I hope someone here can help me. I have a 1987 Honda Civic 3 door hatch with a 1500cc EW2 engine. It had some mild overheating problems and was always pushing the coolant out of the overflow. It needed topping up regularly. Just after xmas, it boiled on me and blew a head gasket. I took it all apart, replaced the head gasket, the water pump, the thermostat and the radiator cap and had the radiator pulled apart andflushed. It still ran hot, worse than before, and so I took the head off, got another head, had it crack tested and pressure tested, put it on with a new head gasket and put it all together, following the coolant bleeding techniques according to the book. I took it for it's first test drive today and it ran hot. It didn't overheat like before, but there is still a problem with it. Has anyone seen this kind of problem? The head gasket is top quality, the block is not warped, the water jacket is clean, the coolant is top quality, the thermostat and radiator cap are genuine Honda and just to be on the safe side, it has a brand new, genuine Honda temperature sender. It overheats on both the highway and back streets. Tomorrow I'll be taking out the thermostat to see if that makes a difference, but I'm not holding my breath.

Any suggestions (besides burning it or trading it in)?

 

I sure hope the thermostat replacement does the trick. Does the radiator fan turn ON when the engine is hot? If all else looks fine, compression test the cylinders.

 

Hello, how is everyone doing? This is actually my first time working on cars and I'm still not sure where everything is nor how to what the problem is. So I'll try my best to tell you guys the problem. I have a 93 Civic lx, 1.5L engine. my car was always getting hot after driving it for a couple hours but it has never been this bad. This all started because my left tie rod end was acting up and the two boots needed to be replaced so I took the steering column off. Replaced the power steering hose in the process. I know now that I didn't need to take the whole steering column off. I could have just reached by the tires and do it that way. I don't know, perhaps I unhook something while doing that.

After that my dad took the car and said it was getting too hot too quick. so he did something to it, i'm not sure what. but he had the fan being jumped to the battery. I went fishing on saturday, on my way there i didn't hook up the fan. but on my way back, i did. but it just made things worst. I have no HOT air coming out. I blasted full power and still no hot air coming out and the car was getting soo hot. and when I got home the engine was like....vroom, and died down, vroom and died down. it kept on doing that with smoke coming out of the engine. I could smell something like Coolant or burnt oil from the engine or a mixture. It's not healthy for me i know that. so now everything I turn the car on for over 10 minutes, the engine will go into the same state. so the only thing I can think of is that maybe a hose maybe lose, the heating fan relay fuse might be blown, and I have to do everything you guys mentioned.

I am soo afraid to drive that thing. HELP!

 

You possibly have a stuck-closed thermostat that caused the overheating problem. Your main mistake, however, was driving the car in this state and allowing the engine to overheat, which may have led to a blown head gasket as evidenced by white smoke (burning coolant) from the exhaust.

 

well I replaced the radiator and it seems to taken care of my heating issue. or I think. it seems like the fuel and heat markers doesn't move now. I thought that it was fixed, so I took it out to work. Half way there, when I stopped at a stop light, it was shaking soo bad and smoke was just leaking out from my hood. It was horrible. I was stupid to drive it in this state too. well of course I didn't know about this untill it started smoking. Now it doesn't even start. a buddy of mine was saying that it might be the starter too because when I turn the key, it just made a thud sound like it doesn't want to spin or something. i'm not sure. but the head gasket is definitely something I'll have to replace.

Do you think I'll be able to do it this weekend? is replacing the head gasket difficult? can anyone help me with some steps as to take it off and what to look for and what not to look for.

Thanks RonJ, that was a very informative reply.

 

Also, I was looking on Checker Auto Parts and I found Head Gasket and Head Gasket Set. I just like to ask which one should I buy? with my situation, having it being overheated? This is the first time something like this have happened to me so I just want to save time and money.

 

This is the strangest thread I have seen on this site.
the first guy solved his problem, then 6 more people added theirs. If everyone would post their answers, when they find them, we would have a great problem solved for overheating problems.
My 91 Dodge Colt ( mitsubitchy ) has 2 relays that control the fan, one for when the car is running, and one for when the car is turned off. I don't know the setup on hondas, but if theone for running was bad it might beeasy to miss. My colt has to run for a long time at idle before the fan willkick on.I throw this out for what it's worth

 

Hi,

My car was overheating (cracked radiator), so I had the radiator replaced. Then the coolant was overflowing into the reservoir and not going back into the radiator, so I replaced the radiator cap (like in your thread).

However, the coolant is still over flowing into the reservoir and not going back into the radiator. Do I need to replace the reservoir and cap also?

Help, because the car starts to overheat after about 30 minutes of driving, but gets back to normal if I pour the coolant from the reservoir back into the radiator.

..........L

 

You may want to replace the thermostat and then bleed the cooling system of possible trapped air.

 

Hi,

My boyfriend put in a new thermostat and seal. He also put in a new over flow tank, as the old one had a crack in the cap. Then he got all the air out.

However, the radiator still puts too much coolant into the overflow tank, and car overheats after about 30 minutes.

Any other suggestions?

........L