Honda Car Forum

I was driving on the highway, when the temperature spiked into the red. I pulled over, sat for a while and the temp went back to normal ( the car was still on). I noticed the fan was not spinning, so I bypassed the relay and hooked it up to the battery. I drove it again and the temp went back up. This went on all the way home. It has a new radiator and thermostat (just installed 2 mts ago). The oil was low (about 2 qts) but looked normal. The car has about 190k miles on it. The radiator fluid was very low. I put more fluid in (straight antifreeze) just to get home. Could it just be air pockets in the system? I'm going to flush the system and put a 60/40 mix in. I don't know what else to look for, any suggestions?

Air pocket is possible.Wrong thermostat installed by mistakeLow coolant level will definately cause this.After topping off. leave cap off and look for bubbles that persisted to appear or slight stream of bubbles. Check exhaust for sweet smell. Both of these are indications of bad head gasket or cracked head.BTW - I have had new thermostats that didn't work

make sure the radiator FAN is comming on.

check the water pump too

Well, you took care of most of the obvious problems, but make sure you check the belt(s). If they are slipping at high rpm's, it could cause the water pump to lose pressure, or simply stop altogether. You also want to have your thermostat checked. Before installing a new thermostat, you should always test to make sure it will actually open when heated. The easiest way to do this is with a pan of boiling water. It is surprising how many bad thermostats make it to parts stores. Keep the fluids topped off, and you should be able to have a lot more happy motoring ahead of you.

let's just hope it's a bad head gasket.

go for a mugen thermostat. It lets your intercooling system activate earlier than stock thermostats keeping your engine cooler earlier in the get go.

I had this problem with my Civic, twice. Air pockets are possible, but if you've got a blown, leaking or warped head gasket you're screwed into spending a lot of time and money replacing the head gasket, other gaskets that are damaged, and resurfacing the cylinder walls and head in case of damage from antifreeze and water in the working parts in the engine.

THermostat. i had the same exact problem.