Checked everything, but still overheating.

ASSISTANCE Stock Engine-Bay Components
1

Well, I’m sure everyone’s overheating problems have been posted all over the board. I’ve done a search, but it seems that my situation’s still rather unique, and I’m still seeking for more answers. So I’ll give it a shot and post it here for advice since I know a lot of you guys know your stuff about the DA Integras. Anyway, I have a 1992 Integra RS, automatic. It has around 94k+ on it. Here’s the situation with my overheating problem. So here’s a break down of what’s going on so I don’t end up making multiple posts. ^_^;

I got my car in 1999, I’ve never had overheating problems, even when I’ve driven that thing all over the place in city streets before. Then in January of 2001, I installed an AEM cold air intake, then the problems started from there. It’s odd, we did the whole install correctly, and well, it apparently wasn’t the problem since eventually there were more factors involved. In 2000, my water pump has been replaced. Now, ever since the intake install, the thermostat has been replaced (I’m not sure if it’s a Honda OEM one since my mechanic did it, but I assumed it was since he replaced my wires with OEM Honda ones), the coolant’s been flushed, and the radiator’s been replaced (since it cracked and stuff). Well, here are the following experiments we did (my friends and I as well as my mechanic).

First, we rigged the fans to come on ALL the time instead of waiting for the car to warm up hot enough to get them going. That should run cool enough for a while, but it was a temporary solution. Now, my mechanic decided to remove the thermostat altogether (yea, kinda sounds silly). So the car ran a lot cooler since the cooling system is circulating more freely (duh), but of course, the car would have crappier gas mileage, and the car takes a bit longer to warm up. I don’t drive my car too far on a regular basis, so it didn’t matter too much. However, I was sitting at a drive thru to grab some food and the needle started to creep past half. Then it started to do that all the time when the car’s idling and driving in stop and go traffic, as many other people have been complaining about. With all those factors checked, I, nor the mechanic, nor my friends can really think of what else to do or what’s going on. Overheating seems to be a common problem with the G2. Here are a few things that could possibly be the problem.

  1. I need to do a compression test to see if all cylinders are in proper working order.

  2. I also need to get a compression leak down test to see if there are any leaks.

  3. It could possibly be the gauge being screwy, well, not the actual gauge, but possibly the sensor that tells the gauge what temperature it is.

That’s all I can think of, if there are any suggestions, please let me know! Thanks! I also got a problem with my brakes too. I think the brake system’s using up brake fluid too fast. I’m not sure if the brake system is slowly leaking or my pads are wearing out so bad that it requires more fluid to do it’s job. I’d appreciate any kind of help. :slight_smile:

2

do you still have teh thermostat out?? or maybe your mechanc is dumb and he forgot to bleed the system of the air?

3

Yea, the thermostat’s still out. He was driving it around and he said there’s nothing wrong with it or something. I still think it’s a load of crap because my dad was telling him, “Oh, he complains about his car overheating all the time. I can’t get him to shut up about it.”

4

so are you burning coolant and need to refill? if so, you need to bleed everytime. you should try doing that right now anyways. at the opposite end of the upper radiator hose there is a nut facing you with a hole in it. it is screwed into a piece on the cylinder head. loosen it and wait till the fluid comes out smoothly, then tighten it carefully. just snug, as its easy to break.

5

Well, the coolant level is fine. When I pop open the radiator cap, I can still see the coolant.

6

Like he said try bleeding it sometimes air is trapped in there and causes for a car to overheat. A while back i changed the thermostat on my CRX and it started to overheat after comparing the OEM one to the Autozone one the spring on the OEM was softer. Then when i put the old one back on the car ran fine again.
You should also check the TW switch.

7

Definately bleed the system, any air lock will cause it to over heat. Also you should put the thermostat back in, if you leave it out the pcm will stay in open loop and this will only cause more problems. Cheers;
Derek