I swear it's been so long since I turned any wrenches I feel like a noob all over again.


When I bought my '88 CRX (ZC block/A6 head) the temp was a little funky. It wasn't registering much temp at all. The guy I bought it from was owed money from a local mechanic so I brought it to him to check it out instead of just doing it myself. He said the thermostat was stuck wide open and that the radiator cap was bad. He replaced both and everything seemed fine for a couple days. The car sat for a couple weeks and when I drove it the other day it started overheating on me. I called the guy who replaced the thermostat and he said it's probably a clogged radiator and that I should try a flush.

Now... was he just blowing me off because he didn't want to deal with it? Where should I start looking for this B.S.? Is a rad flush something I can do or am I better off taking it to a radiator shop or what? Overheating is my #1 pet peeve.

[Edit: the temp gauge needle moves a bit when the rpms come up and back down when I lift. I thought that the gauge might be bad but it smells hot]

Ugh.

 

I've never actually done it, but from what I hear it's pretty straight forward. If you're going to flush the radiator, you might as well flush the whole system to insure you get all the AIDS out.


Try this: https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...d.php?p=621100

I've also seen the Garden Hose trick used quite often with good results.

Drain Coolant
Leave Drain Plug out
Pull off top Radiator Hose
Attach Garden Hose
Start and let motor warm up (till tstat opens)
allow motor to pull garden hose water all the way through and out the drain plug
Shut down motor and let remaining water drain out
Put Drain Plug back in
FIll with fiddy fiddy mix
??????
PROFIT

 

First check the coolant level in the radiator-- worked for a few days then stopped often means there's a leak.

 

+1 for the posters above me.

Also, check out this guide I put together for work. It may help a little bit in pinpointing the exact issue.

http://www.mishimoto.com/how-to-guid...ing-guide.html