05HondaChic

I have a 2005 Honda Civic, I recently replaced the thermostat and now the car is still over heating. We originally thought it could be the water pump but the fans are not kicking on. Could this just be a sensor issue? I am new Honda owner and did not know where else to turn with the issue. If anyone has a suggestions or ways to troubleshoot please let me know. I am lost at this point. Thanks in advance

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah there is a fan sensor near the thermostat housing. not the one on top, thats the engine coolant temp sensor. its the one on the side. it tells the fan when to turn on if the car gets too hot. do both fans turn on when you use the A/C? if not, it may be a fuse or relay or even a broken fan (mechanical problem).

nametakento

I had a similar problem. Maybe your Cooling fan switch is broken, i think this happens due to the coolant getting too hot, it burns out the mechanism that makes this switch work. Its on the thermostat housing. I replaced mine today(25 dollars) and my problem is gone. I replaced my engine coolant sensor because it was broken but it didnt fix my problem, so i replaced my switch too, and now my honda is happy. Oh, to make sure its not your fans first, turn on your AC, if your fans work then you know that they are OK. If they dont turn on then maybe their burnt out, i dont think so, however, i have a feeling its the coolant fan switch. Honda's are very sensitive machines.

Let me explain briefly what happened to my car. About 2 months ago, my car bottoms out and the oxygen sensor 2 that is on the catalytic converter breaks. Oh, and my alternator belt fell off, so i had all that replaced and changed but i had this bad hickup problem where my 01 civic wanted to stall out. So i spent about 1100 dollars on miscellaneous parts to single out the problem, WOO HOO GO HONDA DEALERS! Anyway, Just today, I bought a Cooling fan switch, which tell my fans when they should be on to cool down the car, 25 bucks or so. But that solved my hiccup issue. My charging system is messed up right now though, i think something is wrong with my battery.

mr22508

When my car was overheating I replaced the thermostat, and it kept overheating too, well come to find out it was because I was losing coolant due to the fact that I was getting pressure blow by my head gasket causing my fluid to be insufficient. BLOWN HEAD GASKET!!! Sucked but I got it fixed.

d0ughbOy81

iTrader: (4)

sorry for the late input but this just happened to my girls 7th gen it overheated pushing coolant out the overflow bottle so i replaced the thermostat, but it overheated again so i replaced the elect temp sensor. it overheated again. not bad just enff to scare my girl so the last thing left was the fan switch and so far soo good

real easy to do just need a deep 14mm and deep 24mm socket wait till motor is cold and swap them out a lil coolant will come out of the fan switch

mr22508

If it happens again, then its your head gasket. Cause I had all the same symptoms as you.

Schuy

Check your fuses first, i had this happen on mine this spring and its happened to a couple of my friends cars and all of them were just blown fuses. If not fuse then look into temp sensor, fan motor, or switch.

fadiriad

Even after I changed the fan switch and thermostat it is still over heating. I found out that the fan only work when the temp gauge gos to max, but still even when they go on the gauge dose not go down. what I did is connected the fans to stay on all the time, but it dose not help much. when I turn the heat on to full the temp gos to normal.

what is wrong with my car?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

could be a bad water pump or radiator, not circulating the coolant fast enough to cool it. when you turn the heat on, coolant is routed to the heater core under the dash and some heat blows out the vents which will help cool the antifreeze.

johnhumid

yes there is a fan sensor near the thermostat housing.



_________________
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mclean987

iTrader: (1)

if i hook both fans up straight can this cause a problem ? and does the Cooling fan switch control the thermostat or if not what controls thermostat and makes it open and close? if water pump is bad does the thermostat hose stay cold when the top radiator hose is hot?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

thermostat is self controled. there is some wax inside that melts and it opens. just putting the thermostat in hot water by itself will activate it. the fan switch only controls when the fan turns on, based on the coolant temp. its possible to have the bottom hose cold if the water pump is busted. that means coolant is not circulating thru the system properly. the top hose comes from the engine, the bottom is the return hose once the coolant has been cooled by the radiator. you have a new radiator right? otherwise i would say its clogged radiator.

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

thanks yeh brand new radiator and cap and hoses and thermostat ? i looped fan switch so fans stay on and temp guage works fine so i figured ect is good, what else can i do? thinking of changing water pump and boring out thermostat or running without it, all seems to be good now no longer going all the way to hot and overheating coolant isnt boiling but pressure builds up because lower hose is cold and not flowing

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ect sensor you cannot assume is good just because the temp gauge works. that gauge has three settings, cold, warm, and hot. lol. its barely a real gauge to begin with.

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

thanks dude i will change it first thenthen but say it is bad would that make the lower thermostat hose stay cold as if thermostat isnt opening when its a brand new one

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

i can drive like 10 miles or 25 mins before temp goes above normal but it doesnt go all the way to Hot and lower thermostat hose stays closed

pjb3

If the lower hose is staying cool and you have a new radiator it sounds like the thermostat. I was wondering, did you buy the thermostat from the dealer? If not then they may have sold you a high temperature one and it is opening much later than you want. It's also possible that the new one is defective, put it in boiling water to make sure it opens. The last thing I'm not sure is possible with a Civic since I have not changed the termostat yet. On some cars the termostat housing is big enough that it will allow the termostat to be placed backward. In this case the mechanism that opens the thermostat may never get hot enough to cause it to open or it may only open partially.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

well the simple test is remove the thermostat and go for a long drive til everything warms up, then feel the lower hose. it should be pretty warm if not hot depending on outside temp.

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

i wanted to remove thermostat but didnt think i could like on older civics, what do i put the seal around if i remove that ?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

oh yeah that prolly wont work. just make sure you use a new honda part and its installed correctly not backwards

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

i removed the thermostat completely and it still overheats, so now it can only be water pump or headgaske, how can i test if water pump is bad? how do i know if its head gasket and not water pump because the oil and water isnt mixing and car isnt smoking driver perfect for 20 mins

pjb3

When the head gasket fails it does not have to mix water in the oil. It is possible for a leak to occur between the cylinder and the cooling passages. In this case compression forces small amounts of combustion into the coolant. I've seen this once and if I remember correctly it show up as the coolant overflowing since 'air' is being forced into the cooling passages of the engine and the extra volume forces the coolant out and into the overflow reservoir.

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

yes that appears to be what is happening to me, if i torque down head some more will this fix it? or pour some head gasket sealer in radiator, i know eventually going to have to take head off just wanna buy some extra time

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

you can try to torque the head bolts a bit more, but it will eventually get worse.

pjb3

I don't think any sealer will help. Thge cooling system is pressurized to 16 psi (I think that is what the radiator cap is) and the combustion chamber starts at something like 125 psi before combustion and then goes much higher. There is such a large difference in pressure no sealer will work. You might try searching the internet to see if there is any kit to test cooling fluid for combustion byproducts to verify the problem. You could also try a compression test to see if one cylinder is a little lower than the others. Replacing a head gasket is not a simple job and I would want to be pretty sure it is the problem before replacing it.

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

thanks for all the info, my friend used a sealer on his head gasket it lasted for like a month, how much more should i torque down the head? i dont rememeber what stock setting is?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

just give them a bit more tightening. you should feel it once you start. dont do it as hard as you can, just a lil more than before. you will see that they feel relatively loose already, prolly from all the engine pressure.

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

i need to know how much torque for torque wrench like 50 lbs?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

49 ft/lbs is the stock torque. so maybe try 10-20 extra

mclean987

iTrader: (1)

hold crap that much i was thinking no more than 10 but ok, if i do it that much cant it mess up the block?