Honda Car Forum

Please help. I Have a 93 civic hatchback that is overheating. I had a
similar problem last year and discovered that my water pump was cracked
(so I had it replaced). It's been fine for the past year, but recently
has started overheating.

My typical route to school has me in "stop and go" traffic for a mile
or so, then 5 miles on the interstate, and then another mile of "stop
and go". The overheating seems to occur and the end of my journey and
the thermostat needle seems to really climb when I'm in neutral
(sorry-it's a manual).

I checked the coolant level and it seems to be staying the same. I
haven't seen any leaks anywhere. It's been doing this for a couple of
days now. The only thing I can do to help is to turn on the heater, but
live in Texas just might have a heat stroke if I have to keep doing
that.

Any advice you can offer would be great. I'm a student and am tight on
funds. Aslo, as a young lady, it's would be nice to have some sort of a
clue before turning her over to a mechanic.

Much thanks,
Joanna

Let the car warm up and determine if the cooling fans are operating.
That seems to be common with electric fans.

Any idea how old the thermostat is? Is the one in there a
genuine Honda part?

I would get the fan checked. You could, in theory, let the
car sit overnight, check the coolant level, turn it on,
watch the temperature gage, and wait for the fan to come on.
If the gage keeps climbing to well above what you're
accustomed, and the fan doesn't come on, suspect the fan.

When the car is not moving, the heat isn't being removed as
quickly. One could say the "load" on the coolant system can
be higher just sitting and idling then driving down the
highway with that air blasting across the radiator surface
and removing heat. No fan when the car is just sitting and
idling can cause overheating.

There is a free online manual for your 93 Civic at
www.autozone.com that talks about doing more elaborate
checks of the fan, and specifically the several electrical
components most likely to cause it to fail.

You want to stay alert to a blown head gasket, so you're
doing right by monitoring the level. Also, look for oil in
the coolant reservoir (just take off the coolant reservoir
cap and check it), and look for coolant in the oil (take off
the oil fill cap). See if there's a sweet smell coming from
the exhaust fumes.

You need to strongly consider not driving the car at all. If
the engine gets too hot, and, say, the engine head warps,
then the repair will be much more expensive.

Elle
Original owner, 1991 Civic LX, 175k miles.


<joannadixon@gmail.com> wrote
> Please help. I Have a 93 civic hatchback that is
> overheating. I had a
> similar problem last year and discovered that my water
> pump was cracked
> (so I had it replaced). It's been fine for the past year,
> but recently
> has started overheating.
>
> My typical route to school has me in "stop and go" traffic
> for a mile
> or so, then 5 miles on the interstate, and then another
> mile of "stop
> and go". The overheating seems to occur and the end of my
> journey and
> the thermostat needle seems to really climb when I'm in
> neutral
> (sorry-it's a manual).
>
> I checked the coolant level and it seems to be staying the
> same. I
> haven't seen any leaks anywhere. It's been doing this for
> a couple of
> days now. The only thing I can do to help is to turn on
> the heater, but
> live in Texas just might have a heat stroke if I have to
> keep doing
> that.
>
> Any advice you can offer would be great. I'm a student and
> am tight on
> funds. Aslo, as a young lady, it's would be nice to have
> some sort of a
> clue before turning her over to a mechanic.
>
> Much thanks,
> Joanna
>

In article <1145385959.949988.139010@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups .com>,
joannadixon@gmail.com wrote:

> Please help. I Have a 93 civic hatchback that is overheating. I had a
> similar problem last year and discovered that my water pump was cracked
> (so I had it replaced). It's been fine for the past year, but recently
> has started overheating.
>
> My typical route to school has me in "stop and go" traffic for a mile
> or so, then 5 miles on the interstate, and then another mile of "stop
> and go". The overheating seems to occur and the end of my journey and
> the thermostat needle seems to really climb when I'm in neutral
> (sorry-it's a manual).
>
> I checked the coolant level and it seems to be staying the same. I
> haven't seen any leaks anywhere. It's been doing this for a couple of
> days now. The only thing I can do to help is to turn on the heater, but
> live in Texas just might have a heat stroke if I have to keep doing
> that.
>
> Any advice you can offer would be great. I'm a student and am tight on
> funds. Aslo, as a young lady, it's would be nice to have some sort of a
> clue before turning her over to a mechanic.
>
> Much thanks,
> Joanna

Joanna,
Install a new thermostat. Make sure you buy it at a Honda dealership.
It may help. Also, check at least once per week to make sure your radiator
is full. Also, make sure he water pump is not leaking.
Jason

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In article <FSa1g.3793$Fy2.2630@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink. net>, "Elle"
<honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote:

> Any idea how old the thermostat is? Is the one in there a
> genuine Honda part?
>
> I would get the fan checked. You could, in theory, let the
> car sit overnight, check the coolant level, turn it on,
> watch the temperature gage, and wait for the fan to come on.
> If the gage keeps climbing to well above what you're
> accustomed, and the fan doesn't come on, suspect the fan.
>
> When the car is not moving, the heat isn't being removed as
> quickly. One could say the "load" on the coolant system can
> be higher just sitting and idling then driving down the
> highway with that air blasting across the radiator surface
> and removing heat. No fan when the car is just sitting and
> idling can cause overheating.
>
> There is a free online manual for your 93 Civic at
> www.autozone.com that talks about doing more elaborate
> checks of the fan, and specifically the several electrical
> components most likely to cause it to fail.
>
> You want to stay alert to a blown head gasket, so you're
> doing right by monitoring the level. Also, look for oil in
> the coolant reservoir (just take off the coolant reservoir
> cap and check it), and look for coolant in the oil (take off
> the oil fill cap). See if there's a sweet smell coming from
> the exhaust fumes.
>
> You need to strongly consider not driving the car at all. If
> the engine gets too hot, and, say, the engine head warps,
> then the repair will be much more expensive.
>
> Elle

Elle,
Excellent post.
Jason

--
NEWSGROUP SUBSCRIBERS MOTTO
We respect those subscribers that ask for advice or provide advice.
We do NOT respect the subscribers that enjoy criticizing people.

"Jason" <jason@nospam.com> wrote
"Elle"
> <honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> Any idea how old the thermostat is? Is the one in there a
>> genuine Honda part?
>>
>> I would get the fan checked. You could, in theory, let
>> the
>> car sit overnight, check the coolant level, turn it on,
>> watch the temperature gage, and wait for the fan to come
>> on.
>> If the gage keeps climbing to well above what you're
>> accustomed, and the fan doesn't come on, suspect the fan.
>>
>> When the car is not moving, the heat isn't being removed
>> as
>> quickly. One could say the "load" on the coolant system
>> can
>> be higher just sitting and idling then driving down the
>> highway with that air blasting across the radiator
>> surface
>> and removing heat. No fan when the car is just sitting
>> and
>> idling can cause overheating.
>>
>> There is a free online manual for your 93 Civic at
>> www.autozone.com that talks about doing more elaborate
>> checks of the fan, and specifically the several
>> electrical
>> components most likely to cause it to fail.
>>
>> You want to stay alert to a blown head gasket, so you're
>> doing right by monitoring the level. Also, look for oil
>> in
>> the coolant reservoir (just take off the coolant
>> reservoir
>> cap and check it), and look for coolant in the oil (take
>> off
>> the oil fill cap). See if there's a sweet smell coming
>> from
>> the exhaust fumes.
>>
>> You need to strongly consider not driving the car at all.
>> If
>> the engine gets too hot, and, say, the engine head warps,
>> then the repair will be much more expensive.
>>
>> Elle
>
> Elle,
> Excellent post.

.... and it always helps when a few people post the same
suggestions to assist a person. I don't think anyone likes
to be repetitive, but by not doing so, sometimes a person
asking for help can't be sure that people have read his/her
post. So this gal will see your suggestion to check the
thermostat and use OEM, compare it with my same idea, also
note that two of us felt the fan might be failing, etc.

I appreciate your referring to technicians as both "he"
types and "she" types, by the way. Shows someone's thinking
(and at a high level, afaic)!

Wow, thanks for the quick response. I haven't driven my car today, so I
decided to test the fan. I let it run in my driveway for about 10 mins
and the temp began to rise. When the thermostat got to about 3/4 the
way to H, the fan kicked on for about 4 seconds and then off again. A
few moments later, it came on and then did not turn off again until I
turned the car off.

Even when the far was on, I saw no change in the temp on the
thermostat.

Does this seem to be leaning more toward a thermostat problem?

Also, this may be a stupid question, but Jason recommended making sure
the radiator is full? How do I go about doing that? Is that different
than making sure the coolant reservoir is full?

Thanks in advance,
Joanna

What you describe sounds like the thermostat to me.
Consider: My 91 Civic takes upwards of 40 minutes to heat up
(from cold engine) enough to turn the fan on when the
outside temperature is 70 degrees F or so. Yours heated up
much more quickly, and the fan came on fine. That points to
a temperature control problem, such as the thermostat.
Thermostats fail all the time on all makes of cars after so
many miles and years.

You didn't say: Any idea how old your thermostat is? If it's
more than say, six years, replacing it is a good investment.
Plus it may very well fix the problem.

There are other possibilities, but this is where I'd start.

<joannadixon@gmail.com> wrote
> Wow, thanks for the quick response. I haven't driven my
> car today, so I
> decided to test the fan. I let it run in my driveway for
> about 10 mins
> and the temp began to rise. When the thermostat got to
> about 3/4 the
> way to H, the fan kicked on for about 4 seconds and then
> off again. A
> few moments later, it came on and then did not turn off
> again until I
> turned the car off.
>
> Even when the far was on, I saw no change in the temp on
> the
> thermostat.
>
> Does this seem to be leaning more toward a thermostat
> problem?
>
> Also, this may be a stupid question, but Jason recommended
> making sure
> the radiator is full? How do I go about doing that? Is
> that different
> than making sure the coolant reservoir is full?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Joanna
>

On 18 Apr 2006 13:34:00 -0700, joannadixon@gmail.com wrote:

>Wow, thanks for the quick response. I haven't driven my car today, so I
>decided to test the fan. I let it run in my driveway for about 10 mins
>and the temp began to rise. When the thermostat got to about 3/4 the
>way to H, the fan kicked on for about 4 seconds and then off again. A
>few moments later, it came on and then did not turn off again until I
>turned the car off.
>
>Even when the far was on, I saw no change in the temp on the
>thermostat.
>
>Does this seem to be leaning more toward a thermostat problem?

Yes.

>Also, this may be a stupid question, but Jason recommended making sure
>the radiator is full? How do I go about doing that? Is that different
>than making sure the coolant reservoir is full?

There is a plastic overflow bottle for the...'overflow'. Check the
coolant in the radiator itself, not the plastic overflow

>Thanks in advance,
> Joanna

Thanks a lot, Elle. It would be a fair guess to say that the thermostat
is older than 6 years.

She has 230K miles on her. I bought her from a friend for $800 2 1/2
years ago. I've had to do a few reapirs, but I've deffinately gotten my
money's worth.

I'm glad to hear that it's probably not a head gasket. I'll start with
the thermostat and go from there.

It looks like were talking about a $15 part here. Can my mechanic order
an "official" honda part, or do I have to go to a dealership? Any idea
what labor for instalation might run me? (I trust my mechanics, but I'd
hate surprises).

thanks,
Jo (FYI- it's 98 degrees here today...so much for Spring)