Hi,

Im new here and this is my first post. I've a 1997 Honda Civic which is now at 167000miles. I've never had any problems with the car since i bought it when it was about 300000 miles. I've been doing the usual service at the local garage and never had any problems.

I usually drive about 100 miles (50 miles each way) a day to go to work and have been doing this for about 3 years without any problems. Two weeks ago i went to visit a relative in a town thats meant i covered about 200 miles in a day (100 miles each way). On my way back i noticed that the temperature gauge was at about 75%. This worried me because i have never seen the temperature gauge above 25% in the 4 years i owned the car.

At 75% i thought it wasnt that bad so i kept going and got home safely. Unforunately i use the car to get to work so i am still using it to get to work. While driving to work, the temperature gauge intermittently goes up and down. I have been driving it for 2 weeks now.

At first it used to go up when i was driving at high speeds in the motorway. No i am noticing that the temperature gauge goes up when i am stuck in traffic. To be honest its a bit confusing because i cant really tell as its not consistent.

Today i went to a place south of London and noticed that it was heating up the slower i drove. So it cant really make its mind up!

The cooland in the radiator is full. There are no leaks on the radiator so i dont really know what the problem is.

This morning i switched the car on and tried to see if the radiator fan was coming on and it didnt come on even once. I waited for about 20 minutes and the car didnt heat up so the fan didnt come on even once. I did check once when i was on my way back from South London when the car was overheating to see if the fan was coming on and didnt see that it was.

The car itself is quite old. I've loved it as its served me well for all the time i've had it. I dont think its worth me spending a lot of money trying to fix it as i can probably buy another one for the amount of money that it might cost me to investigate/fix the problem.

It was dark when i checked the fan so i couldnt check the fan belt. Do these cars have a fan belt and how do i check if its broken? I will again check tomorrow morning to see if the fan will come on and hopefully get a clue as to what the problem is.

From the above can you tell what could be the problem? When i switch it on, it doesnt overheat, it only happens after i've driven it for a while. Could the fact that the overheating is intermittent mean anything?

And finally is it safe to drive it as long as i pull over to cool it down when the temp gauge gets to about 80%?

Thanks

 

I would drive as little as possible or not at all while your coolant system is malfunctioning.

When you are moving faster, more air is moving through your radiator. That cools the engine. When you are moving slower, you get less air movement which equals more heat. That's normal. That's why it changes on the highway.

Really, what it sounds like is your thermostat has worn out and isn't opening and closing like it should. You should go ahead and swap your thermostat out. It's a DIY job, really easy and cheap. While you are at it, you might as well change out your coolant too if that hasn't been done in awhile. I'll explain in a moment.

 

You've already checked the coolant level and the fan, the next thing to look at is the thermostat. In a case like this, just replace it. It is not an expensive part and it is hard to test them for certain.

There is really no way to be sure you're safe from damage once the gauge rises above normal. Best to pull over and let it cool off if it stays up above normal for any length of time. Don't wait for it to go all the way up to hot. Also in many cases coolant will get blown out while overheating, thus the next time you're also low on coolant.

 

Go to this site and download the service manual for your car. It will help you with ANY problems you may have.
http://downloads.hondatech.info/Auto...e%20Manual.zip
Unzip it, open it in Adobe Reader (free program), and go to page 262. It will tell you how to properly drain, refill, and bleed your coolant. (Step 4 is not 100% necesary.) I recommend doing this if you haven't had the coolant changed in a long time and also because you'll lose some coolant anyways when you pull the thermostat housing off. If you don't want to do this, then that's probably fine. Just be careful with the hose and you can minimize the spilling.

You'll need to go to your local auto parts store and get a thermostat and gasket. Together, they shouldn't be more than $15. Page 264 shows a diagram of the thermostat itself, which is located on the back left of the engine as you look from the front of your car. You only need to remove the two bolts holding it in place. Make sure the surfaces of the block and the housing are clean before you put the new thermostat in. Align it like the old one and like the diagram, put the bolts back on, and you should be okay. Since you let air into the system, bleed the air out by following the instructions on page 263 starting with step 9. If your fan does NOT turn on, we can troubleshoot that too.

 

Hi thanks for your responses.
I tried to have a look this morning and couldnt see any fanbelt. do these cars come with a fanbel? and should it be somewhre near the radiator?

Do you think i should look at the fanbelt first or the thermostat?

Here is a sample engine of this car. There are two pipes coming from the radiator. Which is the one that will lead to the thermostat?

Thanks

 

I've downloaded that manual. Very usefull! Its only showing US and Canada models. Are these the same as UK models?

Thanks

 

Oh... it's Euro spec. It will be very similar, but there are probably a few differences. See if there is a big hose going into something dome shaped here on your engine. (I found this pic elsewhere on the forum. That's the temperature sensor on the thermostat housing.



It's just behind the engine, in line with the distributor.

And I believe the radiator on the Civic is motor driven, not belt driven.

 

judging from your picture ziggy, I think it is at the end of the lower radiator hose. the upper does not seem to have the sensor anywhere near it.

your car setup a slightly different than the US model simply b/c your brake master cylinder/booster is on the left side while the US model has it on the right side. so your brake master cylinder and battery are on the opposite side vs the US model.

In this case, your radiator and engine setup is the same so it should not make any difference b/w your UK and the US models.

 

i had a similar problem with my 2000 ex, but my coolant would disappear and bubbles would come out of my radiator reservoir. it was my head gasket and it was $1200 us dollars to replace. the mechanic did a blood oil test to check for oil in my coolant or vice versa and it failed. they also replaced my water pump and timing belt. my car just hit 140,000 and now it drives like a champ.