I have a 2001 honda civic lx. I drove the car to new york yesterday for work, the drive on the way down was fine, but once i got into new york and sat in alot of traffic i noticed the temp. gauge start climbing above hafway point. I turned the car off and let it cool down. On the way home from new york i turned the heat on to see if maybe the thermostat was either sticking or stuck. When the temp. gauge was in normal range the heat worked fine, but when the temp. rose above halfway point the heat went away.
This mornin i changed the thermostat, then ran the car with the radiator cap off to let any air bubbles out. The temp. started to climb again and no heat either. Also i noticed the fans NEVER came on, and that both radiator hoses were practically rock solid and were basically at the same temp. The radiator over flow canister fluid level never went down either, but when the i turned the car off the hoses were soft again, and the over flow canister fluid level went down. WHAT IS GOING ON???????? Confused?????

 

You need to bleed the coolant system by loosening the coolant bleed bolt and letting it flow until a continuous stream of coolant flows from it. Then tighten the bolt. That's the proper way to bleed your system, not just running it with the cap off. See if that fixes your problems.

 

I assume the bleeder bolt is located on the bottom of the radiator. Also i did mention the hoses become almost rock solid when the gauge starts to climb, it almost seems as if there is too much pressure in the system, such as something is blocked. I did however take the thermostat out and ran the car without it, turns out the cooling fans did kick in with no thermostat, but then proceeded to try and overheat. Also i tried turning the heat on, no luck, only outside air was blowing in. There seems to be a much more bigger issue????? let me know guys. I'll try the bleeding it tomara.

 

You pressure test your rad cap or replace it before you try anything else.

 

the bleed bolt is located on the head, where the top radiator hose meets the head. It looks like a bolt with a nipple on the head.

 

id just sit in it let it idle until it gets about 3/4 of the way up the temp guage then leave in neutral or park and hold the rpms about 3000 rpms. might be the water pump fins..

 

I'm almost sure this all stems from the fan not working. Search other overheating threads for the fan diagnosis procedure.

 

you can always do what i did.. hook your fan up to a toggle. mine kept overheating as well. the fan kept blowing the fuse :S

 

no the fans do work, i pulled the therm. out and ran it, and finally the fans kicked in. So it's a flow issue, now is there a way u guys can get me a picture of where this bleed nipple is located?

 

The bleed nipple is part of the fitting on the engine that attaches to the top radiator hose, but not all cars have it.

If you don't have one, the best you can do is bleed by running the engine with the radiator cap off, starting from cold. Keep pouring coolant into the radiator to keep it full. When it starts to overflow, put the cap on and make sure there is some coolant in the bottle. Also set the heater on hot during this procedure so air will purge out of it too.