overheating

[katana]

car overheating, actually guage reaching 3/4 then coming backdown to normal. smelling the heat, and it seeems as though the water overflowing a little cause i seeing the water marks. i replaced the thermostat three days ago, run the car all over the place, and was working fine, this morning, in rain, it start to do the same thing again.

the fan coming on although i find that it taking real long. Seeing a little oil coming from the distributor that wasnt there before, so i was thinking gasket, but no strange signs, no water in oil, or smoke from the back or anything. think it might be the switch?

[De Dragon]

car overheating, actually guage reaching 3/4 then coming backdown to normal.

I had this problem and it was my water pump going( I also had two small leaks in the rad.)

[X2]

Well taking into consideration you just replaced your thermostat.

1) Did you do it yourself ?

2) Could you have put the thermostat in backwards ?

3) Did you bleed the coolant system after installing the thermostat ?


#3 is very important... if you do not bleed the system, there will be air in there and that will cause short term temperature spikes that tend to go back to normal for a while and the spike may occur again.

There is a bleeder valve on the head... but answer the questions 1-3 first so we can narrow down the issue.

[Silvermike]

^ hey! thats why i was gettin those temperature spikes!!

go figure

[katana]

yeah i did put it in myself,

dont think it can be incorrectly placed, made sure to look, plus it can, from what i can see, go in one way only. the rubber seal, also has grooves that match up to the housing making it a one time install.

i didnt flush or bleed anything. i drained the radiator, filled with water again, ran the car for a 10 mins, drained the rad again, and filled...when engine was cold

the car worked fine for two days and then yeah, it spiked happens obviously only in traiffic with aircon on. today, it spiked once, turned aircn off and went back down, however, i have noticed that it is not fully on the half level. it is a bit up, meaning that the temp is always a little high.

im in POS so was calling around to see if i can get this sorted out. i know there is one place i carried it a few year aback, called kirks auto garage so ill probably call them and see if i can get it fixed.

recently, ive noticed a few things going wrong with the civic, at the time that i dont have money, hehehe, always the case.

shocks are in a mess, so ill be changing that, and since i did a manual conversion, the front end feels a little loose.....the never ending story of car maintenance..

[Xman]

Had the same problem as you...........changed the thermoswitch for the fan and no problems since.

Once when the needle was above half (at idle) i opened the bonnet and the fan was off.........even thought it worked good after a few mins..........

so it was an "about to fail" thermoswitch and not total failure yet

[katana]

nicely,

most ppl telling me it is most likey that,

last question, i suppose i can run the fan direct, and see if that changes anything. ill just carry it by a mechanic. off the top of your head, whats the cost for a thermo switch, and that the sensor atop the thermostat housing we are talking about right?

[X2]

The thermoswitch is the sensor on top the thermostat and you can get a generic once for about $80-$90.

You can test the fan by pulling the plug of the thermoswitch and jumping the 2 pins on the harness plug together with a paper clip.... if the fan comes on immediately, then the fan and relay are fine.

Even if the thermoswitch is working.. a new one is inexpensive and is an easy project....

Just take 5mins... start the car when it''s cold... pop the hood and sit by the engine and wait for the fan to come on... when it starts to get to temperature... the fan should switch on... if it doesn't... likely the thermoswitch on the thermostat housing....but I still think you need to bleed the air out of the system first.... from you last fix... it''s highly likely that is the problem.

[katana]

got it,

ill go get a a swtich, on how do you bleed the system?...

[Spyrogyra]

Arvo- I have the manual for your engine, you coulda ask me for it before you left.

call me if you need a copy of it !

[ZORT]

to add to X2 there.. you should have changed the fan switch and the thermostat at the same time. You cannot put in the thermostat backward but there is right way the align the thermostat.

[katana]

spyro,

yeah boy , we aint even get to make a las lime, say wha we could still organise.

yeah ran the fan direct and the car was fine, bought the fan switch and the car working good now.

[X2]

Katana... there is a plug on the distributor side of the head... if you loosen it, it will spit air and coolant (HOT HOT HOT)... now that I think of it... maybe this should include pics...

[katana]

Got it, ill check for that this evening, not to change the subject, but ive been asking about this for a while. namely, the car seems to be really sensitive to bumps in the road. any wavy road, and i gotta hold my steering for dear life, otherwise, i can take a turn for the worse. checked it out a few times, and everything seems to be fine at the front. one mechanic told me that my steering rack is the issue, went to another and they said no its good but couldnt offer any suggestions.

and this is really bad, nearing the lights to valpark, on the left, the road is a little on the wavy side, and when im on that side, i have to hold on, gets worse if i am decelerating


any ideas?

[Silvermike]

hmm what tires u have on the car. sounds like u tramlining.

other than that, ure front lower/upper control arm bushings maybe bad, not busted, just gone soft. so they look fine, when they are really not.

[X2]

Well... could be many issues... from transmission to axles to wheels/tires.


First off... what size tire are you running ? (narrow tires tend to follow the road)

Second... are you running proper tire pressures ?

Third... when last you had an alignment done ? I mean computerized, not ur mechanic telling you it lookin good.

Alignment and caster issues can severly affect your car's track (tendancy to follow the road). So can narrow tires and improper (low) pressure. So check up those things FIRST.

If all that is ok... you can then move onto other possibilities such as the rack, differential, axles, etc...

[katana]

thanks a lot for the info,

is there anyone i can go to to get the issues resolved

[X2]

Go to mileage mack or quick service... they guaranteed to have the machinery to check.

[Spyrogyra]

katana, this been happening since you did the transmission swap from the CVT to manual ?

[katana]

ill tell yah honestly,

is only about ah month after i put on them rims i notice it. before that with meh buscuit tyres it was fine and used to drive sweet....

[SKIDMARQS]

Noticed this "pulling" with my car after I went up to 16s. Was told it was a combination of the rim size, lowering springs and worn upper control arm bushings.
Fixed the bushings w/ a set of f/used and the pull became less noticeable but manageable.
It never fully went away tho and X2s checklist was in order for my car.

[X2]

Noticed this "pulling" with my car after I went up to 16s. Was told it was a combination of the rim size, lowering springs and worn upper control arm bushings.

Ok... the springs and worn bushings CAN cause similar issues... but you say you went to a plus sized rim (16"), so we can assume it's aftermarket right ?

If it is not OEM/Stock, you can bet the bank that the rim is not hub-centric...which would lend it to not feel nearly as stable as a stock rim and also tend to ''follow'' the road.

Hubcentric: When the center hole of a rim fits snugly over the lip of the car's hub (where the brake rotor bolts to). A hubcentric rim allows the weight of the car to rest on the HUB and not the WHEEL STUDS. Most aftermarket rims are NOT hubcentric so they may fit multiple brands/cars... as each model or brand of vehicle may have a slightly different hub diameter... so the rim companies make the center hole of the rim oversized to fit multiple applications. This means that (odds are) your rims are putting all the weight of the car onto the wheel studs and not the hub as the manufacturer intended. You can either BUY hubcentric ring adaptors or have a MACHINE SHOP measure and cut a set to specification... and this will essentially convert your non hubcentric rims to hubcentric. (Yes it will make a NOTABLE difference in the ride)

Another item to observe is the aftermarket rim's OFFSET. Basically a measurement of the distance from the hub's mounting surface to the center point of the rim... it's hard to explain if u can't picture it...so this might help the visual... lifted from Yokohama's website:



Changing offset from stock will also affect the driveability by having the car ''pull'' you or it will ''follow'' the imperfections in the road.