2002 Honda Civic Overheating Problems
07-04-2018
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2002 Honda Civic Overheating Problems
Hi, I have had issues with my 1.7L 2002 civic lx overheating for a long time now and I am about at the end of my wits with it. I am hoping that somebody might be able to help me out because I have no idea where to go from here.
I bought the car over a year ago in the early summer. As the hot weather approached I began to have overheating issues. I changed the thermostat and thought that had fixed the problem as the overheating stopped and the car drove fine all fall and winter. Starting this summer it began losing coolant and overheating again and so investigating further I found the themostat housing cracked and changed that. Still losing coolant I pressure tested the system and found water leaking out of the water pump so I did a timing belt/ water pump replacement and the leak was fixed. Now pressure testing the system it seems to be fine with no leaks, however I am still losing a lot of coolant. Driving about 200-300 kilometers pretty much all of the coolant will be gone. I have suspected the head gasket for a while however either than the coolant disappearing there are no other symptoms of a blown gasket.
- oil cap is clean
- no white smoke from exhaust
- if take out spark plugs and check cylinders they are all dry
I am not sure what else to do now. The coolant is going somewhere and I don't know where. Would a blown head gasket eat that much coolant? Is there any other ways to confirm whether gasket is blown or not? Has anyone had any similar issues and found a solution?
Thanks in advance
I bought the car over a year ago in the early summer. As the hot weather approached I began to have overheating issues. I changed the thermostat and thought that had fixed the problem as the overheating stopped and the car drove fine all fall and winter. Starting this summer it began losing coolant and overheating again and so investigating further I found the themostat housing cracked and changed that. Still losing coolant I pressure tested the system and found water leaking out of the water pump so I did a timing belt/ water pump replacement and the leak was fixed. Now pressure testing the system it seems to be fine with no leaks, however I am still losing a lot of coolant. Driving about 200-300 kilometers pretty much all of the coolant will be gone. I have suspected the head gasket for a while however either than the coolant disappearing there are no other symptoms of a blown gasket.
- oil cap is clean
- no white smoke from exhaust
- if take out spark plugs and check cylinders they are all dry
I am not sure what else to do now. The coolant is going somewhere and I don't know where. Would a blown head gasket eat that much coolant? Is there any other ways to confirm whether gasket is blown or not? Has anyone had any similar issues and found a solution?
Thanks in advance
07-04-2018
#2
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Re: 2002 Honda Civic Overheating Problems
Head gaskets in these car typically fail by not being able to fully contain compression anymore.
So a 1000 + times a minute a tiny bubble gets pushed into the coolant, displacing it into the overflow tank.
After bit time, you have too much air in the system and it starts to overheat.
Its as simple as that.
Search these boards, seems like half people that join this forum come for that exact reason.. and the sticker shock how much it costs someone else to replace it and how many times non-Honda bought head gaskets don’t work resulting in having to take everything back apart yet again.
So a 1000 + times a minute a tiny bubble gets pushed into the coolant, displacing it into the overflow tank.
After bit time, you have too much air in the system and it starts to overheat.
Its as simple as that.
Search these boards, seems like half people that join this forum come for that exact reason.. and the sticker shock how much it costs someone else to replace it and how many times non-Honda bought head gaskets don’t work resulting in having to take everything back apart yet again.
07-12-2018
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Head gaskets in these car typically fail by not being able to fully contain compression anymore.
So a 1000 + times a minute a tiny bubble gets pushed into the coolant, displacing it into the overflow tank.
After bit time, you have too much air in the system and it starts to overheat.
Its as simple as that.
Search these boards, seems like half people that join this forum come for that exact reason.. and the sticker shock how much it costs someone else to replace it and how many times non-Honda bought head gaskets don’t work resulting in having to take everything back apart yet again.
So a 1000 + times a minute a tiny bubble gets pushed into the coolant, displacing it into the overflow tank.
After bit time, you have too much air in the system and it starts to overheat.
Its as simple as that.
Search these boards, seems like half people that join this forum come for that exact reason.. and the sticker shock how much it costs someone else to replace it and how many times non-Honda bought head gaskets don’t work resulting in having to take everything back apart yet again.
Yep, either pukes back in the overflow tank and/or gets incinerated in the
cylinders and won't see much of anything in the exhaust. I know, I had the
same issue. Although quite expensive to have done, you can tackle it with a buddy over a weekend. And yes, please, please, please do use OEM parts.
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