I have a 99 civic dx. It is overheating whencrawling/idling in traffic. The coolant is not low.

I have heard a couple of things from various people...
[ul][*]Someone told me that there is an automatic sensor in these cars that tells the fan when to kick in[*]I've also heard about perhaps a head gasket problem[/ul]
Also, can overheating lead to the warping of the aluminum heads and ruin the engine?

Your help is much appreciated.....thanks....

 

thermostat. check that.

then i'de check to see if the fans are working. or if theres air in the cooling sys.

 

yeah getting the car to hot from overheating can warp the head, or crack the head.

 

Same **** with my brothers car its a 93 EX and it over heats when you idle in traffic or turn A/C on i changed thermostat,Water pump,Radiator. im hopeing this head job willl do the trick i checked head had no cracked valves or anything but when i put my mouth on exaust manafold(in valve train) and i blew air in it one 1 valve made radiator overflow and come out rest were like clogged. My advice turn your car on BLAST THE A/C put it in drive and then pull e-brake up to were it dont move and squeeze raidator hose it shouldent be hard it should be kinda soft, if its really hard then, there no circulation for the collant. and you have same problem as my brother another thing you can do is run it for like 15-25 minutes and then turn it off and smell motor for a rubber smell if there is a rubber smell that is head gasket then you need head job, could be fansout of cycle.it could be a numorus amount of problems. i hope this post helped you in your troubles i know how it feals to have a car break down a horrible fealing

 

ok, start with the cheapest. but first, does your car put out any smoke? (white mainly) also check under your oil cap for any white residue, either of these 2 things are signs of blown head gaskets. Also, are your coolant levels low?
if those check out turn your car on and go see if your fans kick on. if not, usually it's as simple as a relay that you can get at any autopart store.
If those don't work then it's on to mechanical. first change the thermostat.They are under 15 bucks and take about 5 mins to change out.
After that i'd flush the radiator, you can do this yourself if you have any kind of mechanic skills at all... it'sa very simple process.
If that doesn't work... well than you have a problem it's gotta be the waterpump which isnt cheap or fun b/c you have to take off your timing belt for this.