Hi all. I've been lurking for awhile, but last week I got my hands on a red 2000 civic DX hatchback for $1500 dollars. I know, there's a catch22 though. It overheats. The guy put a low mile JDM engine in it, (not sure what type) but according to him it only had about 50k when they put it in and his daughter drove it 20k before the overheating issue began. Luckily she went off to college (was bought a new car) and this older fellow didn't realize what high demand these were in. It also seems to have thicker smokier emissions. I don't live in a state that requires a check, but I don't really want to be putting that into the air and drawing negative attention. The only other thing i've noticed so far is that the car starts but it's taking too long to turn over.

That being said if I can figure out the overheating and emissions issue I'll have scored a really nice DX hatch (chassis is in great shape and so is interior) for less than 3500 (I'm estimating up to $2000 to get it back in order. As it stands it can make it about 5 miles before it starts overheating.

Issues:
- It overheats
- The emissions coming out of the muffler are sorta bad.
- It is taking too long to turn over.

What's been done so far (at no cost yet to myself);
- Newer JDM engine, need to figure out the type though.
- Head Gasket and Radiator have already been replaced (car has new distributor too).
- Not sure if the radiator he put in there was used, but regardless it would for certain have at least 20k mi on it.

Thoughts;
- The water pump?
- Given that the guys buddy did the swap 20k mi ago, I'm wondering if there might be some other factor.
- muffler is stock, not sure if the catalytic converter is to blame for the smokey emissions.
-Maybe the starter is going bad?

Now for the fun stuff, my goals. I don't want this to be a track car, but I want it to be able to be a fast little guy when need be. I know that a K20 or K24a would be overkill but if I find one for cheap with low miles i'll buy it just because. I really want to make the car a combination of highway speeder, with a custom interior, power locks/windows, rims, probably customize the dash... The other big thing is I want to get the car to ride as smooth as possible. So I'm thinking i'll need a new suspension. I want to make the car run smoother than stock, have better handling than stock, and I want to reduce the sounds in the cabin as much as possible.

Ultimately this car will be completely redone over the course of the next few years it will have a professional paint job and custom interior as well.

Need suggestions on what the cause of my current issues could be. Once handle though I'll likely either focus on getting power doors/windows/mirrors working or I'll replace the suspension.
I've done some work on hondas before, but minor stuff like changing a radiator alternator distributor brakes rotors sensors intake... I've never done anything like an engine swap. Suspension recommendations with the focus being smoother ride with better handling?

Seems also like there's plenty of stuff on how to modify a 98 to have power locks/windows but nothing anywhere near as concrete or step by step as for the 99-00 models.

I hope this community is still pretty active because I really want to go all in on this project and post my updates along with photos here. I could also document my progress on certain things and provide some better quality tutorials for 99 00s

I know this was really long. Sorry, I didn't want to start three separate threads though for the same vehicle.

Your Homey,
Audo

 

Look up how to bleed the radiator of any air! basically jack the car up high start it with the radiator cap off and put the air in the cabin to full blast HOT, and top off the radiator till it stops bubbling and both hoses are hot and fans turn on.

Look up how to set the ignition timing its very easy.

Replace the spark plugs if you haven't already

 

To clarify a bit on the coolant bleeding so as to avoid confusion. When stated to jack car up high, they meant raise the nose of the car. Parking on an incline will do just fine. If your driveway isn't sloped then propping the front up some with jack stands is the next best thing. And the rest is accurate accept, not just the fans kick on. The fans have to kick on at least twice before Honda considers the coolant bled. And lastly. Once that part is done, you've topped the radiator off and tightened the cap all the way, top up the reservoir to the max line. As the car cools it will pull coolant into the system and in the morning the reservoir will be close to the minimum line.

I hope the extra clarity is helpful on the factory bleeding process. Oh, I'm not sure if the settings are separate on the 2000 but you do not need the heater fan, just have heat to max heat. This purges any air out of the heater core. The heater blower fan will actually cool the coolant and take it that much longer for the engine to come to full operating temperature.

 

TomCat39 Thanks for the clarification!

So I just want to understand this correct, so you mean to leave the climate control temp dial to Max HOT but not turned on correct" dial left on 0?

I was under the impression the climate control has to be on full blast meaning the highest setting and on max HOT temp.

 

It depends on how the heater controls work in the 6th gen. On the 5th gen the heat slider is manual and separate from the fan controls. The heater slider controls a valve that either allows coolant from the head to the heater core or does not.

I know the 6th gen, the controls are all motorized. But I do not know if the heater selector set to max hot operates separately from the fan control. If it does, then you should not need the fan on at all. If however they are linked and the motor(s) controlling the valve and flapper doors does not activate until the fan is turned on, then you would need the fan on to operate the valve. To compound that even further, if it's setup to be variable you may need the fan on max to have the valve open max. It really depends on how Honda set it up and I have not studied the 6th gen to know.

 

Interesting. Id like to add I was successful in bleeding my 2000 civic that comes with the motorized climate control, I just set it to max flow and to the highest heat level and it worked for me but doesn't mean it was necessary.

 

The max heat is necessary. What is under review is whether flow is required to have max heat on the 96-00. I suspect if there is any link between the two you could do lowest flow that is not off with max heat and it would be fine.

That being said, max flow doesn't hurt anything, can just make it take longer as now you have a 2nd radiator constantly cooling the coolant. The heater core is just another smaller radiator that will always have flow with max heat/flow regardless of engine temperature by design.

Personally I tend to believe they aren't linked variably or there wouldn't need to be two dials/switches. I also tend to think they wouldn't be linked at all as you might want natural flow from the fresh air and want some heat to kick the chill off when driving without the need for forced air of the blower. But on that aspect, I could be gravely mistaken.

 

Thanks guys, I'm gonna do that this weekend and i'll let you know how it goes.