my car overheats sometimes, i see smoke comin from the hood.. could it be the water pump going bad? is this part expensive? is it hard to fix?its a 93 CX.

 

It could be one of a million things - radiator, hosing, the pump itself, fan problems etc. Does your car leak fluid - and if so, are you running radiator fluid or just like water?

If the pump itself is going bad it would leak, not really cause it to overheat - id look at the radiator/fan first and then work your way back. Waterpump is like $35, a NEW radiator is under $100, hosing is also cheap. So whatever it is, shouldnt be too bad once it hits the old wallet - assuming thats the problem.

 

Installing it is a whole diffrent story. PITA

 

Ya, your looking at a couple of hundred.

 

take a look at the fan, radiatiator first. also what type of coolant mixture and how old is the coolant???

then move on to the thermostat, they rather cheap and can be done in less then 1hr without any special tools (will leave a hell of mess - and about 3L of coolant will be required. - thus its just better to do the thermostat change and coolant at the same time)

if all that fails start looking at your head gasket.

 

Uh so install it yourself?

I havent looked on the civic because mine hasnt gone bad yet and frankly I dont care... but on my Saturn it was easily accessible and only would take two hours labor - $140, not a couple hundered. But again, dunno where it is on a civic...

 

So, with new pump and install its and estimated $175. Damn, I was $25 dollars off.

 

usually on the engine block behind the timing belt cover. It's driven by the timing belt, usually. Chg t-belt once you're at it, if it's been like 50k + since last t- belt chg. Yeah do it yourself. It's a PITA but if you're like me you enjoy a challenge.