Okay so here goes. I've replaced my head gasket twice, full rad system, water pump and thermostat, replaced my coolant temp sensor and my cooling fan switch. Relay is good, fuse is good, thermostat works fine. And still my car overheats whenever I idle for more than 5 minutes. I'm ready to drive my car off a cliff and I need help lol. I haven't tried checking my wiring harness and I don't plan to because my electrical is on par with a caveman. Please help.

 

so the fan works or it doesn't? you didn't specify so obviously if the fans not working it can overheat while idling. the fan motor itself can be bad. you said you did the headgasket twice did you do it or did a shop do it. if the head is cracked or warped a head gasket wont help. depending on the location and severity of the crack you could possibly never find it. as far as a warped head did you lay atleast lay a straight edge across the bottom of the head after you cleaned it up. if the warp is minor but warped in a bad spot you could again never find it but it could still cause your problems. as far as the fan if you turn the a/c on does the fan turn on? most cases or atleast all that im aware of if the a/c is turned on the cooling fan will automatically kick on regardless of engine temperature. if it does not the fan can be test directly off the battery. if the fan does not come on when connected directly to the battery the fan motor is bad.

 

Hey, so the fan does work when I turn the ac on, and as far as the head gaskets go the first one I got a friend to do it and 2nd time honda did it for me.

 

k well not suggesting your friend is incapable but as i said sometimes cracks are very hard to find. i dont trust dealerships so don't have anything to say there. btw what year and model is this civic btw. might help narrow it down to something more specific if i knew.

 

Thanks for the help, it's a 2003 1.7 litre sport. And he was incapable because the head gasket blew 4 months after he installed it lol

 

ahh well that solves the first head gasket fail. ok next up leave the a/c off and let the car start to heat up. once the temp starts climbing above 50% on the gauge check to see if the fan kicks on. dont let it overheat again so shut it off immediately if it doesn't. overheat can blow your second head gasket if it hasn't already. next up with the car idling and starting to get warm check the upper and lower radiator hoses and see if they are both heating up. also at an idle turn your defroster on full heat. if both hoses aren't heating up and if the air coming from the vents isnt hot you could have trapped air in the coolant system or a problem with your water pump. lastly dont assume new parts are working correctly. you mentioned a bunch of new parts were installed assuming in an ongoing attempt to fix the problem and it is possible to get defective parts.

 

Alright I'm gonna go out this morning and try to burp the system first and see if that solves the issue. If it doesn't I'll check my rad hoses and see if they are heating/cooling properly.

 

So upper and lower hoses are fine and I've burped my system. I've let my car idle for more than 10 minutes now and my temp is holding where it should be though my cooling fan hasn't kicked on yet. Could burping the system have fixed it?

 

yes absolutely especially if you seen larger bubbles come out. air in the coolant system is just as bad as an actual blockage. cooling fan will only come on as needed.

 

I just got back from a long drive and yeah it seems to be fine now. Thanks for taking the time to help me out I rly appreciate it. Have a good one and hope you stay safe 😊