Hi guys I am new to the forum I have never been a fan of Japanese vehicles especially hondas but my gf insisted a honda was the way to go so she bought one.The car been great very fun to drive something i would never expect. Recently though the car had been overheating. I went ahead ahead and changed out the radiator and the hoses. Car does not leak any water and runs great on highway speeds. As soon as we come to a stop it starts slowly but surely heating up. The fan comes on and you can hear it blows hard and cold but it slowly creeps up there. No oil in the overflow i dont even think it has a thermostat cause i attempted to take out the housing but before i did i tried to fell for a thermostat and nothing just a hole any ideas

 

btw i forgot to add its a 1993 honda civic non vtec doesnt smoke no smoke in the tailpipe nada

 

How can you feel for a Tstat? lol It is in a big chuck of metal that you need to disassemble to get to.

Over heating while at idle only... does the gauge go back down once you start moving again?

If yes, then you either have a stuck Tstat, or a big ol' air bubble in the system.

Once the car is starting to "overheat" shut the car off and grab the lower hose. Is it hot? If no, replace the tstat.

If yes, the Tstat us probably fine. Begin to properly bleed the coolant system.

 

system has been bled already the bottom hose gets hot also

 

Over heating while at idle only... does the gauge go back down once you start moving again?

 

yes it does in fact i drove the car 200 miles yesterday on the highway it didnt start to get hot till i was in the city

 

Overheating at idle to me means 3 things.

Stuck Tstat, but it would still be overheating once you start moving again.

Air pocket still in the system

Fan not working.

It is not a stuck Tstat as the car does go back down in temp once moving, and you said that the does work.

Either there is an air bubble in the system, or there is something possibly clogging up the system, or the Tstat is "kinda" sticking. My bet is on an air pocket. Just wondering, how do you bleed your coolant system?

 

I bled it right there by the housing loosening the bolt by the housing

 

That's all? That is wrong.

Remove the radiator cap (when the car is cold of course). Start vehicle.

Add coolant as bubbles surface. Turn on the heat in the vehicle. Allow vehicle to run until fan cycles on. You might want to grab a beer since these cars make like no heat. It will take a while for this to be done. I normally do not turn the heat on until I see the Tstat open (lower hose getting hot) just to kind of speed it up.

You can also raise the front end of the vehicle up to accelerate the process, however, you are pretty much just waiting on the Tstat to open anyways.

That's how I have always done it and never had a problem... well, unless there was something cooling system related that was broken (capped port pissing coolant and I didn't notice... fan died on me in traffic once... ugh)

 

And once you get it full, let the engine get cold and take the radiator cap off again. Start the engine and rev it. If bubbles come out of the radiator steadily, the head gasket is leaking. This is the only symptom of a small leak. The gas will form a pocket in the top of the engine and prevent the coolant from circulating at idle speed. You will also know that is happening because the heater will not work at idle speed, even though the engine is hot.

The thermostat is at the engine end of the lower radiator hose, if you didn't already know that. There is nothing inside the fitting for the upper hose.