Engine Getting Too Hot

[harVTEC]

UPDATE

Thanks for all the replies. I changed the thermostat for a new one, sealed up the housing etc. Refilled with coolant. Waited for thermostat to open, then topped up with coolant. Took it for a drive and it still got too hot. Let the car cool down, took off rad cap, started engine and waited for every last bubble of air to come through and topped up the coolant as necessary.

Had the fan cut in 3 times while doing this so assumed all air must be out. Rad at perfect coolant level, with resevoir half between MIN and MAX marks. Took it for a drive, including a lot of thrashing, all was fine. Then while driving normally it started overheating again!

Basically, what happens is all of the coolant ends up in the resevoir, causing it to overflow and spray everywhere, leaving next to none in the rad itself.

Has anyone got any other suggestions as to what could be causing it.

Was thinking of draining the system fully, making up a 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and distilled water to see if this will raise the boiling point of the system a bit, as I do not know what percentage mixture is in there at the moment.

Thanks in advance, sorry if this was painful to read, just soo fed up haha.

harVTEC

[noodels]

heater matrix blocked maybe 50/50 anti freeze wont fix it just cost you £s to find out you have a problem again.

[civicturbo79]

Head gasket mate it always blows the water out of the rad and into the expansion bottle and then onto the floor . Its usually worse on hard driving . Rich.

[harVTEC]

Head gasket mate it always blows the water out of the rad and into the expansion bottle and then onto the floor . Its usually worse on hard driving . Rich.

Ah fu*k, this is the last thing I wanted. How can I go about checking the HG? I have seen when they go on other cars, 'mayonnaise' build up around pipes, oil cap, cam cover, watery oil etc. But mine has none of these symptoms.

Today I parked the car on a sharp slope (engine higher than rear) and filled the coolant back up, lots and lots of air in the system. The system is now full of coolant and no air anywhere. This seems to have worked for now, I won't know if it will overflow again until I thrash it all the way through the gears again.

Also I will PM you tomorrow as there is a fault with my rear brakes you got refurbed for me. Bit tired to do it at the moment.

Thanks for the help.

harVTEC

[civicturbo79]

Head gasket mate it always blows the water out of the rad and into the expansion bottle and then onto the floor . Its usually worse on hard driving . Rich.

Ah fu*k, this is the last thing I wanted. How can I go about checking the HG? I have seen when they go on other cars, 'mayonnaise' build up around pipes, oil cap, cam cover, watery oil etc. But mine has none of these symptoms.

Today I parked the car on a sharp slope (engine higher than rear) and filled the coolant back up, lots and lots of air in the system. The system is now full of coolant and no air anywhere. This seems to have worked for now, I won't know if it will overflow again until I thrash it all the way through the gears again.

Also I will PM you tomorrow as there is a fault with my rear brakes you got refurbed for me. Bit tired to do it at the moment.

Thanks for the help.

harVTEC

Ok mate i can get the calipers done for you but has to be soon if you want them doing as im not sure what time they have off for xmas .

As for the head gasket i would get a sniff test do at a garage its the only way of telling but it does not always show up , you do not get water and oi mixing on the honda engine . there is a water jacket all the way around the bore linings so if the gasket goes it blows striaght into the jacket and then pressurizes the coolant system , but if you got loads of air out lets hope it was just that . Rich.

[Project Civic]

Here is the bad news for you... It will be the head gasket.

My Civic had the same problem, I checked everything and concluded that the head gasket was the only thing left to do.

- No leaks from cooling system

- Overheating when car is not moving

- Overheating when the car was stationery in traffic

- Coolant would heat up and go to the expansion tank however, it would never refill the radiator when it cooled down.

Prices, when I asked around in September 2011:

Price to fix should be about £400-£500 from local garage, they will probably include extra work (head skimmed, thermostat change, new coolant, using new genuine Honda head gasket and 10x new genuine Honda head bolts).

Price from Honda is about £600 for the head gasket change only and no extra work.

Or DIY... I'm not a mechanic by trade (only a few years of DIY mechanic hehe) but I like to save as much money on my motor vehicle maintenance, petrol costs are crazy . It was the first time for my brother and I to do a head gasket change .

A few hours with my brother and we got the headgasket changed on my car. Cost us only £126.94 in parts from Honda (Gasket and 10x head bolts). You can reuse the head bolts (at your own risk) but I would not recommend it as a snapped head bolt will just cause more problems. I didn't get the head skimmed as I turned off the engine or turned on my heater to full immediately when the car was overheating, hopefully saving the head from being warped.

Car is running sweet at the moment.

- No overheating issue.

- No lost of coolant.

- Cooling system works fine, coolant expands and returns to radiator as it should do.

Hope this helps.

Project