95 Honda Civic overheating

My 95 Honda Civic is overheating when I drive it. I put coolant in the day
before yesterday and that worked for a day and a half. But now it's doing
the same thing except that I have having to put water in twice a day -
when I get into the car and drive it for a minute the needle starts to
climb. Any ideas what this coud be? And help or comments would be much
appreciated. Thanks!

 

Ever had the thermostat replaced? It's due, and is one of the most common
causes of overheating.

Buy an OEM thermostat only. It's worth the few extra bucks. Shouldn't cost
more than $25.

 

If you have to keep adding coolant, you've got a leak somewhere, which
strongly suggests a blown head gasket.

 

Oops. Missed the adding coolant part. Tegger's right.

 

do the fans come on?

has the system been flushed or changed in the past 10 years?

you DONT want to drive it in this condition, or the engine will be ruined.

 

i wouldnt jump to that conclusion quite yet. if her t-stat is stuck or
fan relay isnt working, the car might have overheated enough to drain
the overflow bottle.

but if the problem is ignored, the head gasket WILL go.

 

I have replaced the radiator and the thermostat both. I was originally
thinking that the water pump was going bad but there is never any water
underneath the car. If it is the water pump, wouldn't the water leak
underneath the car? Where is the water/coolant going? This is driving me
nuts. As stated before, the needle will start to climb when I am sitting
still, but when I start moving it starts going back down. HELP!!!

 

I assume the needle is going as high as before. It goes back down when
moving because the air velocity ("wind") going past the radiator passages
increases cooling and so lowers temperature.

You've set the engine at idle with the car just sitting there and the hood
up and studied the parts for signs of leakage, right? Including under the
car, right?

If so, since the coolant is not dripping out under the car, the signs tend
to point to a blown head gasket. That's the worst case.

IIRC there are some simple tests one can do to help confirm this diagnosis.
Here's an overview: http://www.car-stuff.com/headgasket.htm ;
http://www.bmwworld.com/parts/bmw-head-gasket-world.htm ;
http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8952

So you could maybe do an oil change and check for coolant in the oil, for
one thing. Or, with the car completely cool, check the coolant in the
radiator and see if there's evidence of engine oil. Lots of steam coming
from the exhaust (meaning coolant water is getting into the engine's
cylinders yada ) is another symptom. I'd think you'd be able to smell
coolant in the exhaust (assuming you know the smell of hot coolant), too.
One of the sites above says you can start your engine from cold and look for
bubbles in the reservoir tank, indicating exhaust gas is getting into the
coolant.

Mike's right that you shouldn't drive this car if symptoms of a blown head
gasket exist. The engine isn't being properly cooled, and you can destroy
engine parts without proper cooling.

I'm no expert in this area. Just posting 'cause I'm hanging around, waiting
for parts to arrive.