integra overheating

[bside]

Hi guys, driving home yesterday day, and i noticed smoke coming from the bonnet, popped it up, the resivoir container was passed max on the radiator fluid and was bubbling out and steaming, i didn't notice the fans spinning either. I checked the oil and the oil was low but i topped it up (luckily i had some left in the boot) and there was radiator fluid as well. I moved my car back from where i was parked to check for leaks and no leaks either....3 hours later i start driving again and temp slowly creeps up and eventually gets to the HOT, and i had to stop my car wait 10 mins and every 2-3 mins it'll do the same thing.

I'm thinking it might be thermostat or radiator needs a flush. Anyone can think of ideas? I have searched ozhonda and they think either thermostat or radiator. I am short on cash at the moment, so is it hard to replace the thermostat? If so where abouts is it located? (integra 98 gsi)

Please give me your thoughts, thanks guys.

edit: i also checked the fuse and its working fine, and haven't flushed my radiator fluid in a while.

[ACTI0NMAN-1]

your coolant temperature switch or wiring obviuosly isnt working. someone should be able to show you how to jump the switch to see if its working.
worste case scenario you just have to wire in a new switch. quite easy to do and shouldnt take an auto elect' more than 1.5 hrs to do.

what city are you in.

[bside]

your coolant temperature switch or wiring obviuosly isnt working. someone should be able to show you how to jump the switch to see if its working.
worste case scenario you just have to wire in a new switch. quite easy to do and shouldnt take an auto elect' more than 1.5 hrs to do.

what city are you in.

thanks....im not sure if its a switch, but im thinking its got to do with the fluids or fan....i wonder if your one could probably fix the problem as well.
I'm in sydney, around lidcombe area...

[Bludger]

he was refering to the 'fan switch' or temperature switch, same thing

[ACTI0NMAN-1]

could be a relay issue. You should be able to take it to any honda mechanic and they can do the temp sensor check in 5 min.

[jdm_kid]

thanks....im not sure if its a switch, but im thinking its got to do with the fluids or fan....i wonder if your one could probably fix the problem as well.
I'm in sydney, around lidcombe area...

honda thermostat $45.
honda coolant $30.

u can DIY? i saw someone do it last nite, pretty easy :)
other wise any mechanic can do it, takes a while tho, labour around $100 ish

[bside]

hey guys i think you may be right, it might be the fan switch. i was reading another post on ozhonda on an ek, and they said to test the fan if its working, pull the plug for the fan switch, and use paper clip to test if it turns on. (which it didn't).

On the integra 98 gsi, i presume the plug will be located right behind the raditaor, just on top where the fans are...correct?....so could we say its thermostat?
can someone correct me if im wrong about where the fan switch/plug is....its a black and blue wire...

can't take it to the mechanic till monday, he's busy....

edit: also just found out another thing while doing some testing....the paper clip test didn't work, so i turned on the car, put on the air con, and then my fans started spinning.....so yeah...any more ideas along with this post?

[bside]

i think its proving to me now it might be the thermostat, because fuses were fine, fans spin up with air con on, oil in the engine, coolant in the radiator, so it must be thermostat...

does it matter if i get a thermostat from repco? because honda don't open on the weekends (parts department).

[ACTI0NMAN-1]

the thermostat only shows you how hot the coolant is and doesnt control the fans. The coolant temp sensor combined with the fan relay is what switches the fans on and off.

so i would say
1. your fan relay has shit itself
2. the coolant temp sensor has shit itself
3. there has been a short in your wiring for the temp sensor.

[jdm_kid]

the thermostat switches heating or cooling devices on or off as needed to maintain the correct temperature, so there for when its hot the fan will turn on.

ive had this problem. my temp gauge was goin up n down, my old thermostat shitted itself, replaced it and everything is working back to normal. temp gauge is always on a certain point. and the fan is operational now.

[ACTI0NMAN-1]

i was under the impression the thermostat displays the temp in your cluster. The Coolant temperature sensor (ECT Switch) is what switches the fan on. As i had to wire in this into my b18c swap.

[Samo]

the themostat open when coolent gets hot to a certain degree and opens for coolant from the block to go thru the radiator ... hence to test themostat u put it in boiling water .. if it pop opens its ok .. if it partially opens or not at all its fcuked

the themo switch turns the themo fans on ..

there is 2 fans ... one themo fan for the radiator and one for the a/c condensor

hence why the fan was on when a/c was switched on

looks like a themostat or themo switch

im in lidcombe too .... if u want me to come take a look at it tomro (sun)... pm me

[BC8]

same thing happened to me
ended up replacing my water pump
my car overheated on the road with a burst of steam from the bonnet getting the attention from cops pulling beside me and asked if i needed a tow truck
my whole engine overheated, radiator fluid flushed out.
drove with high temp and kept refilling with water and drove home slowly.
next day, had some radiator fluid filled in and drove to the mechanics whilst leaking all the way..
GG

[bside]

the thermostat switches heating or cooling devices on or off as needed to maintain the correct temperature, so there for when its hot the fan will turn on.

ive had this problem. my temp gauge was goin up n down, my old thermostat shitted itself, replaced it and everything is working back to normal. temp gauge is always on a certain point. and the fan is operational now.


i hear what your saying, but my temp gauge is always going up and stays up, i did something that might sound stupid like turning on aircon to have the fans spinning up to cool the engne bay down but rather the temp gauge just went up still. I guess new things have come into play now with my problem, thermostat, thermo switch, temp sensor or water pump....

[bside]

the thermostat only shows you how hot the coolant is and doesnt control the fans. The coolant temp sensor combined with the fan relay is what switches the fans on and off.

so i would say
1. your fan relay has shit itself
2. the coolant temp sensor has shit itself
3. there has been a short in your wiring for the temp sensor.


sorry to sound stupid? fan relay meaning what?
might be the sensors too....have you had the exact same problem as me?

[ACTI0NMAN-1]

when we swapped the b18c into the teg we had to rewire the ect. as the da9 didnt have the connection for it. so i researched how the DA9 and DC2-DC4 works so i could to the rewiring.

i could send you the pdf. of the dc2 but its 32mb.

[bside]

just rang mechanic, he can't seem to find the problem as yet, said it seems to be quite a tricky one, he checked the fuses, fans, i presume the sensors as well, oil, coolant, he said reckons its not thermostat...im not sure now...i don't think its head gaskett, few mechanics told me that if it was the radiator would have a weird color and be milky sorta and it will be bubbling......

someone anyone help?

[bennjamin]

just rang mechanic, he can't seem to find the problem as yet, said it seems to be quite a tricky one, he checked the fuses, fans, i presume the sensors as well, oil, coolant, he said reckons its not thermostat...im not sure now...i don't think its head gaskett, few mechanics told me that if it was the radiator would have a weird color and be milky sorta and it will be bubbling......

someone anyone help?

No , if the problem was a blocked radiator the temp simply wouldnt drop.
If he is a competent mechanic , he should be able to test to thermostat by taking it out , and suspend it in a pot and a thermometer in. The thermostat should open up at around 76 degrees.
If there is any different colour in the coolant ( look at your overflow bottle) it would have possibly oil mixed in with it. Check the oil level + oil colour itself

[bside]

No , if the problem was a blocked radiator the temp simply wouldnt drop.
If he is a competent mechanic , he should be able to test to thermostat by taking it out , and suspend it in a pot and a thermometer in. The thermostat should open up at around 76 degrees.
If there is any different colour in the coolant ( look at your overflow bottle) it would have possibly oil mixed in with it. Check the oil level + oil colour itself

hey ben, if this mechanic (who i always go to who has done all my repairs, good bloke as well :thumbsup: ) doesn't seem to find it, can i take it to you? i had your number but then lost it, think i might have it in my old phone. check pm.

[AE86BOI]

I drove a celica that behaved like this (with the overheating), the radiator had been flushed to try and fix it etc, it turned out however that the water pump had failed a while back and the constant overheating lead to the head becoming warped thus = new engine time!

[bside]

hey guys the mechanic rang me, and he told me that he said its the thermostat and thermostat fan switch. He said he was revving the car at 3000rpm and the radiator tube at the bottom was cold and the top was very hot, so he said somethings not flowing.

he said the thermostat fan switch is expensive!

can anyone confirm the symptoms he said?

please reply! thanks.

[DLO01]

hey guys the mechanic rang me, and he told me that he said its the thermostat and thermostat fan switch. He said he was revving the car at 3000rpm and the radiator tube at the bottom was cold and the top was very hot, so he said somethings not flowing.

he said the thermostat fan switch is expensive!

can anyone confirm the symptoms he said?

please reply! thanks.

Looking at previous post lets get something straight:

Thermostat, is closed when cold to warm up the engine and opens once the water reaches a cirtain temp to alow water to flow and cool.
Thermo switch, activates the fan once a cirtain temp is acheived. At a higher temp then when the thermostat opens.

If the top hose is hot and the bottom is cold, 'water is not flowing'.
He is saying the Thermostat is 'not' opening to alow water to flow.
As long as he took the car up to normal opperating temp and past to test it, he is stating that your thermostat is stuck close.

[bside]

Looking at previous post lets get something straight:

Thermostat, is closed when cold to warm up the engine and opens once the water reaches a cirtain temp to alow water to flow and cool.
Thermo switch, activates the fan once a cirtain temp is acheived. At a higher temp then when the thermostat opens.

If the top hose is hot and the bottom is cold, 'water is not flowing'.
He is saying the Thermostat is 'not' opening to alow water to flow.
As long as he took the car up to normal opperating temp and past to test it, he is stating that your thermostat is stuck close.

thanks for your reply, pretty much thermostat, so i just bought the thermostat for now, any more problems it'll have to be the switch, other than that, i got good prices if anyone wants to buy a thermostat fan switch. larke hoskins is charging $160 and scotts honda is charging $92. Mechanic said it'll cost $160, so when i rang up larke hoskins the guy told me the guy from scotts honda doens't know what he's on about, so when i visited scotts honda and told him what i wanted (thermostat fan switch) and it wasn't the guy i spoke to at scotts honda the first time, he said $92....so yeah if you want it, scotts honda at chatswood.

[bennjamin]

told ya so eheh. Looks like it did seize closed - rare on a OEM thermo.
Mine did the opposite thing recently ( running too cold- issue was thermo seized open) - good luck and let us know of anything else.

[bside]

told ya so eheh. Looks like it did seize closed - rare on a OEM thermo.
Mine did the opposite thing recently ( running too cold- issue was thermo seized open) - good luck and let us know of anything else.

hey bennjamin yeah you did too!, i was thinking thermostat, but im no mechanic and was going to do a DIY, but wanted to turn to you when mechanic started having trouble. Thanks man, i'll keep in mind if i need anything else!