I just now noticed recently, when I'm stuck in traffic my car will start to overheat. But when I'm driving it normally the temperature is normall.

What is up with that?

I cant leave the car alone for more than 2 minutes otherwise the temp starts to climb.

 

did you check for air in the cooling system. if you recently flushed your rad. or removed rad. hoses, etc. its a good possibilty. just bleed your cooling system and see if that fixes the problem.

 

i recently had this same problem. I had a leak on the top of my radiator. I changed the radiator and thermo, and everything has been fine. Flush the system, and check to see if it leaks and overheats.

 

i had the same problem that my rad. was leaking out the top. i just replaced it and every thing is fine now. except the cuts on my knuckels lol if i was you i would make shure its not leaking and if its not then check the fans. it sounds like to me that your fans arent coming on so when your in traffic it heats up. but then when you drive the air cools it down. just a thought.

 

sounds like waht my car did when the headgasket was leaking.

 

I'm pretty pissed.

I dont think my fans are coming on. And there was condensation in the oil on the dipstick. Looks like coolant. So the headgasket could be blown.

I just put a clutch in and I'm really not all felling pulling my head. This ******* sucks. I'm not trying to spend any money on any new FAL fans or something either.

 

coolant on dipstick. Im sorry to hear Sounds like a headgasket to me.

Do this right now. Go to your car, and check under your oil cap and tell us what you see

 

ck for leaks!!!! more than likely its your radiator! hows the coolant level in your reserve tank?? post back once youve cked..and we'll go from there

 

looks like u have a blown head gaskett b-cuzz you have coolant on your dipstick. Change head gasket. Do it yourself and save hundreds of dollars. Good Luck!!

 

Ok, I think I freaked about the coolant on the dipstick. I dont think it's like that anymore. I pulled the dipstick this morning and there isn't any coolan on there.

I checked the fan connections, they are dirty as hell, but they are all plugged up.

Weird thing is there is hardly any oil deposits or leakage around the head, on the block, etc.

The radiator looks like it might be leaking slowly, but I'm not sure how to tell. The fins on top are sorta busted, but it's hard to tell if it's leaking. And the fans arent coming on!



I'm clueless. All my friends have no idea. I gotta get this **** fixed soon.

 

if your fans arent coming on do the obvious fuse check then check the coolant temp. switch. this went bad on my integra at about 150k miles. how you check the switch is
1. with the car cold check for continuity across switch. if you don't have continuity (you shouldn't or your fans would run all the time)
continue on to step 2.
now start the car and let it get to operating temp. and check for continuity across switch again. at this point you should have continuity. if you do then the problem lies elsewhere. if you don't then you need to replace this switch.
it cost me about $20 at autozone, probably $30 at acura

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93preludevtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... now start the car and let it get to operating temp. and check for continuity across switch again. at this point you should have continuity...</TD></TR></TABLE>
The switch isn't supposed to close until the temperature goes a little above normal.

You can also jumper the wires for the fan switch. If that makes the fan run (with ignition turned on) then you know all your wiring, relay, & fuse is OK.

 

Yes, this problem that Eric is having is odd.

My first assumption was headgasket. Considering that the motor was HEAVILY over revved once (to cause the clutch to give out) I assumed that the headgasket was very likely. I looked in the reservoir tank and there was not any oil deposits. There is no new oil on the block or around the head. There was no oil on the dipstick when I pulled it out.

My personal thinking is that it is some sort of sensor. Possibly a temp sensor that tells the fans when to turn on. That is just my $.02

 

To check your fans, turn on your AC if both fans kick in then it works.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94si94cx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... Possibly a temp sensor that tells the fans when to turn on...</TD></TR></TABLE>
Exactly. That's the fan switch. It's screwed into the thermostat housing, which is where the lower radiator hose connects to the engine. Plastic plug, 2 wires, sorta below/behind the distributor. Unplug it, jumper the wires with a paperclip, turn on the ignition. If the fan runs, you've just proven that EVERYTHING ELSE works in the fan circuit. If the fan doesn't run, then we start looking for blown fuses & busted wires.

There's a similar-looking sensor near the upper radiator hose. That's the ECT sensor which has nothing to do with the fan.

 

Thermostat? has that been changed?

 

Are you running after market header? Mine is doing the same thing my DC sports 4-2-1 2 piece that have a crack in them. The replacement is going on this weekend. With a crack in the header some of the exhaust gas is going into the engine bay and heating the block and radiator. Without the airflow from motion the engine will heat up enough to turn on the fans.

 

You need a new thermostat

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by black2001gsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You need a new thermostat </TD></TR></TABLE>
If the thermostat was bad, it wouldn't hold the proper temperature while driving. The thermostat doesn't tell the fan to run.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimBlake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
If the thermostat was bad, it wouldn't hold the proper temperature while driving. The thermostat doesn't tell the fan to run.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly. The temp ONLY goes up at idle.