i'm dealing with a 98 civic ex coupe right now. when i got the car it was blown up.i found a y5 and smacked a z6 head on it. it ran fine everything was working well. we had a snow storm a while back, the car was just sittin,after the snow melted i had some issues with the temp gauge not working,the fan didn't want to work,and the main relay ground was bad. so fixed everything no check engine light or anything.

so i bough a temp gauge,found out it was over heating. changed the t-stat and water pump. still over heating (at idle ) so i took out the thermostat. car can idle all day long at 176c . driving her around the neighborhood it would just raise. anyone got a idea of why this car is overheating !?

no oil in the coolant or vise versa
i bled the system
both hoses are hot
the fan is constant for now

also i did do a search,and im not going to revive a old thread lol any help would be great.

 

What makes you say there is overheating? Does it boil over? Normal operating temperature is 190 - 200 F.

 

i meant fahrenheit sorry... i won't let it go past 195F. before i took out the thermostat it would go as high as 230f .. the longer under load the hotter the temp gets ... at an idle i'm around 173F

 

Install a new thermostat and go from there.

 

with a new t-stat i will idle and over heat. that is why i took it out for now.

 

Did you bleed the system or just poured coolant/water and start driving around?

 

lmfao ! no i burped it.. i just don't know why it would overheat while driving. the rad isn't blocked ,the fan wires are not reversed,no smoke coming out of the exhuast.... think it could be a warped head ? ...

 

IF it was a warped head, the oil or water would be contaminated or the engine would missfire (i assume).

Are you are sure its overheating yet it runs fine (you should feel some powerloss) maybe check if you have oil pressure, and maybe scan the ECU to see if its running lean, out of timing, or something, i know many things can lead to overheating...

 

Replace the fan. Just because it's spinning doesn't mean that it's working. What does you factory temperature gauge read

 

If both the upper and lower radiator hoses are getting hot that means the thermostat is opening.

Make sure there are no leaves or dirt in the front of the radiator.

 

Does the system stay full? If you keep getting a bubble of air in the radiator, there is very likely a small head gasket leak. The only symptom of such a small leak is that the coolant gets pushed out of the engine and radiator leading to overheating.

I also had a radiator that corroded on the outside so much that the thin brass finwork detached from the main tubes. That caused overheating but only on the highway.

 

no loss of coolant , factory gauge is broken. thinking maybe i'll see if i have a radiator to throw at it .. when i drian the coolant it comes out with no dirt or grime or anything ..it was running fine after i put the engine together ..but after that snow storm it's been giving me problems

 

your fan SWITCH, i bet ya

 

i had a couple codes actually.. vtak pressure switch,o2 sensor,and idle air... they all went away after replacing the o2 sensor..

 

Damm strange i dont get it, you say the engine runs fine, and that you did change your t-stat (i replaced mine today btw) yet it only overheats on IDLE?

Then its most likely your fan, maybe its not spinning as fast as it should, recheck that!

Btw... i remember a friends car that had strange overheating and power issues, and it was the exhaust pipes that had been replaced for the wrong, too small and restrictive one.

 

with a t-stat in it will over heat at idle, i took that **** out only over heating while driving; runs good has throttle response, it gets up.. i don't realy feel vtec maybe im just used to B series,however it just over overheats ...thinking about just selling it.. kind of tired of draining coolant ...

 

What ECT sending unit are you using for the aftermarket temp gauge?

If it is the stock ECT sending unit, it may not be calibrated for the aftermarket gauge.

I would use a temp gun to check the actual temp., you may not even have a overheating problem. 94

 

I hate my civic too, and i drained the fluid and refilled and ran the car then drained again 8 times to get it clean, in the process i broke the vtec switch now its gutless, i recommend a easier to work on car, if i lived in USA i would have a 350 sbc on any body on frame car and thats all.

 

the stock one .... the one for the gauge is bigger ... where would i point my temp gun ?

 

my cooling system is clean. im sure you can find a tree fiddy on ebay for like 400 amurican dollars

 

Your fan is hot wired and not pushing enough air past the radiator if it's over heating at idle, which is probably why it's hot wired in the first place

 

im not over heating @ idle i can start the car and go take a nap if i wanted to ... and it's not hot wired lol

 

What is a tree fiddy? What do you mean?

 

so i checked the engine with a temp gun. not sure how accurate it is. give or take im about 36 degrees off from what the gauge says ..so when i was @230F i was at like 194F ... i think my cluster is going to **** the temp gauge don't work and just noticed the fuel gauge don't either ... i will test drive her later this week see how hot i can get the gauge

 

Dont sound like good idea, there are better ways to check that.