Hi my name is Jerry and I have several Honda's. The one that is giving me a pretty good problem now is my 1990 Honda Accord Coupe. During the winter there seems to be no problems at all with the car. I live in the Phoenix Arizona area and when the weather gets hot my Accord starts having issues. Granted it is 24 years old and has over 223,000 miles on it, but runs great for it's age and miles.

Now the problem. About 2 years ago it started to run a little hot in the summer. I changed the thermostat, and the radiator, the timing belt and water pump. Still the problem remained and after several close calls for overheating I changed the thermostat yet again. By this time it was closing in on "winter" here in Arizona and the temperatures dropped into the normal 70's or 80's with some even colder days but not many. So with the winter all the overheating issues have gone away.

Now it is summer yet again with lot of 114 degree temperatures and the car is overheating yet again. But now there is a twist, today the oil pressure light came on and began to blink, even when the temperature was on the normal side. I pulled the car over and have not driven it since. The engine runs smoothly, the oil is full, there are no huge leaks, a small seep but nothing major. I am thinking that either the oil pump has gone out or that the sending unit is bad. If it is the oil pump, could that also be my overheating problem? If it is the sending unit, that would not explain my overheating. Any thoughts or information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jerry

 

When is it overheating, in stop and go traffic, highway driving, both?
What viscosity oil? where is the leak from.

Personally, I think you have 2 separate issues.

The oil switch is pretty simple to change and not very expensive.
at that mileage you could have crud on the oil pickup screen or a failing pump.
If you have access to a direct reading pressure gauge check the oil pressure with it.

Have you verified the cooling fan and A/C fan are both functioning as designed?

 

u prolly need a higher viscocity oil. try 10w-40 since arizona never has freezing weather

u also need a new radiator. 20+ years on OEM radiator aint bad huh? i suggest Denso from rockauto.com it is a direct replacement and will be cheaper than autozone and advance radiators

 

op stated he replaced the radiator already.
Also changing the oil viscosity may only cover up the problem or not even work. The vehicle should operate just fine with the proper weight oil and correctly functioning components. Do you work at some auto parts store? haha

If the components are new and working as stated you may have a pressure issue. Without correct pressure on the cooling system it will over heat, but it depends if you're overheating in traffic or on the highway etc. The fans may not be working correctly as stated by another person

 

This reminds me (long time ago) of watching my gauges and seeing the oil temp rise and the pressure drop. Longer the race lasted the worse it got. Even with a large oil cooler and high viscosity oil. The fix was a dry sump, but of course the OP doesn't want to go there. Bad mains can also cause this also. But I like changing out the oil pressure sender first. Probably needs it anyway in a 24-year-old car. And 114 degrees? Wow! Hate to think what mine would do in those conditions.

 

 

Check that your fans are working. They should both be working at the same time when they come on when the car is running.

Replace the oil pressure switch first since it's such a cheap part.

 

When I drive on the highway for more than about 30 minutes the temperature starts to rise but never to the dangerous levels. However if I go onto surface roads, or get stuck at a long light or some kind of stop and go traffic the temperature rises very quickly and I need to pull over and shut down or the car will overheat. Generally I drive about 6 miles after the highway drive to get to work and as long as traffic moves the car is fine. I am running 10W40 oil in the car, and both fans are working correctly. They come on when the car gets warm and stay on when the car is even shut down.

Then oil light has shut off now, and again the car idles fine, runs fine but I am sure will still have the overheat issue if I drive it for any distance.

Thanks for your input.

 

The overheating mainly starts when I am on surface streets or have to wait at a long light after I have driven on the highway for about 30 minutes. Forget ever trying to go through a drive through for anything, it will overheat in a few minutes. When you say I might have a cooling system pressure problem, what else is there that I have not yet changed? I have done the radiator, water pump and timing chain, thermostat "twice", both fans and the fan switch, and all the hoses. I thought that maybe one of the hoses was getting old and weak and might be collapsing so I changed every one of them. I only need to nurse this car along for another 6 months so I have enough saved up for a new car. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jerry

 

Compression test the engine.

 

my car was overheating at drive thrus etc when it is about 95f outside. i added some coolant to the reserve tank and it hasn't done this since. but once i leave the drive thru (finally) the car would cool down fast to normal temps. i havent yet done the timing belt water pump yet so i know that might affect it. also my upper radiator hose is swollen to where it looks like its gonna burst. this is also on my repair list. lower hose is normal. currently i am running A/C everyday where back then i wasn't using A/C at all

i would suggest not using cheap parts. having to replace a thermostat twice is a sign that the parts are not very good quality. thats why most people suggest OEM parts since aftermarket parts are built by many different companies and quality, craftmanship, and reliability vary