Hello everyone,

I have 02 Honda Civic EX. Recently, it starts to overheat and I tried many possible ways to fix it.

Overheating causes over-pressure and that causes water ejection from reservoir.

I did:

1- Changed the radiator cap
2- Changed the reservoir(the plastic thing)
3- Changed the thermostat
4- Changed the switcher for fans

As far as I know, there are several possibilities left:

1- Head gasket
2- Water pump
3- ??


At last, my mechanic took the thermostat over and told me to drive without it to see if it overheats again.

Well, it overheats again but the one thing I noticed it did not eject water from reservoir or anywhere else. Without thermostat, I did not see any bubbles in the water tank, BUT it overheats after 15-20 min.

So, what is your suggestion? Any idea will be appreciated..

Edit:

One thing I need to mention also is that the car is only overheating when I go into slow traffic or idle. While I drive with 75+ mph, temperature looks just fine.

Thanks in advance..

 

Do the fans actually come on before it starts to overheat?

 

First, thanks for the response.

Even though the switch has been changed recently, fans are not working properly IMO. When the temperature gauge goes high a little, fans sometimes start working and sometimes not. It should work until it gets cold enough.

Therefore, I drive with AC turned on(to make sure fans are coming on), however, it overheats again.

 

I just did the head gasket test and I saw air bubbles coming from the radiator. So the worst scenario is happening I think.

Besides head gasket, is there any test to make sure water pump is working properly?

 

Actually, I had pressure tests done in 3 different mechanics. All of them said there is no external leaking.


I follow the procedure in this video to see if head gasket is blown:

Head Gasket Check - YouTube

And yes there are air bubbles coming from the radiator just like in the video. I don't know if it is the only reason for air bubbling.