat was bad and I replaced that with a working new one. After this my car would still overheat and the radiator fan would never come on. I bleed the system and there was a big air bubble right at the t-stat which was causing it to not open, thus the radiator fan not running. It worked great for a couple days but I must not have gotten all of the air out seeing my method of bleeding was not correct, and the rad fan stopped coming on again while the car would overheat. Bled the correct way and now the rad fan will come on when the car is overheating.

Now the car just overheats after I have been driving on the freeway and go to slow down (ie: traffic or driving in town). But if the car is cold I can start it up and it will idle all day without overheating. I can also drive around town if the car was cold when I started driving for as long as i want, but as soon as i get on the freeway and then slow down to drive in town again it starts overheating!? When i drive on the freeway I usually average about 70 mph, if that matter. I have to turn the heat on and to full blast to keep the car at normal operating temp.

I have been battling this issue for a while now and the only thing that comes to mind would maybe be a bad waterpump in the sense as it is not moving enough liquid. I dont know though, because it only overheats after I get off the freeway.

 

Make sure the thermostat installed in correct sence! The longer part toward the engine.

 

Yes it is in the right way. The t-stat is working the right way and opening which is proven by the rad fan coming on while the engine is running.

 

How about the heat inside the car?Do you have it?

 

Yes heat inside the car is HOTT.. haha.

 

Is the system consuming coolant?

 

look for leaks
-coolant on ground after completely warmed up
-smell of burning coolant or white smoke/steam from bay from it leaking and dripping onto exhaust-sometimes the old hoses will get little cracks when removed from being old and need replacing. check all the little coolant hoses:
-hose from thermo housing to throttle body(fast idle valve)-bottom of tb
-hose fast idle valve to iac(idle air control valve) -back of intake
-hose from iac to water pipe-the hard metal pipe that goes from water pump to thermo housing

check the reservoir for correct amount of coolant.

also make sure both the bottom and top radiater hoses are hot once fully warmed up

when bleeding make sure the temp indicator on the dash is turned all the way to hot

 

while I am no expert on such matters

tell you story about someone I know with a similar scenerio with overheating did not end well for their american 8 cylinder car

had same type of overheating problem not bad unless in traffic

One of their two fans would come on radiator other did not come on.

They took it to mechanic who replaced thermostat, but did not solve the overheating issue in traffic

Result was blown head gasket, now car crippled and they are going to trash the car

Get this overheating issue solved before drive it overheated anymore, so not have same result as them

I now have an antifreeze leak myself occured immmediately after I did oil and filter chang trying to solve

I wish us both luck

 

Both fans should come on if you have the AC on - which I assume you do given the weather lately. Verify both fan motors are working and that both fans kick on when AC is turned on. Your car will overheat if you have AC on and the AC fan is dead.

(Happened to me recently)

 

^wow he does still exist, your sig says it all sir

 

When was the last time you changed the water pump? With the car running at operating temperature, put in park, take off radiator cap and make sure there is coolant circulating. I helped a friend change a waterpump on a high mileage car and the waterpump impellar was almost non-existant.

 

Yeah,you could always do that ,the only thing is be very careful when you will open that cap!It might be not funny!And I mean it!I've seen a car once with the impeller eaten up by electrolysis.I couldn't believe my eyes.The ground straps from the body to motor weren't in the best shape do the electricity was flowing trough the coolant path.It's always looking for the easiest path!Science the coolant was way overdue the electrolysis effect took place and did the damage.Anyways,back to the problem,it pays to check the basic stuff.

 

What I like to do nowadays is to just cut off the jiggle valve. There is no chance of air pockets when doing that and it doesn't hurt at all. Also, you need to put the thermostat in with the jiggle valve(or hole if lack thereof) pointing up. Also, don't be afraid to wipe off the fan switch if you looks like it has some buildup.