Short Story - My car has been overheating for a month. I replaced the radiator, water pump, and some hoses I thought had leaks. Its still overheating. Any suggestions?


Long Story - Ok here is the story. My 1993 civic EX started overheating about a month ago. I was driving around and it overheated so I pulled over and let it sit overnight. I came back the next morning and we took the thermostat out and filled it with antifreeze and drove it home. It did good and didnt overheat, so we thought it was just the thermostat. I drove it for another week or so without the thermostat and it started to overheat again. I checked the coolant level and there was almost none in the radiator. So I filled it up and continued to drive it without overheating problems. Then a few days later it overheated again. I filled it back up with coolant. By this time I knew there was a big leak somewhere since it was going though coolant so fast. But I couldnt see any leaks when the car was on and at normal temp. so I had no idea what was wrong. So for the next week or so I would fill it up with coolant when it needed it. One night it overheated but it was full of coolant. I got pissed and drove it home (about 15 miles) with the temp. all the way up past H. Im pretty sure I was trying to blow the motor at this point. Well it made it home (go honda!), and I went to sleep. The next morning I inspected the damage. I cracked the radiator. So I ordered a new all metal one off ebay. And since I wasnt able to drive my car for awhile I ordered a header too. So when I got them I was excited to get my car running again to see if a new radiator would fix it. Well it did for awhile. A day or two. Then it overheated again!!! So now im thinking water pump. I replaced the water pump a few days ago. It ran EXCELLENT for about 2 days. It stayed at normal temp all the time and never overheated. Then saturday night it started leaking antifreeze all over the ground. I thought it was the water pump. The seal broke or something. The next morning I filled it with antifreeze and drove it home without problems. I took off the water pump. It looked fine. Put it back on. Then drove another day without problems. Then last night it got really hot on the way home. I got home and smoke poured out from under the hood. Seems to be leaking behind the block where I cant see anything. Any ideas of what is wrong with it now? I have done a lot of things and none fixed the overheating problem.

 

Bummer dude. Sounds like a lot of work. I would check/replace ALL of the hoses and clamps. There are about8 hoses that the coolant runs through. I had a hose that looked good (no visible deterioration), but it was leaking. The fact thatyour car runs for a few days before overheatingsuggests a leak and not a clogged"artery."

You should also check the passenger side floor. If it's wet, your heater core could be out, which would also drain the coolant.

 

very tuff.... if i was to guess id say its leaking from a small coolant line... i know on my engine thiers a coolant line that goes around the intake comen from the back of the motor.. a hose around thier could be split or just came off or if your old water pump was bad it coulda heated up the temp so much that it just put to much abuse on that little line... which looks like a vacume hose...


hardest part is finding out which hose is vacume and which is coolant or what ever....... and all that work it might pull the motor to view all those lines in the rear

otherwise one hose at a time with some mirrors and alot of light behind the motor and HOPEFULLY you can find the leak.. weither it be a rubber hose or a steel hose thats cracked...

 

Mine turned out to be the head gasket. Doom-oss mechanic didn't put it on right when he rebuilt the motor... then argued with me that it was the radiator....

 

There is a lot of stuff around the back of the engine that can leak. It is useful to get under the car and look up, you can see most of it. You could use a pressure tester to put the radiator under pressure and cause it to leak more readily.