overheating

Hi

my honda prelude 93 Si non vtec started overheating last night.

The temperature is always at half way, which someone told me is normal but last night the temperature went a bit past half way and then a bit more and then a bit more and it had one little bar left till it was at max. (one little short bar)

I didn't notice till it nearly reached max was reached. I pulled over and let it cool down and drove another mile home and it heated back up to nearly max again just for driving one mile. ( i let it cool down to half way and drove home slow)

Also everytime i turn the car off the 2 fans come on. And I mean every time is that normal I think they are cooling the engine but it seems weird.

I checked the coolant and water and everything seems ok the oil is ok what could be causing my car to overheat.?????????????

thank you very much for your help

i don't know what it could be, i'm no mechanic, but a little helpful advice. if you're driving it and it starts to overheat like that, open your windows and blast the heater. it'll help cool down your engine some so you can make it home or the shop or whatever.

I am dealing with the exact same problem at the moment. and I have been for the past few weeks. first off all when it starts running hot, you are better off moving than driving slow. Just shift really early like at 2500 and get up to speed. I have the same car but a 92. First I tried flushing it and replacing the cap, and that didn't help any. So today I went to replace the thermostat, only to find out that whoever had the car before me took out the thermostat, so I put it in, which made my problem worse. I talked to my neighbor whos also my mechanic and told him everything that has been going on and he told me it was the radiator so now I have to drop something like $160 for a new radiator. My advice to you is to first replace your thermostat, flush the whole system and replace the cap. All of that only costs like $30-35 and takes a few hours. If that doesn't work you probably have a clogged radiator and will need to replace it. Just don't use tap water when filling the radiator, that's what clogs it. It kind of sucks that I have to put all this money into my car, but at the same time I now understand and have taken apart my entire cooling system, so it was a learning experience.

thank you very much CocaColaEatsPie I will take your advice. The car does only seem to get hot when driven slow. About the tap water what should i put inside instead?


I tried filling the radiator with water yesterday before you posted this but the radiator was full so i filled the little bottle plastic bottle next to the radiator up. (with tap water)

Also you know when you turn the car off are the fans "Always" meant to come on because mine come on everytime i turn it off.

I just bought the car like a few days ago so not how its all supose to work.

Thanks

from astojic in Australia

head gasket, water pump, collasped hose (maybe when engine revs), bad radiator. you got to correct the problem!

daah, thermostat. Hey an old trick to cool engine. If you have a stick, shift to a high gear and hold the throttle wide open and the air flow will drop the temp fast.

Obviously your fans are working. Next guess is the thermostat or fluid level is low. Could be the water pump or heater core. If the problem gets worse and its none of the above chances are its the head gasket. By the way if you are driving and the temp is at an unsafe level yes turn the heat on but select defrost friend. This is what kicks your fan on constantly.

oh yeah by the way i'm having the same problem and i just fixed it today as we speak. well n e ways you might wanna check your HEATER CORE.and check your carpet, on the driver and passenger side well all my coolent was leaking from my heater core inside my car..and i just replace that that might be the problem as well. good luck

I just fixed my overheating prob on my 93 vtech. the reason its heating up is a # of reasons If you have more water than coolant it will heat up cause it boils and evaporates quick plus ya'll know how hot these h22a's get. if you have just water in ur radiator which is worse it will heat up faster also if you ur low on water or coolant it will heat up. also If you have a leak it will heat up Which was my prob. had a leak it the radiator the last guy who had the car before me tried to poxy it together which seemed probably worked for him for a while but eventually all the heating up and cooling down of the engine. expanding and contrating of molecules wore it out. it leak again when i got it. i treid to poxy it it worked for a little while but started leaking again. basically i just got a new radiator. $95.00 form a mom and pop transmission shop. works just fine now no probs on heating up at all matter of fact your fans don't come on at all unless the car is hotter than it is supposed to be. ever since I got the new radiator and I put in that 50/50 coolant in then fans never came on since when I tured the car off. and yes they are both working i checked because at 1st I thought something was wrong but. So if ur fans come on u r running hot or begining to. Oh yeah and that sealant crap you put in the radiator to fill leaks is CRAP!!! Oh yeah and changing the radiator is an easy job. Do it yourself.

Always replace these radiators instead of trying to repair them. The leak may stop for a while, but it'll come back and get the engine. Besides it's most likely time for a clean one.

I had the same problem a coulpe of weeks ago. At first it was a liitle hose that is connected to the intake manifold which turned into my upper hose too. Make sure you check every hose and if not change your radiator. Oh and my fans would also turn on when the car turned off. Its to cool down then engine so don't worry about that.