Cleft_Asunder

iTrader: (1)

Long story short:

I just bought a 97 Civic, unfortunately I asked my friend to pick it up and take a look at it from California, so I wasn't the one who test drove it. I wouldn't have paid 4500 hundred for it because it seems the car has at least 1 major problem: something wrong with idle transmission gear (5-speed), and will likely need a new trans.

Any way, the resovoir tank was coated in a rust-like powdery substance. The coolant was also reddish. I decided to do a radiator flush, and I put in some prestone radiator cleaner. I replaced the lower radiator hose, thermostat, and radiator cap. After piecing it together, the fans don't start up. Normally, even on a cold start, the fans will come on within a minute. However, they wont come on even after 10 minutes anymore. If I press the A/C button the driverside fan will come on, but the passengerside will not.

More info: It seems that at least 1 fan was working before the flush. I did the flush about a week ago and was running water and prestone, but yestarday after an 80 mile trip the car felt weak. I opened up the hood at a gas station and noticed the resovoir was bubbling; I thought it was boiling but it turns out that the resovoir cap tube was blowing, is that normal? The heat guage never went above half. It looked completely normal. After this, I decided to do another flush. This time I replaced with water only and I noticed the radiator wasn't holding pressure, and this was due to the cap. I replaced the cap today, and the fans still do not turn on. Only when I press the A/C will the driverside fan go on, and that's it.

What should I do?

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

If you got rust in the coolant, plan on digging deep. Maybe even a whole new radiator. But as far as the fan goes, hot wire the fan and see if its the motor thats dead. If not, try jumping the switch and see if the switch is dead. Its one of the 2 thats keeping it from coming on.

Cleft_Asunder

iTrader: (1)

Actually, both fans do work, but only one at a time. Is that normal?

It seems it's an issue with the radiator cap. I heard a sucking sound with the stock cap, so I replaced it with one bought at autozone. Yet, yesterday, it was still making a sucking sound, however today it seems to have stopped. We'll see, because I think it's the cap. If this one holds pressure I'll keep it for now until I replace with OEM.

Thanks for the help.