please help again (heating)

[michaelsd16c]

For the past 9 months my car has been have overheating...but I have kept it in control. Now that it is summer my car is really overheating and I have to pull over and wait for the temp to go down and I been driving for only 20mins!!!!! The things that I have changed are the theromostat, fan switch, coolant temp sensor. I also have a brand new C&R radiator. So I say to you what is their left to check.
The reserve tank for the radiator is way above the max limt it actual spill out from time to time. My guess is that it's not circulating well because the reserve tank is full of coolant.
When I am in the car and it's overheating I turn the heater on because someone told me that it takes some heat away from the engine but now the hot air turns to cold with no heat. I notice that my fan for the radiator isn't turning on. So I made a switch for it to go on all the time, but evnually it starts to heat up. Whats the problem...... Please Help!
If it is a bad water pump shouldn't it be leeking. and I ckeck All the hose and clamps no leeks!

[CivicSiRacer]

I know I had a problem with my car overheating cause the plug for the thermostat disconnected somehow.

Did you make sure all the air is out of the coolant? Open the radiator cap (when the car is cool) and let the car run for 10 minutes or so.

If not did you add 50/50 water and coolant? Also Redline Water wetter might be a band-aid but you should really get it checke dout.

[KrNxRaCer00]

well...try these ideas out...

it COULD be that ur thermostat is stuck closed, try heating up ur motor, an then check the temp of ur upper radiator hose. it SHOULD be warm.

check ur electric coolant fan blades...if they're cracked or broken, this could also cause it...

last couple ideas are that ur ignition timing is off...causing overheating (its stretching, but it COULD be it..)

try those three things out...

[michaelsd16c]

Well I check the connection that gose to the thermostat and it's connected.
As for the coolant i got it from honda and it's 50/50 and for the thermastat being open it's not because the hose is warm.I bleeded out the system threw the bleeder intill coolant bubbled no more. The fan is brand new because it came with the C&R radiator (spal) If it is the ignition would the car run like crap?and I don't mean just overheating.I think when you get your smog they check the timing. I just got smog 1 month ago. Oh anything on the water pump?

[ric]

only a couple other things ive seen from reading this that havent been checked and can do everything you said, the radiator cap and the heater core. if your rad cap doesnt hold pressure your boiling point will be fucked and the car will overheat. if the heater core is plugged up the same thing will happen. also get the cars cooling system pressure tested somewhere, it may have a warped head or a blown gasket which would also cause your problem.

also if you wanna see if the water pump is working expose it and stick a long pipe up to it and listen, if its sounds like its swishing away then it is.

[gunnmen01]

if its been overheating then your head gasket is probaly blown...time for a rebuild......


gunnmen01

[michaelsd16c]

If it was a blown head gasket then my car would be running like shit. And it's just overheating sometimes. Well more now that it's summer.

hey ric what would a coolant pressure test prove?Besides(blown Head) Any ideas where I could get it dun?example...Pep Boys

[civickiller]

if its no the thermo, i would say water pump, it doesnt neccesarily have to be leaking. well i say if u havent replace the water pump and t belt in a long time, its about time u replaced those things, so i say replace the water pump if u havent done it in a long time

[michaelsd16c]

So if I replaced the water pump and time belt how sure are you that it would solve the problem. Are you saying that would be the only thing left to do? And could you give me a rough estimate on how much it would cost to fix I mean change water pump and timming belt.Parts I know but labor?

[gunnmen01]

I drove my car for 8 months with a blown head gasket because it was fall and winter and didnt overheat bad.....if the temp guage comes up and you have to pull over to let it cool off ......guess what.... your head gasket is blown...seen it before a hundred times....im a honda mechanic and trust me...its blown.....


gunnmen01

[michaelsd16c]

But for the past couple of days my car has been running fine the temp reads 165f to 205f every now and then i have to put the heater on. I really think that it's the water pump what do you think. I mean let's say that the water pump it's working. Dose that mean that the car will overheat all the time even if you put the heater on? Some one told me that if you squzse the top radiator hose with the car on and when you let go you feal a burst of water run threw then your water pump is working fine.Is this true? As for me pulling over it only happen twice in 6 months.
And do you now why my reserve tank gose full of coolant.Dosent that mean that their is poor circulation of the coolant.

[ric]

im telling you dude make sure its not the radiator cap. my friends hatch kept overheating and nobody could figure it out so i swapped caps from mine and it never overheated again. if that cap doesnt hold pressure your boiling point is completely fucked. and yeah a pressure test is only gonna tell you if its the gasket or the cap or some other system pressure failure but it eliminates stuff so i guess its a needed item when you running out of shit. my guess is it isnt the pump since you are getting cooled sometimes and not other times. if it was the pump it would heat up and stay heated no questions asked.

as for the head hasket 999 times out 1000 its gonna run like shit. but i will say sometimes it doesnt for a while. it took my aunts corsica till it wa shooting a steady stream of coolent 4 inches out of the head/block surface to start acting strange.

[gunnmen01]

check your oil, is it white and milky looking??? your overflow will fill up because your getting air in cooling system with the blown head gasket and its filling your over flow, then when it cools it sucks air into the cooling system instead of coolant from the overflow bottle.....


gunnmen01

[michaelsd16c]

i change my oil yesterday and it's color is black. As for air bleeding the system I just bleed out the system when you wrote that their could be air. All it bleed was coolant with no bubbles or burst of air.

[michaelsd16c]

If it is a blown head then wouldn't their be a loss of vacum press. My vacum press read 21psi and by the honda book that read ok.It tell It should be between 17 and 21psi.