I own a '97 Civic EX. Bought it new, has almost 69K miles on it, and never a problem other than routine maintenance. Until now, that is.
Today while driving I noticed the temperature gauge was well above where it normally rests. I shut off the AC, (I'm in south FL and it's hot), turned on the heater, the gauge dropped to where it normally is and I was able to make it home.
When I got back into my garage I popped the hood and noticed there was some bubbling directly on the very top of the radiiator, about two inches to the left of the cap. It was already dark and it was too hot to check carefully, but it looks like there is a pinhole perhaps, or maybe a seam there that is slightly split.
Can this be repaired? Will some Stop Leak work? I'm not looking to sink any serious money into her at this point since she is already 12 years old and counting. Or am I looking at a new radiator? If so, any ideas what that might cost me? Thank you.

 

you will need a new radiator, that crack will just get worse, radiators arent that expensive and a 97 civic is worth putting money in, look on ebay ive bought a few radiators from them and they worked great.

 

Yes its the radiator. The stop leak stuff is junk.

 

if it gets hot while your a/c is on. i'd make sure both your fans run when it's on. One of mine quit working and i had the same issue as you are having. New Rad and all....

 

I agree. I've tried all kinds on a previous car of mine, it didn't "stop" the "leak"

 

Turns out the plastic tank developed a crack on top. Decided to make life easy and bought a new radiator and had it installed. Problem solved. Life is good.

 

the very same thing happened to me so i went to ebay for a new one and it only costed 40$ shipped and i got in within a week.