ok srry to keep bringin this up but its so funny. ok my car 98 civic dx overheats. its been doin this for awhile i top off the coolant on the radiator and that other thing but anyways after i top it off and start driving for a lil whilethe temp gage goes up i mean to the red it did it this morning after work and i serviced it to the top 2. but b4 this i have taken to 3 i mean 3 diferent places and they keep telling different stuff like the thermostat. wellone guy told me that so i changed it same problem came back[:@] and the funny part is that they keep saying nothing is wrong they dont find anything wrong. i was like wow so its just me then[&:] . thats 3 diferent shops that say NOTHING is wrong but i know cause i see the dam gage go all the way up!! im not crazy either i get tired causeall these shopscall ur selfs mechs and cant find a dam easy problem??!! im srry but it gets annoying saying nothing is wrong when i know there is.
could the gage be broken or something???? or how the hell could i fix this problem ??? thanks

 

does it go up high, and then come back down, or stay up

 

it will stay up then about 1 minute i turn on my a/c fan and it goes down and little well enough to drive and park. sometimes like this morning it stays up there until the engine gets cold then it goes back to normal temp

 

I would think

A. Thermostat
B. Water Pump

These are the things that are most responsible for cooling the engine, as well as your fan, but all that does is pull air through the radiator and assist cooling when your not driving and air-cooling it.

I would look at those 3 things, make sure your fan is working, or comming on as it should. Remember your ac and radiator fan's are seperate. It could be a fuse or relay or something for the thermostat, since you have replaced it you know that its good. Water pump's fail, or gum up sometimes, that could be a place to start looking, or you could have a leak, but I would think that would be pretty obvious.

Not sure what else to suggest, but someone else will throw some input in soon. Hope it all works out!

 

Did you buy your thermostat from Honda? If not, you should. The ones you buy at the parts store are junk.

To test your thermostat before buying a new one, removeyour old onefrom the car and drop it in a pot of boiling water. If it opens up wide, it's good. If it opens just a little or not at all then it's dead. Ta da! Then move onto other possibilities like the water pump and electrical connections to the fan and temperature sensor. You might also need a radiator chemical flush to remove deposits in the cooling system. There could be a blockage in the cooling system.

 

When was the last time you had the system flushed? Wondering if you have a blockage somewhere. Maybe radiator, or heater core. Especially if the cooling system is as finiky as some have said on here. Never considered manufacturer coolant before, always did the prestone thing. But after reading some on here, I'm considering hitting a stealership for coolant.

 

is there a way u could tell that the water pump is bad?? also this morning i found the fans fuse and its one big blk one well compared to the regular colored ones is bigger, how could i tell if this one is goin bad 2??[&:] its all covered and cant tell if its got a bridge or not .thanks

 

try bleeding the heating system, there should be a bleeder valve on the upper radiator hose housing. if your temp is rising and lowering consistently, then there is usually air trapped in the cooling system. turn the car on, let it warm up, then open the bleeder valve, fluid should come out. do that until the stream is solid coolent. this picture should help you to locate it.

[IMG]local://upfiles/9128/B7BFE88CCB5F4EA2B49759C4504476FB.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/9128/14A37226FC2F413281A7D36F74BF280D.jpg[/IMG]

 

I would think of your fan as the most probable cause. Can you see it moving when engine is hot?

 

ya u could hear it sometimes