Kernel55

In short; Could anyone please take a photo of the radiator spout(?) without the cap on? Multiple angles with good light would be lovely. And multiple people too.


Alright, so my car is about to explode if I don't fix her soon enough, and I really love my Roxanne. She's normally good to me. But now, she overheats like crazy and gobbles down coolant. For most of the time, it only got bad when I maintained speeds in excess of 80 mph.

Last monday, the radiator cap kinda dismantled itself while in usage. I got a new one, then I replaced the thermostat, because I had a new one lying in the trunk for about 4 months. Was good for a few days. Two days ago, she started overheating like crazy. Couldn't calm her down enough to get some more coolant into her. Had to drive her home gingerly. Got some coolant into her again. Took her for a nice drive today, wasn't going fast at all. Maybe 55. And she started overheating again. So I gingerly drove her home. At around 20 minutes to midnight, I found the time to start working on her again. Filled her up with coolant, took her around the block a few times, and I see she is pouring out steam. Temperature is regular though, which is abnormal(for my situation.) So I am looking at the radiator cap, and then the radiator spout. Then I noticed that on the spout, there is the lip which the rubber seal on the radiator cap pushes against. And then I saw that it wasn't a perfect circle, because it looks like there were two v-ish shapes roughly cut out on either side of the circle, and the cap wouldn't be very effective with those on it, would it? So that's why I'm asking for pictures of that area, to see if it is supposed to be like that. I'm really hoping it's not, because I would die a little bit inside.

This is all the rambling of a tired guy. Sorry to bug.

Thanks for any help you guys can give.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

did you use oem honda thermostat and radiator cap? if not it can cause serious problems. do the cooling fan(s) come on at all? if you have new honda thermo and radiator cap, then its possible something else is to blame and maybe even a bad radiator.

MindBomber

I'll take some pics for you tomorrow.

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Like gearbox said get an OEM cap, the generic ones from the parts stores are garbage. Are you 100% sure its leaking from the cap and the top of your radiator isnt cracked?

lazlong

Sounds like the coolant needs to be checked for exhaust gases.

Kernel55

I'm pretty sure nothing is cracked, I've already had a guy put it through pressure tests, and he said she passed all of them. Neither of the parts are OEM, but the cooling fans still do come on. The coolant is clean of exhaust, when there is coolant in the system. The exhaust is clean of coolant, and the oil isn't milky.

lazlong

My bad, the overheating threw me off. Like mentioned above, the aftermarket caps don't work as well on our cars for some reason. One question- How are you burping the system?

Kernel55

Parking on an uphill slope, filling her up cold, then running, then with the heater core open. I'm assuming I've taken care of any air bubbles by now (I hope.) Is there another way I can burp her?

Something else I just remembered, her overflow res doesn't really play a part I think. I lost the cap to the res a while back, (after problems started) and the other day, I filled up the res, and she hasn't emptied it to put into the system or anything like that. System runs low, res is still full :S

lazlong

1. Fill the rad to the base of the filler neck.

2. Install the cap loosely

3. Start the engine and let it run until it warms up (the rad fan comes on twice)

4. Turn the engine off. Check coolant level and add as needed.

5. Re-install cap tightly.

Basically your trying to push all the air out under the loose cap while it's idling. You may have to repeat the process a couple of times.

Kernel55

I'll have to do that later, or if this idea I got last night leads me nowhere, because if I'm correct, I'd just be spinning my wheels. As for codes, only when I've been gingerly running her hot will she start to bitch and moan. Goes away when she cools down for a bit though. Only other light is the maintenance required light, and I don't feel like bringing her into the dealership for that junk >_>

lazlong

What year is your car? In the 7th gen and below the light will go off if you change the oil.

Kernel55

04, but I just did that >_> I think it's that 10000 mile maintenance plan garbage

lazlong

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

get an oem cap and thermostat. some stupid shop had put an aftermarket thermo in our accord and it always ran slightly hot and the fans would come on every minute. finally it started to actually overheat past the 1/2 way mark on the gauge so i took the thermo out and thats the first thing i noticed how crappy it looked compared to the honda part i used. not to mention, the aftermarket was barely opening compared to the oem. swapped in the oem and it was like a new car again. usually aftermarket replacement parts are crap and nowhere near what oem is like. i know someone else who thought a cheap radiator cap from the store was fine, next thing you know coolant is coming out of the waterpump and his hoses were swelling. im guessing the pressure was too much or the cap wasnt working properly.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

in the meantime, thanks to OP, we detected a missing info in the overheating sticky... use OEM rad cap and thermo always...

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...reference.html

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

need to add that if the lights are on, the light does not go out.
Found out the bad way - mine have aftermarket DRL (requirement in Canada, while my car is US).

So, pull out the aftermarket DRL fuse out was the only way i could reset the maintenance light...

lazlong

See, I learn something every day. Good tip. +1(when it let's me. lol)