Rep Power: 0

Im the proud owner of a 2002 civic Lx 4dr sedan. 1.7L auto trans beige beauty with 3.5 hundred thousand kilometers on her. I have a problem that im not sure how to address... recently i was driving around in town (stop & go). I went to the bank. Came out to fire betsy up and she greeted me by throwing a code ( & engine light) shortly before she stalled out. After letting it sit for about 20 minutes she fired up no hastle. Alright now more about the problem

-she typically acts up when its hot out

-its always a code for the tdc sensor

Coolant has boiled & or dissapeared on several occasions where this code showed (but not all)

-It has also stopped dead while i was driving in town but never highway

My best guess as to why the timing sensor was unhappy is that the engine got so hot that it caused pre-ignition (OOF) but the over heating is a mystery

Coolant has been drained and replaced and the thermostat has been replaced in an attempt to fix the issue. Also one of my fans was not working which may have contributed to the overheat but it now works. (Had to replace the fuse).

All this worked to no avail.... obviously.......

Civic gods help me.

 
Rep Power: 244

Is the coolant overflow tank filling up when it gets hot?

 
Rep Power: 119

Sounds like you have two separate issues.

Bad TDC sensor, very common but non-Honda purchased replacement might also not work.

Coolant level issues quickly leads to finding out coolant was displaced, coolant spewing out of the overflow bottle may short out the fan and pop the fuse.

 
Rep Power: 0

The overflow tank does seem to fill up as heat increases, i still might replace the rad cap though, just to be safe and eliminate variables. Their pretty cheap

 
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The fan was already broken before i had this issue, the plastic blades fell of the motor a while back, possibly before i got the car i may have missed the issue, after replacing the fan and also replacing the fan switch sensor the overheating percisted. Real wierd problem, good pointers though thanks

 
Rep Power: 244

I would do a head gasket test. Common 7th gen issue.

There is a procedure around here somewhere.

 
Rep Power: 0

Head gasket would make sense i will have to do some tests and cross my fingers