Civic EG

First of all, I'd like to say that I did use the search option, and read the noobs guide on how to use it before I came to this option, so I hope I don't get flamed for repeating a question.. anyway, here she goes.

I've got a Z6 in my car, and it's been going through some overheating issues lately. It got retarded hot, and when I drive with my heat/fan on full blast the problem will go away. I checked my rad and it was empty, so I topped it off. This was two weeks ago, and until today I hadn't gone through the problem again. I checked the rad again today and it was empty. It seems like when I top it off, it'll be fine for a couple weeks. Obviously I've got a leak, but I can't pinpoint where it's coming from. I let the temp gauge get over half and opened the hood, to find that the fan wasn't working either. However, Another time after that I let it overheat and opened the hood to find that it WAS working. Sorry to bother you guys with a long and potentially noob question, but I'd rather have some where to start as opposed to replace everything blindly. Thanks in advance everyone.

Maybe your radiator is leaking.

Could be the radiator leaking, a hose, or the headgasket.

Do you notice any puddles under your car in the mornings, or when you're leaving work, etc.?

I've checked for puddles, and I have yet to find one. I forgot to mention that.

my bet is water pump... let the car run warm and have a check underneath.. i think its leaking when the car is hot due to expansion and sealing itself when its cold - thats why there is no puddle when u park it... thats my 2c

How many miles on the car? The plastic end caps on our radiators are a serious weak point on these cars they go bad and start leaking. Try replacing the radiator, I would get an all metal one with welded ends, they cool really well and you won't have the flimsy, leaky plastic issue. You can get a knock off one, they work fine. The shop I go to has a 500+ whp drag car running one of them.

Does the car smoke at all, could be losing coolant into the engine if you have a bad head gasket.

Check hoses and water pump as well.

DeanPant wrote:my bet is water pump... let the car run warm and have a check underneath.. i think its leaking when the car is hot due to expansion and sealing itself when its cold - thats why there is no puddle when u park it... thats my 2c

The car would be warm when he parks it. It would still leak. It takes a while for all the components to cool down, they don't cool down instantly when you shut off the car.

And it would be more prone to leak when cold, everything would shrink away from other parts (i.e. gaskets) then they would swell up and expand when warm (creating a better seal).

sounds alot like what my car was doing. Check all your hoses. I had a leak in one way in theback by the manifold. only showed up when driving.

Air bubbles will also hurt your system as well, bleed them out.

Your head gasket could be leaking.

I would do a compression check to see if it could be leaking into your radiator. A cylinder could be sucking water in. Remove the cap when the car is running and see if there is pressure pulsing or moving the coolant.

I'll be taking it monday to have a pressure test done at a rad shop, I never even thought of that.. stupid me.

If there is a noticeable amount of white smoke coming from the exhaust then headgasket. The heater hoses will also make that happen as well and in the back of the intake manifold. One of your cylinders could be cracked to worst case scenario

I've always had a little puff of smoke if I kick it down, not even enough to see in the mirror. But I have yet to see a cloud.

This is exactly what happened to me in my EK. It held up to a compression test. So we did the dye and black light test, and could find nothing. Only a few time upon starting the car it would make a massive cloud of smoke from the exhaust. Eventually the head warped. I think it might of been leaking onto the head gasket (causing the smoke and making it hard to pinpoint the leak). I got really sick of adding coolant to the car every morning too.

So I guess just keep the head gasket in mind. Good luck!

I've always got the head gasket on my mind. I'm really just hoping and praying it's a small problem before I get into this. I'm taking it to my guy tomorrow and getting a compression test done. I'll let everyone know what I come up with.