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Honda Civic Cooling Problems

43 messages,  Last post on May 10, 2013 at 10:50 PM

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What is this discussion about? Honda Civic, Auto Repair, Engine

Messages Page 2 of 5

#8 of 43 Re: Honda Civic 2003 v-tech - Overheated Warped Head [aaronr121] by kevindnb

Aug 13, 2007 (8:39 pm)

Replying to: aaronr121 (Mar 16, 2007 6:04 am)
First time posting here. I know barely anything about cars.
 
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.

#9 of 43 Re: Honda Civic 2003 v-tech - Overheated Warped Head [kevindnb] by targettuning

Aug 14, 2007 (5:16 am)

Replying to: kevindnb (Aug 13, 2007 8:39 pm)
I would start with the electric cooling fan and the temperature sensor that turns it (the fan) on at the upper end of its temp.limit. From what I can surmise the car was normal while you were driving along but only overheated when stopped...correct? In cases like that the coolant is no longer cooled mostly by airflow through the radiator. When you stop the temperature spikes and the thermostatically controlled electric cooling fan starts...and runs until temps. are brought below the lower limit of the sensor that controls on/off of that fan. So, you may have answered your own question when you state you don't think the fan turns on any longer. I don't think so either.

#10 of 43 fan cooling by sancho3

Dec 09, 2008 (8:02 pm)

i have a honda civic dx 96, and my is problem that the fan cooling doesn´t want to work, i already change the thermostat, and temperature sensor, because i though those were the problem, but not. i send u this messages to know what is the problem, could u help me out with this problem?

#11 of 43 My 2003 Honda is over heating, any help please by iiwakoll

Oct 13, 2010 (1:30 pm)

I have a 2003 Honda Civic, I notice that it only takes a few seconds for my vehicle to warm up to normal. I can drive my vehicle for approximately 30 miles before I can see that it starts to over heat, once I exit the freeway it jumps all the way to the top. I have replaced the thermostat twice, just replaced spark plugs and had oil changed, not milky. No leaks found. My concern is what can make my vehicle reach normal temperature in just seconds. I can drive the vehicle sitting from over night and reach the normal temperature in under 5 minutes

#12 of 43 overheating by jessical01

Oct 21, 2010 (10:38 pm)

i have on 2003 honda civic ex. ive replaced two hoses, theromstat, and radiator cap. car is still overheating. i have to keep putting coolant in it, however every time i pop the hood to put coolant in it the overflow is full to the top of coolant. it wont run hot for a couple of days the driving the gage will start going up. i always pull over it never barley gets over the half way mark. ive also had the oil changed to make sure it want milky, and it wasnt. please help i dont know what else to do.

#13 of 43 Overheating issues by cruisinsooner

Nov 17, 2010 (10:56 am)

I have a 05 civic LX, bought the car new. Until mid-Sept I had absolutely NO problems with the car. Took it in to a Honda Service Dept closer to home(not the original purchase dealer because of driving distance) and had the 110k service done plus compliance bushings, a strut replaced, etc. Paid over $1600 for all the work to be done. Picked my car up on Friday, seemed to be running like new. Monday, my daughter and I were running errands and the temp gauge went to hot. Pulled over immediately and shut the car off, called dealership that did the service, they sent out a tow truck and towed my car back at no charge to me. They said the thermostat got stuck, so they burped the system. Over the next few days the temp gauge continued to go up and down so I took the car back in. They replaced the thermostat. Car seemed to run fine again. A week later the battery indicator light on the instrument panel started coming on when I would start the car. My husband and I were taking our dearly departed dog to the pet crematorium when I lost all instrumentation. Husband says pull over, turn the car off and then turn it back on. So I pulled over, turned the car off-and tried to turn it back on with no luck. Car was dead. Called dealer who had done all the work on my car, they sent a tow truck again. This time they charged me a $150 tow bill. I firmly believed that this latest problem was a result of something the dealer had done(or failed to do) so I argued and got the tow bill reduced to $75. Service dept said Alternator went bad. It wasn't bad when the dealer did all the work on my car two weeks prior. I paid an independent mechanic $327 to replace the alternator. My mechanic also told me the brake fluid level was low-service dept did NOT tell me this or advise me there were issues with brake fluid level.
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!

#15 of 43 Re: Overheating issues [cruisinsooner] by dslynx

Mar 16, 2011 (9:22 am)

Replying to: cruisinsooner (Nov 17, 2010 10:56 am)
Any updates? This sounds extremely close to what my current issue is with my 2003. I've googled this issue up one side and down the other. Seems to be a common problem, but no solution. On my path, I have had the water pump, thermostat, and radiator cap replaced. I have had hoses tightened and the system bled on a few occasions. My "current status" is that I might have a head leak, but I don't have any milk in my oil either, so I'm at a loss. I was thinking of taking it to a dealer, but after reading your post, I doubt there is a point. The only thing left is the heater core, that I can think of, and I don't think I'm ready for that yet. My whole problem started with no heat at idle to the point that I have had to pull over once due to over heating, but I have never had the car "die".
 
I'm starting to think there might be a design flaw in this series...

#16 of 43 Re: Overheating issues [dslynx] by billy63

Mar 18, 2011 (1:11 pm)

Replying to: dslynx (Mar 16, 2011 9:22 am)
I beleive its in the water pump for $100 alex lol
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

#17 of 43 Re: Overheating issues [cruisinsooner] by vorlons

Apr 22, 2011 (10:01 pm)

Replying to: cruisinsooner (Nov 17, 2010 10:56 am)
I have a 04 Civic LX 4-door. I have the same problem. My problem started after I replaced my timing belt and water pump at around 153K miles. I performed the work myself since I know enough about cars to work on the simple issues. Couple of months after I replaced the timing belt, tensioner, water pump etc... I noticed that the water temp gage gone up and down while I'm driving. In the morning when I turned on the heater, I got nothing but cold air coming out and will not get heat for until after 10 minutes of driving. Shortly after I turned on the heater, my temp gauge shot up to the red marker and down again..... and it just goes up for up to 30 seconds and goes back down a little and up again. This is worst in city driving or if you're stuck in a traffic jam. I replaced the thermostat the first time and it did not fix the problem and replace it again with another thermostat and problem persists. I also replaced the fan switches and temp sensor without any luck of getting it fixed. I also flushed the coolant system twice and problem still persists. When the car temp shot up, there was no smoke or fumes coming out from the exhaust or from the hood. Only thing that came out when this happened was coolant from the reserve coolant tank. I had the coolant system tested for signs of a damaged head gasket but it turned out fine. Inspect the engine head and no coolant leak coming out of the cylinder head. I've been driving more than 25K miles with this issue and change my oil every 5K miles and do not see any signs of coolant in the oil.
 
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!

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