93 civic overheating

yup. or an obstructed radiator, bad water pump.

definately. when the engine is cool, take the radiator cap off. push
down and to the left to unlock. the coolant should be easily visible, up
to the filler neck.


if it isnt? id add coolant premix (50% coolant, 50% distilled water) to
the top, as well as top off the reservoir.

then keep an eye out, because you probably have a leaky hose, especially
if the hoses are original.

 

yup- all the way full.

just the opposite... when it gets hot, it expands and goes into the
overflow. when you shut the car off and it cools down, it will draw
coolant back in from the reservoir.

id probably just use coolant.

 

distilled water, preferably. regular water has too many minerals and
crap thats not good when boiled.

 

/only/ if the system is 100% airtight. that's why it's so important to
look in the rad, not just the bottle.

 

Elle,
Thanks for your post. I was not aware of that. I have always
used regular tap water. Do they use tap water or distilled
water at the Honda dealerships?
Jason

 

I think the dealerships use a pre-mix, OEM Honda coolant.
One can buy this at their parts departments. That's often
advocated here at the newsgroup, because Hondas have
something in the water pumps that is susceptible to, say,
Wal-Mart off the shelf, more conventional stuff like the
green Prestone and tap water. Silicates or something in the
more conventional anti-freezes go at the water pump parts.
The archives have much discussion on this. It's so serious,
and so known to be a problem, that one of the regulars here
calls the use of tap water in Honda auto cooling systems
"Hondacide."

Of course if it's an emergency, and all that is available is
tap, I'd go for it. Then I'd drain, flush, and refill after
fixing the problem.

I myself saw a premature water pump failure after using
Prestone green stuff in the late 1990s.

OTOH, instead of using the OEM pre-mix coolant from the
dealer I have been using the Havoline orange Dexcool,
advertised to be suitable for the Honda design since 2002,
after doing a thorough flush. A few others here use this as
well. For me, it's an experiment, based partly in knowing I
can change the water pump myself if there's a problem.

The matter seems to be one of those little idiosyncrasies of
Hondas.

 

Oops. I mean I've been using the orange Dexcool since 2002.
I think the Havoline Dexcool labeling has always said
suitable for xyz engines such as Hondas.

 

Elle,
Thanks.
Jason

 

they probably use 50/50 mix out of a 55 gallon drum.