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Honda Civic Cooling Problems
My son has a 91 honda civic. He hit a possum and cracked the bottom of the radiator. We replaced the radiator, the water pump went out. We replaced the water pump, and the themostat at the same time. Now the problem is that it still overheats. When it is sitting idle and the temperature is in normal operating range, the water is contsantly boiling out. We have bled the system as directed but no luck. When you step on the gas peddle the water will shoot out of the radiator with the cap off. The top hose is hot, the bottom is cool but does not feel like there is any pressure. If taken for a test drive the temp is fine for a while but then it climbs up as you accelerate, let off the gas and the temp comes down. The 2 fans are working. Any suggestions. I will be doing a compression test tomorrow just in case to check the head gasket. There is also white smoke coming out of the tailpipe.
Any help PLEASE.
Any help PLEASE.
0
Comments
If that is the problem, the reason the water is boiling out is because due to the head gasket blown, coolant is seeping into the cylinders and that is getting burned off through the exhaust, but in return as the cylinders move up and down, you will get air forced back into the cooling system as a result of the cylinder movement. Since the air takes up volume as well, and since you're probably not making even trade with coolant/air in the head, the coolant has no where to go and will come out of the overflow bottle. That is what happened with my situation. I would get overheating as well. Also I don't know where you live and if you use the heat at all right now, but I was losing that as well since there was so much air in the system it was getting trapped in the heater core.
After typing all this and reading your message again I didn't notice you mentioned white smoke. Classic sign of a blown head gasket.
Good luck!
Thanks for your help. Not sure if I should have the head machined or not. any thoughts?
Anyways, I have a 95 Civic EX, 1.6. I drove from my buddies house back home which is a about a 3 hour drive, was pushing the car kinda hard. When I got off the freeway and finally stopped the temp gauge went into the red zone. White smoke/steam started was coming out of the hood. Pulled over, turned the car off, popped the hood and the fluid in the reservoir was extremely hot..bubbling and pouring out. This guy helped me out, took off the radiator cap, a white/brownish foam was pouring out of the reservoir/radiator. When we pressed down on the throttle, the liquid would fly out of the radiator, when the cap was off. Not sure if this is normal. He ended up pouring buckets and buckets of water till the foamy crap coming out of the radiator was mostly watery looking...white/clear foam. Pretty sure the radiator fan doesn't turn on anymore. I'll have to check on that tomorrow. I bought a thermostat, bought antifreeze, just trying to figure out where I should start since I really don't have much money to work with. One more thing, might be a completely different thing, but the car idles really weird now, mainly idles at about 1000 rpm's, then jumps up to about 1500 after driving on the freeway for a bit.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
2 weeks ago, our weather turned cold so I had to start using the heater. Temp gauge showed car was at operating temp but it was taking a long time to get hot air out of the heater. Let off gas, heater would get cooler. Coolant levels were full, no leaks on driveway, etc. Took car to the original purchase dealer yesterday, asked them to find out why it was taking my car so long to blow hot air-they said the heater core was either failing or clogged. They wanted to charge me $1019 to replace the heater core-I declined. I also asked them to investigate why the brake fluid was low-they said the cam seal was leaking(cam seal should have been replaced when timing belt was changed but was not) and wanted to charge me $315 to replace that. Took car to independent mechanic, the coolant hoses were 2 different temps, car is getting heat, and he told me it is NOT the heater core. Drove home from his shop, car sat in the driveway for 30 minutes. Left to go pick up daughter from school which is 3.75 miles from my house. Waited 3-5 minutes for daughter, looked down and temp gauge was at hot! Shut car off. Opened hood, no steam, no apparent coolant leakage. Waited for 20 minutes, started car and drove home.
I have put in 3 phone calls to American Honda and am now waiting for a case manager to contact me.
If anyone knows what is causing this newest problem please advise!
I'm starting to think there might be a design flaw in this series...
if you think its the heater core look at the fire wall closest to passenger side 2 hoses larger then most but not as big as the hoses goin to radiator
remove clamps from both hoses and then remove hoses this is the entrance and exit from heater core you now have 2 options hook a hose up to the spot u removed the hoses from and turn on the water see if yuck comes out prob not
option 2 same as one but use compressed air if you have a compressor thats got an adjustment for psi that turns down most do you can put steady air into it once water stops coming out stop air if using full air pressure only tapp the release dont hold it if nothing comes out i tell you
WATER PUMP
or you could buy a flush but you have to drain and refill let run a couple times these will all clean heater core
but water pump this i tell you
no circulation = no heat to cab and a HOT motor
At this time, I'm at a total lost as to why this happened. My mechanic friend that worked on Honda cars for more than 20 years was not able to narrow down the exact problem. He performed all the basis tests and diagnostics without any luck. All he indicated to me is that I may have a water pump that was pumping in a reverse order.... meaning that the water pump is spinning int the right direction but the water pump propeller is spinning in the wrong direction because it may be reversed at the factory during assembly. I did not have time to remove the pump and verify this and I made a mistake by throwing my old pump away.
I hope one of you can find out what the problem is and share with us. I will do the same. Thank you so much!
Fast forward another year-i have been constantly adding coolant to the reservoir every 2 weeks--the culprit---heater core.
The heater core was leaking the coolant out resulting in a low coolant condition. Check your carpet on the passenger side to see if it's damp. You might have to check under it. Also, your windshield will want to fog up more frequently. Try to look underneath the dash where the heater core is--you may see it dripping.
As for the surges in temp-or lack of heat. It may be air pockets in the system-either from lack of purging or exhaust gases from the head gasket making their way into the coolant.
Check your reservoir when the car warms up-the increased pressure from the exhaust gases cause the cooling system to over-pressurize and blow coolant out into the reservoir.
Also, I started vacuum-filling my cooling system to eliminate air pockets.
Hope some of this helps. It's been a crazy 3 years since all of this trouble began-and i just had the heater core repaired for $30 last week.--of course it took me 2 days to do the work.
Check your overflow reservoir for rapid filling when the throttle is pressed-indicating the exhaust gases pressurizing the cooling system.
To check water pump flow-you may be able to squeeze the radiator hoses to detect if the water pump is working.
What i believe is happening, is the cooling system is building up preassure and blowing off the overflow hose (at least, mine was off), causing air to get onto the system. Ive drove it for a few days that would normally have caused it to overheat.
From my understanding, I must have had a very small leak in the head gasket. I did have a mechanic mention it, but a friend also said that if the heads warped, they wouldn't be able to repair it. Problem is, the cost was like $500 to replace the gasket (alone with having it honed, I believe) and if it was warped where honing it wouldn't fix the problem, I'd be in real trouble, as it would be torn apart and I'd be looking at major engine work costing a lot more. Every time I had work done (water pump, thermostat, etc) my heat would work fine for a few days, and then it would be back to no heat. So, the leak was small enough that it would take a few days for the pressure to build up to the point where it would push off the overflow hose and dump antifreeze on the ground.
Of course, this is all speculation, as I don't really know what was happening. I just know that after driving the car for a few days, it is still running fine, without overheating. As it is summer now, I don't really need the heat now anyway. But before, as I would be driving with the heat on, and stop at a red light, the heat would slowly blow colder till it was completely cold. At that time, the temperature gauge would slowly start to rise. Reving the engine to around 2,000 RPM would cause heat to start coming out the vents and the temperature to go back down.
I'll post back in a few days with an update if the issue pops back up.
The problem is, you get the same symptoms with air pockets (aka, low coolant level) as the system is pressurized. That is the reason they also changed my radiator cap. It's job is to allow the 16lbs of pressure to build and when it goes above that, allow the coolant to overflow into that tank.
So you think i should try the steel seal??
Keep in mind that I am not a mechanic. I'm also not promoting steel seal in any way. I still can't believe it worked! I kind of wish I wouldn't have bought another car now. Oh well. If you can afford the risk of a few dollars, I'd say go for it. As my wife pointed out, this issue actually cost us $9,000, as I bought another car for $8,000 so I would have heat and not have to worry about overheating the whole time. They say you can add it even without a leak. Seems like pretty cheap insurance now.. I might get some for the rest of my cars.
So, my personal opinion, based on a corroded thermostat, is that your radiator is most likely corroded as well, which is reducing it's ability to cool the fluid. Just be happy that they haven't suggested the water pump.. that's a very expensive repair!
Good luck,
James
Monica
- car temp gauge fluctuating
- coolant shooting out of the coolant reserve tank
- heater in car sometimes work and mostly does not work. If heater is turned on, car temp gauge can rise fast
- coolant reserve tank cap blown off due to the high pressure from overheating. This will happens when things got really worse meaning that it is time to stop driving your car and have it worked on.
- internal of radiator disintegrating meaning that the coolant is so hot that it starts to break down the plastics inside your radiator. You can tell by removing your radiator cap and look inside the radiator lip and you'll see it it turned into white color. Same goes for the plastic portion of the radiator cap as well. This also happened as things got really bad and you need to stop driving your car and have it worked on.
I have a 2004 Honda Civic LX. Mine had all of the symptoms above so I recruited my friend's help and I ended up replacing the head gasket. Found out that my #4 cylinder is leaking after removing the head by seeing the white residue left behind on the valve. Also replaced the head cylinder because I waited too long to replace the head gasket and allow my car to get worse, which resulted in the cylinder head getting warped. I got a complete re-manufactured head cylinder and http://www.headsonly.com for $300 bucks including shipping both ways (you need to return the core). You also need to replace the following when you do this.- new spark plugs. Get the original NGK plugs. I got them for $10 each at my local O'Reilly Auto Parts store. You need 4 of these
- spark plug seals
- cylinder head cover gasket
- cylinder head plug (Honda PN# 1253-P72-003)
- cylinder head studs (Honda PN# 90026-PE0-000, 92900-08032-1B and 92900-08050-1B). You can reuse these if you have a stud remover to remove these from your old head cylinder.
- camshaft oil seal (Honda PN# 91213-P2F-A01)
- thermostat (Honda PN# 19301-REA-305)
If this is the first time you're replacing the head gasket, you can reuse your old cylinder head bolts since the torque on these are not too high. There are 3 torque stages. The first is 14 ft-lbs, 2nd is 36 ft-lbs & 3rd is 49 ft-lbs. This torque specs only apply to model years 01-05 Civics.This should cost you under $1000 to do the work. I would strongly suggest that you replace the radiator cap (Honda PN# 19045-PAA-A01) as well. You may need to replace the radiator if it is damaged from the overheating. You can get one with free shipping for about $80 each and some on eBay are selling for under $60 with free shipping.
This is also a good time to change your timing belt (Honda PN# 14400-PMM-A02), water pump (Honda PN# 19200-PLM-A01) and timing belt tensioner (Honda PN# 14520-PLC-335) if you haven't done so or it is time for replacement. Reason for this is because since you have the head cylinder removed along with other items such as the alternator, etc.... might as well as get it out of the way to save cost and time down the road. You can get a timing belt from O'Reilly Auto Parts that is made by "Gates". The timing belt you get at the Honda dealership is the same belt made by "Gates" with the Honda logo on it. You just pay a much cheaper price at O'Reilly Auto Parts or your local store.
Do your best to buy genuine Honda parts as much as possible such as thermostats, water pump, belt tensioner, especially the head gasket. I would suggest against going with any steel seal product because it is not a long term solution. You wan to do this the right way and eventually it has to be done. You don't want to wait too long and find out later that you have to replace the head cylinder and worst case the cylinder block as well.
My Civic had about 185,300 miles on it when I had the head worked on. It has been running fine since. Good luck....
The above described are applicable to model year 01-04 Civics.
I have a 2000 Honda Civic LX. I have been noticing a signifigant loss of oil between regular oil changes. I recently was told that my radiator had oil in the coolant. It looks like the oil is entering the coolant but the coolant is not entering the oil. I have no smoke from the exhaust. A few weeks ago I attempted, several times, to flush as much of the oil out of the cooling system and refill with a 50/50 solution. The coolant seemed to at least stay cleaner than berfore.
Forward to yesterday. I was driving home from work about 45 miles in medium traffic and 95 degrees outside. Thermostat started to increase from what I consider normal in about last 10 miles. I was just shy of hitting the red zone.
I waited for the car to cool off and found resevoir empty and refilled radiator with about 1/2 gallon of water (auto store was already closed). This morning I drove 35 miles to work, no problem. On the way home, in 95 degree weather again, the thermostat was about to go into the red zone. I was able to get a gallon of 50/50 coolant and it took a bit more than half the bottle. There is no leak I can see below the engine although the hood area right above the resevoir had condensation.
I have seen some posts about a possible manufacturing defect in the block that may be allowing the oil into the cooling system. Anyone have any thoughts on my issue?
Also.... continuing driving and letting the car overheat will damage your radiator because part of the radiator is made out of plastic, it can only handle so much heat for a limited duration period. To find out if your radiator is damage because of this, take off the radiator cap off when it is safe to do so and look inside the radiator and inspect the inner lip. If you see plastic breaking off from the inside by the white coloring, you'll definitely need a new radiator and a new radiator cap. Good luck....
But, since I am here, I will update this thread on my Steal Seal "fix". After using the product and my issues going away, I drove the car for about 6 months, and then parked it for the last 6 months. I have begun driving it again for the past two weeks and have noticed that I am getting the bubbles in the radiator again, but luckily it hasn't been an issue (overheated) yet. But, I can only imagine that it will become an issue as the exhaust leaking into the coolant will build the pressure till it blows the hose off of the overflow.
I'm actually disappointed that this seems to be a common issue with our Honda's and can only imagine what has gone wrong with a company that (from my research prior to purchasing it brand new) had an excellent history with the Civic series. I guess they all make lemons :lemon: from time to time and they have lost my trust. And to think, I laughed at the Hyundai dealer when he suggested I purchase a Hyundai over the Honda. I guess I know who had the last laugh now.
I have 2 Hondas, 94 and 95 civic coupes 1 ex and 1 dx both had
head gasket probs when i bought them, the dx was blowing coolant
through tailpipe and the ex d16y6 was boiling the coolant tank.
Both engines had the Blue Devil or the Steel Seal treatment,
Please Do not add this crap to your engines if you plan on keeping them!
I just pulled and replaced the DX D15B7 Engine with a good motor I rebuilt
from CraigsList, I have Iphone Photos of the Damage this stop leak causes
to the cooling Jackets of these Engines if you care to see them I might can Post Them. I had to Replace Both Radiators with the all Aluminum Versions,
The D16y6 I reTorqued the Head Bolts in Seq to 55Lbs and it resealed the Gasket and it no longer boils the coolant tank even at Freeway speeds!
But I still have to remove and Backflush the New Radiator every now and then
to keep removing the remants of the Sealer, What a mess this makes of a good Engine!
Just a Tip If You Have a Steel multilayer Head Gasket Try a Retorque,
Caution USE The Factory Sequence Order!! Bolt 1-10!!!!!!
Do not Loosen them just increase the Ft Lbs as I did, I read somewhere on a Civic Forum of Recommended 10 lbs above Factory 47lbs but a felt safer on 55 lbs! Thank the Lord it worked as I had already Purchased a D16Y8 Gasket
for the D16y6, Also the D16Y8 Honda Multi layer Gaskets Works on Both the
D15 and D16 Engines and they are only 29.00 and change at Honda,
The Leakless Gasket from Honda for the D15b7 is 60.00 and they dont want U to Know This LOL! Safe Motoring!
I have a 1995 Honda civic I recently purchased. When I bought it, I noticed the reservoir tank was cracked and that the cap on the radiator was bad. I got it tuned up, changed the cap, and poxyed the tank. It still over heats. The check engine light is NOT on. When it over heats, the steam comes out of the reservoir tank that holds the coolant and it bubbles. It doesn't overheat everytime I drive the car, which is weird to me. I did notice however, if the Ac is on and I am going 60 mph+ is ususally when it begins to overheat. PLLLLLLLZZZ any suggestions? Where should I start at? What should I be looking for?
All the steps above did not fix the problem. Hot coolant spits out of the reserve tank and it got hot enough that it melted the mouth of the radiator since the radiator is made of a composite material.
Finally, I had the throw in the towel and recruit my friend to help. We removed the cylinder head and took a straight edge gauge the cylinder head and block to make sure that it is not warp. The cylinder block is ok, which is very lucky for me. Unfortunately the cylinder head was warped. Had I replaced the head gasket in the early stage, my cylinder head would not have warped. Remember, the problem starts gradually and got worst in under 8 weeks.
I purchased a complete remanufactured cylinder head from a place called Cylinder Heads International in Texas (http://www.headsonly.com/index.htm). I also purchased a genuine Honda head gasket and head bolts. I didn't have to replace the head bold since we were able to reuse them so I still have the new head bolts that I purchased. At the same time, I also replace the timing belt and belt tensioner. Since you're going to replace the head anyway, it is highly recommended to replace the timing belt and timing belt tensioner. The timing belt is made by Gates. You can get them directly from a Honda dealer or from your local auto parts store. I found out that Honda use the Gates brand and it is the same part as the one from my local store except that I don't have to pay a lot for it by buying it from the dealer.
Enough said... The entire head replacement process took about 10 hours since the 04 civic that I have is much harder to work with because of the intake manifold compared to my old 92 civic which took me about 3 hours since it has less junk under the hood.
When I replaced my 04 head cylinder, it had 185K miles on it with the original timing belt. I was surprised that my timing belt last that long but probably because at least 95% of the miles I put on are from freeway driving. So far, my car is at 227K miles and going.
Here is a note, make sure that you check the valve work on the re manufactured head cylinder. If you need to adjust the valve or redo the valve seats or guides, do so before you close every thing up. Otherwise, your car will end up consuming about a quart of oil every 1500 miles or so because engine oil is leaking into the combustion chamber.
Also use only 100% genuine Honda parts like thermostat, radiator cap, water pump, timing belt tensioner and especially the head gasket. I purchased an after market radiator and it works just fine. Good luck and I hope I contribute enough information to save some soul from going through the same misery like I do but for my part, it was an educational experience.
http://olybrake.com/pdf/fel_pro_torque_specs_guide.pdf
When you put the exhaust manifold back on, make sure you use anti seize compound for the exhaust manifold in case you need to remove it. Good luck.