Fan/Overheating
 

My girlfriend also has a 02 civic. I'm trying to work on it today but need advice. She was driving in her Neighborhood and the car shut off and over heated she said. The temp gauge didn't go up past normal operating temp but water spilled out of the resovar and out of the radiator cap. Got it back, put water in it and now it looks like the fans won't kick on. I checked the terminals and the fuses for it and they are fine so I took the switch off the thermostat and put a paper clip in it to jump it and turned the car on and only one can kicked on, the driver side fan. What does this mean? I need to get it running today! Please help me too!

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

Puked from the radiator.....Radiator cap was not tight?
Yet the temp gauge was normal?

I think I smell a head gasket job...

It means you need to figure out why the non-running fan doesn't run.

The fan switch could be a problem, but that won't keep only one fan from running, it's a separate issue.
NOTE: It can take a long time for the fans to tun if you are just letting engine heat turn them on. Any breeze blowing through the radiator could be sufficient to cool without running the fans, depending.

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

That's what I was told. I was told it came out of the cap but that yr gauge was okay.

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

The reservoir is very close to the rad cap area, maybe it belched all over the fan shroud and LOOKS like it came from the radiator?


Typically the radiator goes low while the reservoir overflows and covers everything near with antifreeze. Shroud, battery and tray, subframe, splash panels, etc.

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

I'm sitting in it now. Letting it warm up. I'm t normal operating temp now. Everything seems fine. The fan hasn't kicked on yet. Idk at what point it kicks on. The other fan kicks on when I turn the A/c on. No smoke, everything seems like it's fine. Oil is good, no water or Coolant in the oil. I know the motor has pretty much only water in it thought at this point. Will have to put coolant in it once I know everything is okay

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

And it's a possibility it didn't come out of the cap. She's a chick and doesn't know shit lol. But now it's my problem and I'm not familiar with Hondas

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

If you refilled the radiator, it could remain fine for a long while.


Temp at switch about 200F to run the fans.

Note the switch is not in the water stream exiting the cylinder head, the switch is in the stream exiting the radiator from the lower hose. Therefore, a breeze can cool the liquid in the radiator sufficiently to not need the fans to run.
Both fans are supposed to run. Never a single fan no matter which system turns them on.

For now........


They almost never mix when the head gasket is blown, it's gotta be a horrible situation with warpage to mix any fluids.

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If the head gasket is blown, it usually is a tiny breach at first. It can take hours of highway driving before it displaces enough liquid out of the radiator to make it overheat.

Some people can run for months doing short trips before noticing anything, and that might only be a lack of heater output at stop lights.

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HTH

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

Just found out it's the one fan. I was hitting it and tapping it and it kicked on. But I turned it off and back on and had to hit it again to turn the fan back on. But at that point both are running. Once you told me that both should run at the same times that's when I focused more on that one fan. I thought they were separate. It runs a little slower than the other fan though. Any thoughts?

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

That's called a "tap test", and is a valid diagnostic step.

Needs a new fan motor ASAP for this part of the issues..

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

You know you hijacked the OPs thread? I'm gonna try to move these to a new thread in a few.

Re: Fan/Overheating Question
 

Hit the center on the fan lol. But it's not running as strong as the other one

Re: Fan/Overheating
 

you have more serious issues then the fan,

find out where that coolant is coming out of, thats the most important situation right now,

on a side note, you should NEVER be putting water into these cooling systems