So i replaced the hoses that had leaks, replaced thermostat, put fresh coolant in, jumped the rad fan to always be on. but as soon i start driving the car starts to overheat. when i pop the hood all i see is white smoke from the resivour tank connected to the rad and hear the coolant boiling in it.. WTF!!

 

Overheating while driving usually indicates a bad rad.

 

you did bleed the coolant system correctly when refilling it i hope.

 

Does it over heat immediately?

I might be thinking the headgasket.

I would do a block test, simple to do.

 

Bleed system. It gradually starts to overheat and the needle flucuates up and down a bit. block test? what does that consist of?

 

you can always rent a radiator pressure tester from the likes of autozone, pressurize it slightly above its rated limit and see if it holds pressure for like 5 minutes. If it holds pressure, maybe you should look elsewhere. OP, when you replaced your thermostat, did you replace your radiator cap?

 

yea ill try that out. and no i didnt but now its on my list to do.

 

Block test, almost looks like a Turkey baster you have a tube fill with a blue fluid up to point it tells you. Turn on the car with rad cap off let it run to temp, take tube put over rad opening and pump for about 2 mins. if it turns yellow, chances are bad headgasket.

 

Pray it's just a bad rad.

 

Ok heres what ive done so far.

Block check- didnt show up yellow so no blown headgasket

repleaced radiator, thermostat, all coolant sensors, old hoses.

new coolant and bleed system

car is still overheating. the radiator fan doesnt come on so i jumped the pins.

everytime i see it overheating i pop the hood and there is steam coming from the overflow reservior and coolant is low?????? WTF is going on!!!

 

What if your motor is just giving out ready too blow?

 

You did replace the radiator CAP, right.....? Also, when you bled the system, did you raise the front end of the car and run the engine so that the air pockets would move to the higher point? One way I like to bleed the air out of the coolant system is take an old radiator cap (the one being replaced), remove the inner gasket and replace the cap. DON'T remove the OUTER gasket otherwise coolant will spill out the top of the radiator. By removing the inner gasket, soon as the engine gets a little warm, coolant will start to pour directly into the coolant overflow tank instead of waiting for the radiator cap after a specified pressure. Then run the car and inspect the coolant reservoir and see how it fills up. A lot of the time I will see bubbles in the reservoir which means the system is releasing the air that is inside of the cooling system.

OP, do you have an OBD-II reader? Maybe you should get a scan gauge or ultra gauge. The temperature readings from your gauge cluster are different from what the computer reads.

 

the only thing about bleeding the system is the car doesnt going through cooling cycles because my fan is jumped to always be on. is that a problem? or does it not matter?

 

I think the reason why your cooling fan does not come on is possibly, POSSIBLY because the ECT switch for the fan is broken. This switch is located near the thermostat housing opposed to the ECT which is located at the front of the engine and comes off the valve head. There are three temperature switches, two at the front, coming off the valve head and one in the back, on the thermostat housing. One of the sensors at the front goes to the gauges (has one pin) and the other at the front goes to the ECU (two pins). Do you have the service manual for this car? It only costs $40 and it's like 2K pages long. Might want to get the electrical wiring diagram as well if this is a car you actually care about.

 

the 2 temp switches located on the head are what i replaced. The ECT swicthed on the thremo housing is what i jumped to keep the fan on at all times. but need to know if cooling fan on all the time will complicate the bleeding process?

 

This is why you should get a copy of the manual. You can test the sensors to see if they're working properly. Having the cooling fan running all the time WILL complicate the process. You don't want that fan running all the time anyway because that will eventually burn out your alternator, make the car take longer to warm up, waste gasoline, etc. etc.

 

Does advance/pepboys etc sell the "block testers" I searched on google/amazon and didnt find any thing like this....however Id LOVE one for my tool box, since I recently did a HG and after taking it apart found out it to be....a thermostat.

My buddy said he took it to the dealer, they said he needed a HG and I just assumed they were right, til I yanked the head off only to find, it wasn't looking too bad.

 

Block testers are easy to find. Just google it, there are some on amazon.

Advance and Autozone do not sell it, but Autozone rents one, it suck though I tried it and leaked after the second try.

As for your buddy the dealer should of done a block test first. Many people jump to conclusions and say its the headgasket........troubleshoot first.

 

Could be a bad water pump esp if it overheating all the time, when you run the car and open the radiator can you see coolant flowing?

Another thing you might have a blockage.

When the car is at operating temp is one hose cool and the other hot?

 

The "stealership" was just shooting for the stars....said it was the HG, brang out the 2k bill with HG/TB/Water pump etc etc. It was all set up though cause he said they had the salesman there with the service advisor and the salesman immediately went into, for nothing down and 169/mth we can get you into a new civic today...and do you really want to pour 2k into an old car, yada yada yada.

I Put a new hg in...did the timing belt, water pump....all for about the cost of a new civic for a month, car runs like new and we had about 10 hours of labor (and probably 3 cases of beer) in it.

Regardless....I was stupid, and shouldve troubleshoot the problem, I just took it at face vaule. I guess most non mechanical people hear Headgasket and get nervous,------ I think...oh great its a under 100 fix, no problem.

http://www.amazon.com/COMBUSTION-BLO.../dp/B005EB6MC0

^ in case anyone else is interested. They have em on amazon for 39.99, but my opinion with tools...the more expensive, the better.

 

Holy **** you're bumping every overheating thread you can find? What makes you think that's even remotely OK? What. The actual. ****?

 

added useless info, thread was 4 yrs ago.