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I need a little advise. As I posted in another thread, I just nursed my sick, elderly car halfway across the country. I really can't afford to buy another car right now, so I'm hoping to get mine running again. I have a few thoughts, but I was hoping to get the opinions of people who know more than I do.
So, here's what happened. Towards the end of the first day of travelling (about 400 miljes), I got into an area where I needed to stop for stoplights. As soon as I slowed down, the car started to overheat. I got pulled over before it got too hot and got it cooled down. Since I was basically in the middle of nowhere, and it was night, I decided to try to nurse it (as it seemed to be holding an okay temperature as long as I was moving). I nursed it to the next city and got a hotel instead of trying to make it through to where I was intending on being that night. I let it sit for almost 24 hours and checked it out. At that point, the radiator relays were testing fine, both fans were kicking in and water moved through the radiator hoses just fine. I left again for my next stop. Well, just a few miles before my hotel, I got into rush hour traffic and again, the engine started to overheat. I got it pulled over (on the side of I-10 in the middle of downtown Phoenix in rush hour traffic) and had it towed to my hotel. The next morning I looked it over, and again, couldn't find anything wrong except for the fan that runs the heat/ac was now just hanging loose. I went ahead and had it towed to a shop where they reinstalled the a/c fan and tried to get it to overheat and were unsuccessful. I then headed out to my final destination.
I got to about the halfway point between Phoenix and my final destination and pulled over to feed the kids and stop for gas. As soon as I tried to get going again, the temperature gauge started rising again. I went ahead and parked it. It was 88F outside and I still had quite a bit of desert left to go. I figured I'd let it cool completely, look at it again, and at worst I'd get moving after nightfall when the air temperature was supposed to drop into the 50's. Well, after it cooled, I looked at it again. This time there was no evidence of water flow through the radiator and the fans were NOT kicking in. I spliced a wire into the radiator wires and hard wired that to the battery, so now if the engine is running the fan is continuously running. I got 60 miles out and something didn't seem right so I pulled over. At this point, my oil, which was fine when I left Phoenix, was now a quart low. I topped it off and kept going. I got to my exit to my final destination, and while waiting at a light to turn left, the temperature starting rising again. I pulled into a nearby parking lot, and by the time I got it parked, it was just a snot hair away from overheating again. I went ahead and had it towed the last mile to my friend's house.
This afternoon, I checked things over again. Again, everything looks good except for fluid not moving through the radiator. There's only a tiny bit of oil on the ground under the car, and that honestly doesn't look like oil, that looks like my existing transmission fluid leak. I'm going to go ahead and replace the thermostat, water pump and timing belt, as the timing belt needs to be replaced anyway and I actually have the new one in the trunk, and the water pump is right there. Thermostats are cheap and easy, so I figured I do that as well.
So, if you've gotten this far, I thank you. It's a 99 Honda Civc, LX, manual transmission. If the water pump, thermostat and timing belt don't fix it, any thoughts on what else could be wrong? I don't believe I've blown a head gasket, btw. The oil hasn't blown up the dipstick and the color is still good, plus it started right away and with no issues when I started it 16 hours after I stopped it last night. The engine idles great until it gets too hot.
So, here's what happened. Towards the end of the first day of travelling (about 400 miljes), I got into an area where I needed to stop for stoplights. As soon as I slowed down, the car started to overheat. I got pulled over before it got too hot and got it cooled down. Since I was basically in the middle of nowhere, and it was night, I decided to try to nurse it (as it seemed to be holding an okay temperature as long as I was moving). I nursed it to the next city and got a hotel instead of trying to make it through to where I was intending on being that night. I let it sit for almost 24 hours and checked it out. At that point, the radiator relays were testing fine, both fans were kicking in and water moved through the radiator hoses just fine. I left again for my next stop. Well, just a few miles before my hotel, I got into rush hour traffic and again, the engine started to overheat. I got it pulled over (on the side of I-10 in the middle of downtown Phoenix in rush hour traffic) and had it towed to my hotel. The next morning I looked it over, and again, couldn't find anything wrong except for the fan that runs the heat/ac was now just hanging loose. I went ahead and had it towed to a shop where they reinstalled the a/c fan and tried to get it to overheat and were unsuccessful. I then headed out to my final destination.
I got to about the halfway point between Phoenix and my final destination and pulled over to feed the kids and stop for gas. As soon as I tried to get going again, the temperature gauge started rising again. I went ahead and parked it. It was 88F outside and I still had quite a bit of desert left to go. I figured I'd let it cool completely, look at it again, and at worst I'd get moving after nightfall when the air temperature was supposed to drop into the 50's. Well, after it cooled, I looked at it again. This time there was no evidence of water flow through the radiator and the fans were NOT kicking in. I spliced a wire into the radiator wires and hard wired that to the battery, so now if the engine is running the fan is continuously running. I got 60 miles out and something didn't seem right so I pulled over. At this point, my oil, which was fine when I left Phoenix, was now a quart low. I topped it off and kept going. I got to my exit to my final destination, and while waiting at a light to turn left, the temperature starting rising again. I pulled into a nearby parking lot, and by the time I got it parked, it was just a snot hair away from overheating again. I went ahead and had it towed the last mile to my friend's house.
This afternoon, I checked things over again. Again, everything looks good except for fluid not moving through the radiator. There's only a tiny bit of oil on the ground under the car, and that honestly doesn't look like oil, that looks like my existing transmission fluid leak. I'm going to go ahead and replace the thermostat, water pump and timing belt, as the timing belt needs to be replaced anyway and I actually have the new one in the trunk, and the water pump is right there. Thermostats are cheap and easy, so I figured I do that as well.
So, if you've gotten this far, I thank you. It's a 99 Honda Civc, LX, manual transmission. If the water pump, thermostat and timing belt don't fix it, any thoughts on what else could be wrong? I don't believe I've blown a head gasket, btw. The oil hasn't blown up the dipstick and the color is still good, plus it started right away and with no issues when I started it 16 hours after I stopped it last night. The engine idles great until it gets too hot.
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