96 accord overheat

Hi all!
1996 Accord EXR (V-Tech), 5-speed, ABS and A/C

started noticing an overheat problem with the car recently. First noticed it
on real hot days, pulling my boat with the A/C on - made sense. The needle
only goes slightly past normal temp - not a real concern. Never used to do
that though. Recently, the needle has been climbing a bit higher and on one
hot day, I noticed the needle go past normal when I wasn't hauling the boat.
I figured the car was getting old and maybe the rad isn't as efficient. I
gave her a cleaning with some Sulfuric acid and high pressure water but no
change.
The other day I hopped out to get a coffee and left it running. When I
returned, the needle was to full hot! Now I knew there was a bigger problem.
So, here is what I have noticed that might shed some light on any advice.
There are two electric fans behind the rad. I always assumed one was for A/C
and the other just your normal fan. When I put the A/C on, BOTH fans come
on. (Incidentally, I left the car at idle and waited for it to overheat then
turned the A/C on. The temp fell to normal). With the A/C off and the car
overheating at idle, no fan comes on. I believe this is NOT normal. However,
the moment I shut the car off, one fan DOES come on ( I think the passenger
side) until the car cools down. This is normal - it was a daily thing on my
Prelude and this Accord did that on hot days or days I was working it, but
lately it does it almost everyday.
It would appear that for some reason, the cooling fan is not coming on while
the car is running when it senses an overheat condition. Both fans obviously
work though.
Any thoughts?

MajBach

 

bump

 

Hi, sounds like the same problem that we had with my wifes 1991 accord. Her
fan was not hooked up and when I hooked it up I did a electrical test on it
and it failed. So, I replaced the cable, then it went back to overheating.
I then figured it was the thermostat. I changed that out and it has been
running great until this week. It is not overheating anymore, it is the
transmission acting up.
Good Luck

 

That only works on web based forums.

Anyhoo, the online factory manual I use shows *two* fan temp sensors in the
fourth gen Accord.
I doubt yours is any different.

 

And don't forget the "Timer".

 

I think he did in the original post. Seemed to be ok.