adorsey137

Hey everyone,

I currently drive a 2007 Honda Civic Coupe and lately have been having issues with it. I know nothing about cars other than how to change the oil or fix a broken mirror, so I'm hoping to get some opinions/advice before I start tinkering under the hood.
Sometimes when driving or idling, the temperature gauge will fluctuate. It happens a faster if I'm blasting the heat, and with the weather getting colder I'm doing that a lot. It will usually go back down for a while if I turn the heat down for a bit, and sometimes it does it regardless of whether the heat is on. I've even stepped out of my car for a minute (left it running) came back and the temperature gauge had gone all the way up. It has not gone into the red (yet).

Another issue which may or may not be related. If I've been driving for about 5 minutes or longer, and leave my car for maybe a minute or two, come back and it wont start. It makes a sound like it's trying to start and then gives out. I can usually fix this by turning the key (battery) and waiting about 15 seconds before it will start. I would have thought maybe it was the cold weather, but I've had my car for 2 years and did not have this issue last fall/winter.
I'm thinking it may be the starter? If so, I wouldn't know where to begin, or if its a simple fix or something i need to get my credit card out for.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

ezone

First issue: Sounds like the radiator is low, coolant has leaked out.

If the radiator is found to be low, this needs rectified ASAP, and locate the source of the leakage/loss.
You could be a candidate for the cracked block warranty extension (10 years, unlimited mileage), but there are many other possible causes of leaks too.
Needs checked out thoroughly, and if it is a block problem it must go to a Honda dealership to be checked for warranty.

Second issue sounds like it may be a bad starter.
If it gets the block replaced with the above complaint, slapping a starter in while it's all apart shouldn't cost much extra labor. A factory reman starter still isn't cheap though.

adorsey137

Thank you for replying!

I dealt with a cracked block last year, which was covered under warranty, so it shouldn't be that.
I will look into the radiator as well as a starter and see if that helps with my problem.

jordan1794

Starter could be likely, the one in my 2006 went this past spring at about 120k miles.

Maybe I'm just more aware because it happened to me, but I feel like I'm seeing more potentially bad starter posts in the last 6 months or so for the 06-09 year range.

ezone

I just know that if I say anything about them, they will start showing up in my bay.