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Older Civic Maintenance and Repair

401 messages,  Last post on Apr 10, 2013 at 10:15 PM

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What is this discussion about? Honda Civic, Coupe, Sedan

Messages Page 27 of 41

#257 of 401 2002 Honda-Overheating AGAIN by Myhondahatesme

Jan 23, 2009 (10:21 am)

Hi all!
 
I am hoping that one of you can help me. I have an 02 Honda Civic. About a year ago my car temperature gauge would constantly fluctuate hot and cold. My husband determined that it was the fan switch going bad. He replaced it and my thermostat...everything was peachy until recently it started happening again. Any recommendations on what it could be now??? Could it be the lame switch again or maybe something different? Any options are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

#258 of 401 1997 Honda Civic DX lights dim or pulsate !! help !! by emporer1998

Jan 23, 2009 (9:22 pm)

Hello, I have a 1997 Honda Civic DX with 103,000 miles. Car still drives like a dream. Only problem is at night when driving at any speed the headlights intermittently dim or pulsate. I would say that they dim to about 70% then back to 100% . Everything else works fine. I also noticed that the dashboard lights do the same. Please help

#259 of 401 93 honda civic power steering? by tbryant

Jan 26, 2009 (8:12 am)

Hello everyone, am new here and hope someone can help me. My husband and I moved to Indiana from South Carolina last year, since we have been here for two very harsh winters, we are having some troubles with our Honda. In the winter, whenever you start the car, the power steering is frozen, you can not turn the wheel easily. If you let it run and heat up for about 10 minutes, it is fine, what could be causing this problem? Is it just a cold natured car? We never had this problem before we moved, but the car has also never been in negative degree weather and/or snow? thanks for your help.

#260 of 401 Re: 2009 Civic Hybrid vs Prius [ruking1] by Ketty

Feb 01, 2009 (6:13 pm)

Replying to: ruking1 (Jan 01, 2009 10:08 am)
I agree with you but she is eager to select her own car. I gave her the car when she started commuting to college ...

#261 of 401 2000 Civic EX overheating by ts87

Feb 13, 2009 (9:15 pm)

My 2000 Civic EX is overheating. Whenever I drive in stop-and-go traffic or 30-45+ minutes my car starts to overheat -- in cold weather, hot weather, with the air conditioner on or off, with the air vent on or off. The temperature gauge will almost immediately return to near-normal levels upon turning my heat on full blast. The car doesn't overheat with freeway driving.
 
My coolant levels are fine. My oil levels are fine. I've just had the thermostat replaced. The fan is working (when leaving my car on idle, the fan will kick on as soon as the gauge hits the mid point or so -- returning the temp levels to normal). I just had the 100k tuneup.
 
Knowing absolutely nothing about cars, I asked my mechanic about the possibility of a blown, cracked, or otherwise damaged head gasket (which seems to be the consensus diagnoses for other forums dealing with similar issues) -- he scoffed and said that wasn't the problem.
 
What the heck is wrong with my car.
 
Thanks.

#262 of 401 Re: 2000 Civic EX overheating [ts87] by JScaduto1

Feb 14, 2009 (2:19 am)

Replying to: ts87 (Feb 13, 2009 9:15 pm)
Hey guy it sounds like your electric cooling fan (behind the radiator) has either quit working or the temperature relay that controls it has failed.
 
The cooling fan is set up to come on when the car reaches a certain temperature, which is activated by a relay connected to the engine which senses temperature; though the fan should always come on when you turn on the A/C switch.
 
To verify turn on the ignition and turn on the A/C, check the fan. If I am right he fan is not running.
 
You can unplug the fan at the connector and insert a test light into the leads to see if you are getting power. If you are getting power then I would replace the fan.
 
Hope this helps,
Jeff

#263 of 401 1999 Civic EX overheating by marylong

Feb 14, 2009 (11:03 am)

I have a very similar problem as post #261. My car was over heating. We checked the fan and verified that it was functioning. We then assumed the Temp relay was bad. In replacing the relay, my boyfriend over tightened it and it snapped off. Until we could figure out how to remove the sheered off part, he hot-wired the fan so it would stay running from the moment I turned on the car. That worked. Well, then we had a mechanic replace the broken relay and within 2 days my car was back to over heating. We notice that as the water was boiling in both the radiator and the overflow, it had shriveled and melted the gasket that sealed the top to the overflow and steam was now coming out the top. We have been unable to find a replacement for the gasket. He once again hot-wired the fan, but somehow that failed and the car started over heating again. My question is - if the car has a working fan and has a new temperature relay, is just a missing gasket from the overflow going to cause the car to overheat? What else could it possibly be?

#264 of 401 Re: 1999 Civic EX overheating [marylong] by mark19

Feb 14, 2009 (8:10 pm)

Replying to: marylong (Feb 14, 2009 11:03 am)
have you checked to make sure the water pump is working? also, have you checked the thermostat? that might be screwed up. either one wouldn't allow coolant flow through.

#265 of 401 Civic front struts by september17th

Feb 14, 2009 (10:48 pm)

I know this is a popular issue for Civic owners of certain model years. I have a 2001 Civic EX automatic. I drive very little and have only 55,000 miles. One of the front struts started leaking a couple of years ago. The extended warranty covered a replacement. Now another front strut is leaking. I understand that this is a popular problem, and I'm not all that excited about getting new struts again. Has Honda, or anyone for that matter, come up with a permanent solution to this problem. I'm not all that excited about replacing the struts every year. What if I do nothing and just keep driving the car until I absolutely have to replace them? So far, I haven't noticed any problems with driving.

#266 of 401 Re: 1997 Honda Civic DX lights dim or pulsate !! help !! [emporer1998] by thegage

Feb 19, 2009 (1:17 pm)

Replying to: emporer1998 (Jan 23, 2009 9:22 pm)
I had the same problem on my '95. It's usually a sign of an alternator on the way out (failing diodes). I replaced the alternator and the problem was resolved. It also helps to check and clean chassis/engine grounds at the same time.

Messages Page 27 of 41

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