91 se automatic overheating problem

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

D

davidcrevenston

New Member

Hello to all on here you guys have helped me out before sothanks to all. I am having the tempgauge go above the 1/2 mark and it almost goes in the red. I am guessing here that something is majorlywrong like the head gasket is going. Myfriend had one go on his Honda and he drove it and overheated it. I need some help here as to what is going onand what could cause this problem. Alsowanted to add sometimes I smell gas in the oil I am sure that has something todo with this please advise me. I don’tsmell gas in the oil all the time though. Also sometimes the car takes a while to start like it has a hard startinstead of starting/firing up right away.



Okay so here are some things that have been done toeliminate some things....

Spark plugs changed, coolant changed and good, fans andeverything on the car works in perfect order, new distributor, new belts andoil just changed.

With that being said can someone please chime in on whatthis could be and what I can do (options) to fix this.

The car is 91 se 140k on it in great condition.
 
The hard starting is what get me... That can sometimes be an indication of coolant in the cylinders. Thermostat working ok? Let the car warm up and see if both the upper radiator hoses are the same temperature. Do you have to keep adding coolant to the car?
 
Okay how do you get coolant in the cylinders and what causes that? I am not sure if the hard starting is related to this problem or not. Keep in mind it only does it sometimes.

Now on to your ?'s..... Yes thermostat working fine as is the fans. Both hoses are working and have coolant in them when car is hot. No I don't need to add coolant to car.

Question for you if the thermostat was not working properly could that cause this?
 
A telltale sign that the headgasket is blown is hard starting due to coolant seeping into the cylinder... Coolant isnt combustible, or compressible.... And if the thermostat isnt opening at the right temperature, it can overheat the engine... The thermostat controls the coolant flow to the radiator...
 
change the oil, into a clean oil pan, and investigate the oil for signs of coolant. the water/oil should seperate.
if you have water in the oil, it's likely a headgasket
 
Just changed oil and did not see any water that I could tell. I did smell a little gas not much though.
Let me ask you this is the thermstat was bad what would happen? Could a bad thermostat cause the temp gauge to go into 3/4 almost the red?
Can both the upper and lower hoses going to radiator be hot if the thermostat is bad?
Is there a test I can do to see if the thermostat is bad?
I thought the test for this was when the car gets hot see if it cools and touch both hoses to see if they are both hot. I did this and everything was fine hence why I think its the head gasket. If the thermostat is bad how hot will it let the car get temp gauge till the red?
 
The termostat is just a spring-operated device. It can fail open or fail closed depending on how it actually brakes. Yes, if it fails closed, it will effectively stop ciruclation of the water and thus there's no cooling (same water sits in block, never gets to rad to cool off and criculate)

Thermostat is a 20 min job for a novice and a $10 part.
i'd recommend doing it anyway even if its not it just as a first torubleshooting step before you start ripping off the head and dealing with head studs and proper bolt strectch/etcetc.
 
Okay so I think it’s safe to say the car is fixed. Once again thanks to you people on here all of you are the best. I have drove the car hard as shit for almost 2 weeks and everything is okay. Wow who would have thought that little damn part could overheat your Honda........
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top