Help, My car overheats...

[Kunundrum]

Recently my rex has been over heating on small trips (20min+) ... also my heater stopped working.

Today I took a small trip out of town and it was registering HOT ... I would drop the revs a bit and it would cool down.

when I got home I opened the radiator and Warm ( not scoulding hot ) coolant sprayed everywhere.

I can only come up with two possible problems

Water Pump or/and clogged Radiator.

I'm gonna get my mechanic to take a look on tuesday but in the meantime... any thoughs?


It's a DOHC ZC

[airbob20]

But could it be a head gasket or head??

[Killa_CRX]

How many miles is on the current water pump? when was the last time you replaced the radiator hoses?

[civicHBsi91]

replace the thermostat and flush out the radiator before you spend big money, it helped me, but if it dont help you it could be the other problems you suggested

[90DXTURBO]

i had the same thing it was the head i did the swap in 4 hours

[civicHBsi91]

how would it be the head? i dont understand if the cooling system was working properly how would it be the head?

[civickiller]

it sounds like your thermostat or water pump. because if the water pump is not working, the coolant wont get around the engines so the coolant wont get hot and since coolant is not getting around its overheating. 2 it could be your thermostat stuck closed because if the thermostat is stuck closed then only a little bit of coolant is let through so the coolant would only be warm.
i dont think its the head gasket because the coolant would still be flowing around and there would be hot coolant in the radiator not warm coolant. and if there was a head gasket leak, the leak would have to be big enough to cause total pressure lost, which in turn a hole that big would let so much coolant in the cylinders that the car itself would miss and he didnt say his car was missing. but if it was a small hole, there would still be enough pressure to flow coolant around, so the coolant in the radiator should be hot.
i dont think its a clogged radiator because i doubt the whole radiator would be clogged, maybe a few fins but not the whole radiator, so again it wouldnt really make much of a difference is a few were clogged. i dont think the whole radiator is clogged.
if it was a hose leak or a seal or gasket leak, the coolatn would still flow around so it would be hot coolant. unless there was a big hole. have you checked under the car to see if coolant is dripping out ? or even look in the engine bay to see if you can see a leak anywhere ?

[Kunundrum]

I'm pretty sure it's not the head gasket, because when I refilled the rad I had the engine running and the water in the rad was not being sprayed out as i was putting it in, it's basicaly just had pressure built up in it for some weird reasons.

oh yeah the car was sitting in my garage for about 4 months and was started for about 5 minutes every 2-3 weeks or so.

[gunnmen01]

If you just flushed it maybe you had an air pocket, that would let it over heat because of the pressure it would build in the radiator. i'd check your rad. hoses too.If your timing belt and water pump have alot of miles on them your water pump may be to blame also...


gunnmen01

[amy@af]

yea for gunnmen! you rock. i say the same. give your rad. somoe more water. i had the same thing happen to me.

if that doesn't help...then i would check water pump & thermo. but i don't think that is the case

[civickiller]

why did you refill your radiator ? did you flush it ? also what do you mean by it wasnt spraying out ? because if your talking about coolant wasnt being sprayed out of the fins because for coolant to come out of the fins spraying out then the thermostat woudl have to be open, so unless you had the thermostat open water would not really be spraying out the fins.

i doubt its an air pocket unless he didnt fill his coolant resivor up completey or its dry now. because if there coolant in that resevoir than any air in the radiator would be push out to the resevior then more coolant would be sucked into the engine. at first it might be alittle hotter but once the thermostat opens a few times, the system will be competley air free.
air in radiator is pushed out to resev, but since system is pressurized the coolant in the resev takes the airs place in the radiator. so if you ever do flush out your system make sure you fill up your resevoir completly filled up. but if your resev is dry then that would cause some overheating. also check to make sure your fans are still working

also it was an air pocket, there would still be hot coolant in the radiator after a 20+ min trip because coolant would still be flowing around, also the heater would work. it really sounds like your water pump. how many miles on that water pump ?

[kris]

Always open the bleeder valve when flushing the system.

[RedRacerCivic]

T-stat