My 2000 Honda Civic has been nothing but the most dependable car I have ever had. Ive been lucky to not have any major problems and have never been stuck on the side of the road (knock on wood). But the past few weeks its been running funny. Its been very cold here (For NC standards) and when I drive it, even on short trips on the highway, and come to a stop there is a little bit of smoke coming from the hood as if it was overheating but no lights come on and the engine temp is no where near high. Checking under the hood I find that the Anti-freeze I just put in there has splattered all over with little to nothing in the overflow. Please Help!!! Let me know if I can trouble shot this with regular tools or should i Take this to a mechanic?

 

Check all of your coolant hoses. Make sure none are split. Check your radiator cap. They can fail.

Try refilling the system, then bleed it. Then let it run while you've got the hood up and try to spot the leak. Maybe have someone push the pedal so that it sits around 3000 RPMs to simulate interstate driving.

 

Thanks will try tomorrow with results. BTW how do you know if a cap has to be replaced or not? N E other suggestions?

 

Any oil in the coolant or coolant in the engine oil? Any engine misfiring or CEL codes? Does the radiator fan run when the engine is hot? Keep a close eye on the temp gauge. You must never let the temp rise above the half way mark.

Just replace the radiator cap because it's cheap. Then top the system off and bleed it. Go from there.

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This bleed procedure may take 20-30 minutes:

1) Park the car on an inclined driveway with the front end higher than the rear.

2) Push the dash heater lever/**** to MAX heat.

3) Follow the directions in the diagram below

 

this is great for someone like me, step by step instructions AND picture!! I will keep you guys posted as I try this tomorrow. Thanks

 

1st off thanks for all your help. I replaced the Radiator cap this morning and let it run for about 30-40 mins. no leakage or smoke!!! But I also noticed that the radiator fan did not come on at all. the ac fan came on a few times but the radiator fan did not move at all. now its cold as ***** outside. would that have anything to do with it not coming on?

 

The engine needs to be pretty warm. The engine might not heat up enough if it's extremely cold and the engine was just idling. It's possible that the engine wasn't warm enough but it's also possible that the fan's electrical components were damaged by coolant flying everywhere.

Are you sure it was the ac fan? did you have the ac on when it was that cold outside?

 

yeah it was he AC fan, I turned the AC on in order to warm the car up faster. its in the 20's out here. brrrrr