2000 Civic Overheating

Hey, I know there a several postings to this problem but mine is a little diff. About 3 months ago my car overheated took it to the shop, they replaced the thermostat and fan switch, still overheated so they replaced the water pump. It worked nothing wrong 'till now:....Question? Isn't there supposed to be something in the overflow? Yesterday it got hot with ac on turned off and went to normal then temp rose agin...turned heater on to bring temp down, themp stayed the same. My dad said need to add more water did that and it was ok for about 30 miles.....Overflow bottle as dry as a desert, and cooling fan is comming on, in fact when i took it to the shop they made it so the fan will come on and stay on when car is on. There is no leak to be found have a carboard box under car right now nothing from lastnight and I let the car run for 10 min turned it off checked agin in 10 min and still no sigh of a leak. How do I do a check of the radator? opps to pissed to spell correctly...Need help live in arizona too hot for this sh** THanks :)

I have a 2000 Civic as well, and it does the same thing. Has never overheated though, but I'll fill the overfill bottle up, and the next day or so it'll be bone dry empty. Baffles the heck outta me. The radiator coolent level stays at the top though. Where on earth does the overfill coolant go that I fill it up with? :confused:

don't know, my dad's a mechanic for gm and doesn't know either, he thinks that the cap for the overflow bottle is not keeping pressure, when i turn the over flow bottle upside down the microscopic liquid that's left leaked out from the cap, also isn't the thermostat located at the engine where the upper hose is connected? Any ideas why the upper hose is hot and the lower one was cold, i burned my hand when touched the upper, touched th lower and nothing?

I’ve had a similar problem as you guys but not as bad. I’d have to fill the over-flow tank about every 2-3 weeks, and I never overheated. I never thought about the thermostat! Maybe I’ll just go out and get a new one just to see if it works. Honda does say we should use nothing but Honda antifreeze, I always thought that was a line of bull to get us to buy their stuff. Think that has something to do with it? Girlieizpurrfect what type of antifreeze is in your car? Regular green stuff like me?

No, some orange max life stuff

Agree with you about the honda anitfreez it's all the same

When my headgasket went bad, my car ate up coolant like crazy. It got SO bad that it would burn up alllllllll of the coolant in under 3 minutes with WHITEEEEEEEE smoke all over the place. It'll start off taking about a few weeks to see some coolant loss, and after the problem worsens, it'll burn up more and more at a time. Have you noticed a TINY bit of sputtering the first few seconds when you turn on the car (cold) for the first time after it has sat overnight? If so, headgasket may be a lil bad and slooooowly dripping coolant in the cylinders.

Nope nothing like that, infact pulled red and hoses off tonight drained coolant but back again was cool for about 30 miles and temp gage read hot again, pulled over and nothing in the rad but almost too much in overflow, put about 20oz more water in rad and drove home, about 10 miles and temp was fine

What go you mean by sputtering, 'cause nothing crazy is happening ever changed oil and it was fine

The system may have to be bleed of air.

But more likely you may have a blown head gasket. Keep us informed. GL

sounds like an overheating engine to me too.... im betting it burning the coolant your loosing watch your tailpipe carefully for white smoke or just puffs when you start it....


gunnmen01

Had, 2 different people look at my car when I started it no smoke. I am having a guy help me to flush system and change thermo again. hope it workes

Sorry to hear that you still haven’t been able to nail down the problem! Those guys are right, it’s probably your head gasket. One dumb question, are the fans running?

start your car up and hold it between 2500 and 3000 rpm till the temp guage comes up, the go out front and watch the fans till they cycle on, if they dont cycle on that could be your problem.... bad relay, bad ground something along those lines........


gunnmen01

THanks for your thoughts but yep the fans are on. About 3 months again fan relay went bad, the peps who fixed my car made it so the rad fan always on when car in acc or on. I don't mind taken to shop but 'cause I'm a girl they always try to jerk me around. My dads a mechanic but don't live here, I hate when they try to f*** me 'cause I call my daddy and make them talk to him. Then they don't wanna fix it.:( Doing some work on Friday, I'll let you know. Wish me luck

Good luck and keep us updated! :)

did thermo today, think old one was stuck, bought the fail safe one from autozone about 20.00 if fails guarnteed to stick open not closed...also lot of rust from rad...gonna get new one in 2 weeks, mady cuased thermo to fail?

did thermo today, think old one was stuck, bought the fail safe one from autozone about 20.00 if fails guarnteed to stick open not closed...also lot of rust from rad...gonna get new one in 2 weeks, mady cuased thermo to fail?

A funky thermostat will give you problems like you've experianced. Rust isn't what ususally kills a thermostat old age usually does the trick.