Iwent and bought a 2000 civic ex with 63,000 milles on it stick and its great running car got new breaks on it and done maintance on it and come to find out its been in a small front end accident well they put a now core support they said the radiator was ok well the other day i was driving and temp guage started going higher than normal so i shut it off let it cool down drive back home and hardly any antifreeze in the radiator so i put some more in the radiator and also the overfill and this has been doing it alot but i always check it and keep an eye on it well the overfill is about empty but the radiator is full of antifreeze. Also about the fan i have never seen that fan kick on well i ran the car for about 15 to 20 mins and the temp guage started getting higher and the fan still hasnt kicked on now do you guys think that is a sensor problem. Also about my radiator do you think i have a bad radiator or what is the deal sometimes i see it leaking but i dont think its a hose at all but it wont start leaking or getting low in the radiator till about month later i kinda wanna get this fixed before the summer heat gets here so please i need help on deciding what it is about both things and i know some about cars but not too much and i love civics and i hope its just not abig problem because i have 69,000 miles on it now and it runs really good just need to get this figured out so if anyone has any ideas than let me know thanks.

 

well depends how hot is the gauge and your sure the fan doesnt come on?
i know all winter long with my 94civic ive never heard the fan come on... BUT turns out a few days ago when it was warm out i finaly heard it come on for a short time. but my temp is usualy just under 1/2.


just a few things to check... one drain the oil and if you see radiator fluid in it... YOU GOT PROBLEMS headgasket most likely...
and then pull the spark plugs and check for any deposits... will help ya see if its slightly leaking in the head and geting burned.

but sometimes its just something small with a slight leak somewhere. check the radiator for any green corroded looking areas, if so its probably got a small leak.... best to replace it.

it could also be leaking slightly in your heater core so many posible small leaking areas.....

look the best you can and if you cannt see anything just yet.... you just have to wait... keep an eye on the level regularly and hope it gets slightly larger so you can find the leaky spot...

you could also try some radiator stop leak..... not the best because it can clog up your heater core and radiator alittle.....

 

yes my temp guage sits at about half or a little under a half and nope i never heard that fan come on but maybe it does work i will check it whenever it gets a little warmer out but i just never seen it come on you are probably right since yours does the same thing and my civic runs really good and idles really smooth i just had a oil change and there was no radiator fluid in there at all i am thinking it might just be my radiator leaking a little bit but what about my overfill i hardly ever see antifreeze in there but my radiator is always full until it starts leaking a little at a time but it is prolly the radiator and will prolly need a new one i guess just keep an eye on it?

 

well look at the rubber hose runing from the overflow tank to the radiator make sure its good and not old looking... if so just replace the hose and maybe even the radiator cap... and pull the overflow tank off and check it out and look for leaks. it could be leaking as well.. but as long as the car doesnt start steeming or temp gauge geting close to the red line i wouldnt worry about it to much... just fill up the radiator.... sometimes its just low... or has such a slow leak somewhere its not noticable. just keep an eye on it mainly learn its habbits, like how long it takes to get low...

 

yes i took the overfill tank off put water in it and checked for leaks there was none the overfill hose is really tight also and yes someone told me to get a new radiator cap so i tried that and man that seems like its helping a bit but i dunno what it is i think that might have been alot of it and i had someone put a pressure test on it also that came up and held pressure at 20 lbs. and we took the cap off and started it and it wasnt bubbling at all so it cant be a head gasket also it runs really good and gets about 39 mpg. I love this car i just need to get a little problme fixed excellent gas mileage and plus i like driving the stickshift but yah i will keep an eye on it and on the guage.

And also i turn my ac on and no cold air comes out at all i mean its cool but not like it should be how do i check how much free on is in there cause i had to put some in my dodge dakota one time and i was just wondering how i find out how much is in there it probably just needs another can of it dont you think?

 

accutally i went and bought a can of that free on today and started to put it in well i was hearing a leak so pretty much it was just leaking right back out and i found where the leak was its down there by my left headlight on either the condensor or a pipe i dunno i am going to have to take it to the shop and have them give me a estimate on it do you have any suggestions?