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Hey everyone, I posted on here about 6 months ago about my 02 honda civic overheating...I went through all of the traditional overheating issues checking my fans and my switched and my radiatior. Sure enough my head was blown. My mechanic replaced the headgasket and got my head machined. So ive been rolling cold and very good for the past 6 months with no problems at all. now over the past few days after driving my car all day long i have noticed my temp gauge slowly creep above the halfway mark right when i start the car, but within ten seconds of the car running it cools off, it hasnt gotten close to 3/4 of the way on the gauge, just barely above halfway. This seems reasonable considering i was driving all day long in traffic and i live in phoenix and its been 113 this past week. It did it a few times and just right when I started until it had a chance to cool. the only thing is that it's never done this before and I've been driving just like this all summer long out here in phoenix...all i know is that i dont want to blow another head gasket!!!

 
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Are you losing coolant?

 
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No, I haven't lost any coolant at all...everything seems to be working properly. My radiator is full of coolant as well as my overflow tank. I haven't been leaking anything at all. My hoses look good and my fans are working. The fans kick on every few minutes or so when its hot. Like I said my car has only done this a couple of times and it was after driving a lot in the middle of the day here in phx. The weird thing is I did an experiment yesterday drove the car all around all day let it run for a half hour in the driveway in the sun, and not once did the temperature creep up. I was trying to see if it would get warm again. The fans kicked on and off and appeared to be working just fine. Then to day after driving all around the city all day running errands I noticed the heat creep again just for about five seconds right when I turned it on and then it went back down. It really doesn't seem like a big deal, but the thing is I've been driving this car like crazy all summer long out here in phoenix and it has never crept above the halfway mark ever. I'm thinking it could be something small like maybe my fan switch is going out and doesn't work every so often. Does anyone know what the engine coolant temp sensor does. I remember seeing a code about the ect when I scanned it a few months ago. I thought the ect controls the fuel input and determines how much fuel to use, does the ect actually do anything with the cooling system.

 
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You've changed your timing belt/water pump in the last few years, right? If you have an EX you could always try cleaning the EGR and IAC valves ( https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...e-up-mods.html ), and you have some reasonably fresh 5w-20 or 5w-30 right?
Engine coolant temperature (ECT) sensor measures just that. It's located on the front passenger side of your engine, near the radiator cap. There's an engine block/chassis ground wire right next to it.
Running the AC all the time in that heat will increase the engine heat as well (although who can blame you???), since it's working that much harder. I used to live out in the Valley too, and I would use my 3/70 air conditioning as much as possible. Windows and moon roof open, 70 mph baby!

 
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couldn't it be issues with the gauge itself?

we had a case, but it was actually cold temps:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...ar-normal.html

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

 
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I'm wondering if what you are seeing is from heat soak. When you first turn an engine off the temperature continues to rise since there is no longer coolant circulating. When you start the car after a short stop the temp will be above normal but the circulating coolant will quickly bring it back down. Given the high temperatures and A/C it may be that the heat soak is greater than usual.

 
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Hey guys, thank you all for the replies. I appreciate it. That heat soak idea sounds like that might be what it was from. It was very hot out the other day and the sun was beaming. It seemed like that's what happened considering it probably would get hotter just sitting there with all of the heat trapped underneath the hood. The car has not gone above normal temp since the other day, I am keeping a close eye on it. So now I am dealing with another problem. My car has been shifting somewhat weird over the past few days. It seemed like I could notice it a month or so ago but it has gotten worse over the past few days. Its only from shifting into second gear. It feels like the rpms go up near 3000 and somewhat goes down a little bit sometimes it shifts into second but sometimes it almost kind of revs for a few seconds and then shifts. It seems like an airflow problem to me. Or maybe it has to do with the fuel system? About four months ago my check engine light came on, the codes were for the engine coolant temp sensor, and then there were a couple about the evap system and emission. It was hard to tell what was going on exactly because I still hadn't cleared the codes out of my system since I blew my headgasket, I figured the codes could have been stuck in there. I switched my fuel cap and then cleared the codes. Then About two months ago my check engine light came on. I had the system scanned and it came up with a few codes again about the evap system. I have noticed that it seems like my fuel efficiency hasn't been that good over the past few months. And now just today my AC has gone out. Out of nowhere it just completely stopped blowing air. I'm not sure if all of this is related and I have an airflow of possible fuel system problem, or if My AC just went out and my tranny is going out??