ok. i will do as above but it has to wait until tuesday as honda dealers are not open on sundays and monday is victoria day here. i will keep you posted. thanks a lot.

 

is it where the bleeding screw is which is at the end of the upper hose? or it is underneath at the end of the lower hose?

 

hi ron,

after replacing the radiator cap and thermostat with OEM parts the same thing still happened. during the hiway drive it's ok but when i exited and the traffic slows down that's when it overheats. it doesn't come up to the red but it would definitely go up to a bit more than 3/4 near the red. but when the traffic goes fast again temp would go down but not as down as the normal it would stay at the half. when i reached home, the fan is continuously running. i then tried to rev it up the temp went down to half but went back up again on idle even while the fan is running.

the hose both up and down are hot about the same temp. no bubbles in the reseviour.

btw, we even tested the old thermostat. it did not open even when we boiled the water in a container while the new one fully opened when the water became hot. that's why i thought we've already resolved the problem. but same thing happened as stated above when i drove test it.

so what's next?

thanks in advance ron.

 

Check that the radiator is staying completely full. Wait until the engine is COLD, then remove the radiator cap. It should be full to the top. If you're losing coolant from the radiator but still have some in the bottle, replace the radiator cap and check the hose between the two for air leaks.

Is the fan turning the right way? Should be moving air from the front of the car, through the radiator, to the back. Some aftermarket fan motors have been miswired.

Also check that the little brass fins on the radiator tubes are not corroded and falling off. If they are the radiator will work very poorly and must be replaced.

 

Did you thoroughly bleed the cooling system as I described above?

 

i've already replaced the radiator cap and the tubes.

i did not change the fan so it should be ok, i think.

i checked the fins, they seemed to be ok.

anything else i should check?

 

yes. i've actually done it again for the second time. actually i noticed that the fan is not coming on even if i have run it for more than 3o minutes and i even rev'd it up. i felt that both the upper and down hose are hot which means that the thermostat is working. is it possible that because the water is circulating the fan doesn't need to come on? anyway, when i turned off the engine and then let it cool, i topped up the coolant to the neck.

then i run it for about 15 minutes around the block, the temp didn't go up but i noticed that the water in the reseviour is almost full. is this normal? then the radiator would suck the coolant back when the engine cools down?

tomorrow i intend to drive it again in the hiway then exit and see what would happen.

 

What was the gauge temperature reading during the long idle? Was it a cold day? Your fan was recently working, right?

 

the normal temp, just below half point. same as when i drive in the hiway and when i drove it for about 15 minutes around the block. it was about 20*C = 68*F. yes it was working before.

additional info: after driving it around the block, i noticed that the reseviour is almost full but when the engine cooled down the coolant went down, apparently it was sucked back by the the radiator. but then when i opened the cap it is not full to the neck.

what should be my next step?

 

It's normal for the coolant level to rise in the reservoir when the engine is hot and to drop when the engine cools. Any coolant leaking noted?

Top off the radiator and reservoir with coolant. Maybe the system is not yet fully bled. Drive the car again to see whether coolant continues to be drawn from the reservoir into the radiator as the engine cools.