Guys, I have a question here. My car's temperature lately is above normal.

However, this only happens when the car is at full stop or traffic jam, but then after a while the fan will turn on and then the needle will go back to normal position.

I know this maybe a stuipid question, but so far my car never have this kind of experience, so I wonder if it's normal like this?
oh yes I just changed my thermostat sensor, cause the other day the needle is all the way on the bottom (below C), but the engine's temp is good and the coolant also there.

Thank's so much in advance...

 

Are you using A/C as well?

 

wow, that is too hot. It shouldn't get there.

Did you replace the thermostat itself? Is the a/c on?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Big Phat R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you using A/C as well?</TD></TR></TABLE>

no that time I didn't turned on the AC

 

What kind did you replace it with?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B2FiNiTY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wow, that is too hot. It shouldn't get there.

Did you replace the thermostat itself? Is the a/c on? </TD></TR></TABLE>

No, I didn't changed the thermostat by myself. I just changed the thermostat sensor, cause the needle went down, but the engine itself is not HOt.

 

how old is the coolant? what's the mix?

does the overflow container have some coolant in it?

 

I just replaced my radiator and thermostat on my civic. It started to heat up while sitting in the driveway idling. once I started driving, it would cool back down. Then it started to heat up while driving and thats when I went ahead and got a new radiator. I would say first thing to check is make sure you have enough coolant. If its not that, then the thermostat might be getting stuck open. and if its not that, the radiator could be crapping out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Big Phat R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how old is the coolant? what's the mix?

does the overflow container have some coolant in it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The coolant I believe is new, cause to change the sensor, we have to drain the coolant right? so I think it's new and I'm sure it's 50-50.
Do u think too much coolant liquid on that white reservation bottle can cause this?

 

What kind of sensor are you talking about? What does it look like? I only know of the fan switch and the thermostat. Nothing else.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW DC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I just replaced my radiator and thermostat on my civic. It started to heat up while sitting in the driveway idling. once I started driving, it would cool back down. Then it started to heat up while driving and thats when I went ahead and got a new radiator. I would say first thing to check is make sure you have enough coolant. If its not that, then the thermostat might be getting stuck open. and if its not that, the radiator could be crapping out. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh man I hope none of the above possibilities...
but I will check it out again, later today

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B2FiNiTY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What kind of sensor are you talking about? What does it look like? I only know of the fan switch and the thermostat. Nothing else.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I thought there is a thermostat sensor for the needle to determine if the engine is hot or cold, isn't there? I think it located the same with the Thermostat.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xanctus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

The coolant I believe is new, cause to change the sensor, we have to drain the coolant right? so I think it's new and I'm sure it's 50-50.
Do u think too much coolant liquid on that white reservation bottle can cause this? </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm a friend of Xanctus and we're trying to figure out this problem last night.
The reservoir bottle has enough coolant, the coolant level is in the middle the min and max.

the thermostat was just replaced last week by a mechanic. I don't know how they change it, but I think they drained the coolant and put the new one in when they changed the thermostat.

The odd thing is this problem only happen when the car sit on idle. The temperature will rise and the engine fan will turn on for about 5 second than the temperature will go back to normal and the fan shut down itself.

Does anyone has any pict for the ITR thermostatlocation?

Thanks in advance.

Julius.


Modified by DeJaVoE at 5:54 PM 5/28/2003

 

the theromostat location is on the block right where the radiator hose connects to the block. also, you dont have to drain all the coolant from the system. some will obviously come out but we didnt drain it all from the motor, atleast on my civic. You might want to check what temp theromstat the mechanic replaced yours with. If its a really hot thermostat, maybe that could be part of it.

 

replace with known good coolant , replace with OEM t-stat , bleed coolant.

then see how it is....

 

Speaking of bleeding coolant... where is the opening for that on the radiator? Does anybody have a pic? I need to change my coolant but dont want to spend $70+ doing so. (not to get off topic, but this may also help him)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TypeR 01 886 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Speaking of bleeding coolant... where is the opening for that on the radiator? Does anybody have a pic?</TD></TR></TABLE>

its not on the rad dude...

its a bleeder screw , like on your calipers.

 

You made sure that there is absolutly no air in the coolant lines, correct?

 

if is not the thermostat might be the head gasket

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Doctor CorteZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

its not on the rad dude...

its a bleeder screw , like on your calipers.</TD></TR></TABLE>

There's a bleeder screw for coolant? I thought you just open the rad cap and let the air come out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpiritR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if is not the thermostat might be the head gasket</TD></TR></TABLE>

hm.. that's funny, we just got back from a couple of shops and one of them said it might be the head gasket (worst case).

I guess we have to try to drain the coolant first, see what's gonna happen.

Thanks for all suggestions guys.




Modified by DeJaVoE at 8:39 PM 5/28/2003

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpiritR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if is not the thermostat might be the head gasket</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh man, I hope that is not the case....

 

Thank's so much for all the input guys...

 

Guys, just wanna let u guys know that the problem is fixed. The fan switch causes the problem, it kicks in kind of late but the engine itself is totally fine.
Anyhow, thank's for any help and input guys...

 

Stock fan switch? What did you do to fix it?