D15, D16, D17 and Mini-Me swaps
User avatar
By baconsauce
#344358 Okay, I have been researched about this subject

I may be rookie but I wanted to be sure.
I drove my car around, daily drive, nothing performance for my 40mpg wine drinker. I noticed my temperature gauge pointed at red (hot) and I stopped to cool down for a while then drove back to my home and I had to shift below 2k rpm each of the times to keep my car cool at certain point of the temperature.
When I arrived home, I went ahead to pops open my hood and see what issues. Was like whats wrong with you, bipolar?

So I bought themostat to see if it would work. Replaced it, filled coolant a bit. Doesn't solved it. No CEL. Fan wouldn't came on. Last thing I could think.. is it water pump failure? Tell me anything and I'll mess with it unless I got to swap for different n low miles engine.

Thanks
Dj
User avatar
By teal_dx
#344359 Was the fan coming on when the car was overheating? If not, I'd cay the fan is the culprit.

Here's a video on testing the fan switch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LdU721UVF0

Also, when you are low on coolant and refill, you must bleed the cooling system to get all the air pockets out, otherwise the coolant will not flow properly and it will overheat again. :thumb:

I would not use cheap thermostats either, as I have had new thermostats from autozone etc. not work right our of the box.

When was the waterpump last replaced?

There could be some bigger problems causing your overheating, but check the fan switch first, since that's the easiest, and we'll go from there. :thumb:
User avatar
By baconsauce
#344360 Sweet I just got my fan working with the video you showed me with wire then I found a failure fuse and I replaced it. So now I tried again to see if I can fill coolant while it running. Took few minutes, the fan hasn't came on and the coolant kept spitting out of radiator. Seems like the themostat wasn't operating properly or am I wrong?
User avatar
By teal_dx
#344364 Sometimes to get the engine warm enough for the thermostat to open, you'll have to have someone hold the throttle around 2k-3k rpm. I've never had mine open while just idling. Eventually the fan should kick on too. Have the person in the drivers seat keep an eye on the temp gauge too, just in case there's a bigger problem and it begins to overheat.
Some coolant splashing out of the top of the radiator is normal. Just keep topping it off when it gets low.
User avatar
By baconsauce
#344372 All right sir
I will keep this updates by tomorrow or so

Bike time
By crankinstein
#344383 Not to thread jack, but I was just about to start a new thread that seems too similar to warrant a new entry.

Drove home, a little spirited I'll admit, and when I went to reverse into my driveway it almost stalled out the revs were so low and my exhaust sounded like it was under water.

When parked in my driveway you could tell the engine was about to choke. Really low, rough idle, the kind that pushing the gas would hardly rectify until after holding the gas down a bit out came a huge plume of white smoke. $#!+....but at least it started idling a bit better.

Info:
1. Temp gauge in the dash has never been above the half mark
2. I don't know that I have ever heard or seen either fan come on
3. I just did the timing belt, tensioner and water pump last weekend and it's been fine until today.

My initial guess is headgasket.

What do you think?
User avatar
By baconsauce
#344417
teal_dx wrote:Sometimes to get the engine warm enough for the thermostat to open, you'll have to have someone hold the throttle around 2k-3k rpm. I've never had mine open while just idling. Eventually the fan should kick on too. Have the person in the drivers seat keep an eye on the temp gauge too, just in case there's a bigger problem and it begins to overheat.
Some coolant splashing out of the top of the radiator is normal. Just keep topping it off when it gets low.


Ok If I am doing that, should I expect the fan to kick in then themostat will operate?
User avatar
By teal_dx
#344421 When I have done it, the thermostat has always opened before the fan kicked on. The coolant will be flowing and the upper radiator hose will get hot when the thermostat has opened up.
User avatar
By baconsauce
#344436 I kept it on 2-3k rpm constantly, the result was that I noticed the temperature gauge went up and close to the red bar. I let go of the gas, temperature gauge went down slowly as I went to check if the fan came on (I can't hear, I'm deaf), it wasn't on at all.
By crankinstein
#344487 My fan is def not coming on like it should. Checked the vid you provided previously and followed it to the best of my ability. Here's what I have found:

- 15A Fuse looks to be fine
- swapped the cooling fan and heater fan relays, heater worked with both
- jumped ran straight to battery, worked
- jumped temp switch (@ tstat housing) connector and turned key on, worked

Question #1:
So, just to confirm, what I deduce from these tests is that my temp switch is inop, right?

Also, I'm not sure if it's worth noting, but my temp gauge never goes above the half way. Not even last night after holding at 3,000RPM for a few minutes to bleed the cooling system after the head gasket and thermostat were replaced, and of course the fan not coming on.

Question #2:
Is it possible that my Temp Gauge and Temp Switch issues are related?

TIA
User avatar
By baconsauce
#344502
teal_dx wrote:Did the thermostat open? And did the fan work when connecting straight to the battery?


Yes the fan worked directly from battery, what I did when temperature went up to hot, and I hurried to the engine, feeling the bottom of radiator which are cold and top is hot then I jump the wire from battery to fan and it working. I did it for about 20-40 seconds. Pulled wire off then checked my gauge, it went down to middle between hot and cold. I went to rechecked the bottom of radiator, it is equal hot as top one. So I would say themostat actually opened.

So I am wondering :?
User avatar
By teal_dx
#344511 Deffyjeffy,
So when the needle went up to the redline the fan never kicked on by itself?
With all the air pockets out of the cooling system, there should be no more overheating if the fan is working.

One more simple test I can think of... try driving it in laps around the block (close to home) so that outside air will be cooling the radiator. Or use a big ass fan with the car parked, if possible. This way, if it takes longer to get to the top of the gauge After the thermostat is open, you know it is a problem with the fan because you will be cooling the radiator yourself.

It sounds like a fan problem to me, but I've never really had to mess with any problems like that on my civic, so i don't really have much experience to speak from
User avatar
By teal_dx
#344512 crankinstein, I think if the temp switch was bad, it wouldn't work at all instead of working up to half way. :?

I'm wondering if when you bled the coolant, a few minutes was enough time for the fan to kick on. If you're not overheating, then I think you're ok. But for a piece of mind, you can try 300rpm parked for a little while longer and see if it kicks on this time. :thumb:
User avatar
By baconsauce
#344629 I went to my friend house to get my car checked and all.
Turned out it was my water pump failure. Found leakage and caused my coolant to be low.

Stills keeping my eye on fan system.. gosh.

Tomorrow, I will get it replaced. I bought the water pump today. I'll keep you guy updates :)