Motor Running Hott!

[blkcivic93]

ok last friday before i went off to NOPI my car ran hot, so i was forced to switch cars. this isnt the first time it ran hot...

a couple months ago the the upper port of the radiator started to deteriorate and the coolant started leaking from the upper hose, causing the car to overheat. i decided, after making a few phones calls and seeing how expensive it would be to let someone else change my radiator, to change it myself. so i bought another radiator and went to work on my car. i changed the radiator core, upper, lower and reservoir hoses. before i started the car, i decided to check civicland DIY's and there was an article and i saw i needed to bleed the system. so i did. but i dont think i bled it enough.

i started the car and it sounded like spurts of air escaping my exhaust. i drove it and the car had no power...eventually all that spurting of air stopped and the car seemed how it was before the install...plus the engine was staying cool. but after a while, like a month, it overheated again. no coolant was in the system and i noticed some coolant was all over the firewall in the back of the engine compartment, i couldnt locate a leak.

after filling up the radiator and the reservior tank, the engine again stayed cool for a while ( a month or so), then unexpectantly it overheated again...same thing, no coolant in the system, but there was some steam and coolant on the firewall. last friday as i was about to get on the highway, same situation so i brought it home and we took another car.

so i wonder if anyone has any idea on whats causing my engine to lose coolant? keep in mind i do not see a leak up until the system is severly low on coolant, which kind of leads me to believe it is boiling coolant away cuz its struggling to stay cool, then spitting it out when its really low. could it be the thermostat (which i havent changed) or what?

any help is appreciated, before i go blow money on someone to fix it for me.

[CivicSi04']

well if ur thermostat was bad it would get stuck in the open position so that the car wouldnt overheat. are u sure that there are no cracks in the radiator and that it isnt losing any coolant from the hoses. in ur manual it shows how to properly bleed the system. if you dont bleed it properly u will run low on coolant and ur car will not operate correctly.

[hkspowers]

how long does it take for all the coolant to boil away?

[blkcivic93]

Originally posted by CivicSi04'+Sep 20 2005, 07:24 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CivicSi04' @ Sep 20 2005, 07:24 PM)</div>

radiator is brand new so no cracks, the main hoses seem fine and are also new when i got the radiator a few months ago...i'll look into this bleeding procedure one more time.

<!--QuoteBegin-hkspowers @Sep 20 2005, 11:37 PM
how long does it take for all the coolant to boil away?

i'd say a couple weeks like around a month or so...


also i forgot to mention when the overheating occurs i had used A/C at sometime that day. seems to do better when i dont use A/C altho the coolant level still goes down gradually.

[simplegreen]

thermo or maybe a head gasket leak? you said no power? like how much less power?

[CivicSi04']

got any white smoke coming from under the hood or out the exhaust?

[hybridhatch]

Originally posted by CivicSi04'@Sep 20 2005, 06:24 PM
well if ur thermostat was bad it would get stuck in the open position so that the car wouldnt overheat.

unless it was stuck in the closed position, in which case it would overheat

[Calesta]

You had coolant on the firewall- I'd say one of the hoses in the back of the block is cracked a bit- enough to spray when at pressure. Check the thermostat hose. It makes a sharp U turn behind the block. Your water pipe may also be damaged.

[CivicSi04']

being that u said that u overheated you could have a crack in the block too and not even know about it. the reason u see no coolant anywhere is cuz it could be burning off on the exhaust.

[CivicSi04']

Originally posted by hybridhatch+Sep 21 2005, 12:16 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hybridhatch @ Sep 21 2005, 12:16 PM)</div>

unless it was stuck in the closed position, in which case it would overheat[/b]

thier not designed to get stuck in the closed position, most dont. still a good possiblity tho.