I have a 95 automatic civic ex with 287k miles on it. Doesn't leak, burn or use a drop of oil. It is an automatic. When I put the car in park and leave it idling the temp gauge spikes quickly. If I put it in drive, it drops, and it subsequently fluctuates during all driving conditions for a period after each of these instances. Coolant is good, oil is good,it just acts very wierd. I am guessing I may need to replace my cooling fan. Has anyone had similar problems? Any suggestions?

Will

 

I assume you have checked your fuse(s) for the fan. If those are fine, pop the hood.. let the temp rise a bit ( don't let it overheat) but once you hit about halfway on the temp guage (AT MOST) your fan should turn on.. Check all connections and check the wires. If all else fails replace the fan/fan clutch. I had the same problem at one point with my car.. and the wire had a nick in it, Not sure how/when this happened, and it was a pain to find) Either way good luck.

HD

 

If your fan does come on then it could be your water pump and or your thermostat. I had a similar problem a while back and replaced both and there was no more overheating.

 

Yeah Check those fuses first, then see if the fan runs...


My 93 DX 1.5 never gets even to the halfway mark on the temp. guage... before it can the fan turns on...

You may also need a fan relay, not sure where it's located on these, but that was not mentioned before. I think these use a coolant temperature sensor to turn on the fan, but not sure a bout that either... if it does check that too. Also maybe the wire is loose on the temp sender for the guage and it's jumping around because of that, there's lots of possibilities.

Make darn sure you do not over heat that thing... Mine over heated ONE time when the water pump failed and I ended up loosing the head gasket like a month later. these things, at least mine, is pretty consistant on their operating temps... if it goes outside its normal range you should definately be checking out it.... I will say the heads seem pretty tough though, when my gasket blew I drove it about a mile and a half to my drive way overheated, and I managed not to warp it or crack it, thakfully...

Not sure about the Honda, but on my escort when you hooked the scanner up to pull error codes from the computer, it tests the fan circuit turns it on high and low, and back off... if the honda does that too that would be a quick way to know the electricals are good.

If you eliminate electrical probs with the fan, check the water pump, and the thermostat...

I'm still learning the hondas so.... I owned an escort for 3 years...