Mechanical Problems & Technical Chat - Car overheating

hey newbie in need of some help.. i have a 93 civic that i got last year and its been givin me these problems with overheating.. i've drained it, flushed it, changed the thermostat and that didn't workl, so i bought a new radiator since the one it had was old, it was ok for a while but then it kept overheating, they told me that it might be a blown headgasket or the water pump.. well the water pump seems to be running fine, and so is the fan. i just recently changed the blown head gasket it had.. the car was running fine again but now after a while of driving when the car is stopped at a red light it starts overheating again! there are no hose leakages so i have no idea what else might be the problem ...[X(]
any suggestions? please!

the only way of knowing for sure that the waterpump is working is by taking it out and checking the pulley and impeller are actually connected and the impeller is rotating - when did it last have a timing belt and/or water pump fitted?

Actually i just checked it out and the fan's not working.. so that explains why recently it overheated when it was stopped... it had a direct connection so hopefuly the fan motor didn't burn out.

think there is a temp sensor in the rad that turns it on - not positive (i may be thinking about another car that i have and have worked on).
or is there a relay in the circuit.
i would find the cause and fix it; think the constant running will burn out the motor.

is the temp sensor not in the thermostat housing?

yeah the temp sensor is in the radiator i believe
icould be wrong but there is a sensor toward the top of the radiator but it might just be a coolant level sensor

You mean the water pumps on these cars don't weap (leak out of a small hole on the bottom) when they're going out? I've never come across a car that didn't...

I think they only weep when the seal brakes. If the pump is siezed or something i don't think it would still weep. As far as the fan, disconnect the fan and check the resistance. If the resistance is really high then the coil inside the motor might have burned out, causing the fan not to run. If the fan is OK then you have to find out why the fan isn't getting any power.

ORIGINAL: Valezkam89

Actually i just checked it out and the fan's not working.. so that explains why recently it overheated when it was stopped... it had a direct connection so hopefuly the fan motor didn't burn out.


supply power and ground to fan motor , if it does not work you got a dead motor,,,,,,,,,,,if it works you need to chk the fuse, the relay if those are ok, turn ignition switch on, jump the fan switch located on the back side of the thermostat , it has 2 wires, jump those together if fan works you got a bad switch ,,,,if fan still does not work , you might have wiring problems

yeah i got it checked out, da wires had power, it wuz da motor dat got burned out sumhow.. got it fixed tho,, thnx for da help;)

tru dat son, now u be rollin in da civ fo sho'

I bought a 94 honda civic, when the car is in park it does not overheat at all but when i start driving the temperature gauge starts going all the way up within a few minutes, in order to go down i have to turn on the heater on max then the temperature gauge goes down again. I HAVE REPLACED THE WATER PUMP, THERMOSTAT AND TEMPERATURE SENSOR. The fan works ok. i don't understant why does the temperature gauge goes all the way up. When i open the hood i don't see any sign of overheating, it seens like it have right temperature, coolant is not boiling, i bleeded the coolant system. What else can i do? What seens to be the problem? Why do i have to turn on the heater in order for the temp gauge to go down?.....someone told me that the head gasket could have a leak, but no smoke comes out the muffler nor i see any leaks coming from headgasket......i have also put in one of those block seals liquid into the radiator with water, i followed the instructions......