PLEASE HELP it is very cold

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depash

Junior Member
Ok to start with my 93 civic hatch has an LS/VTEC. head is out of an 00 SI and the block is out of a 93 integra. I bought the Thermostat for the 93 integra. It is very cold here and my car was not warming up at all. The heater was barely getting warm. I figured it was the Thermostat. I replaced it last night and started my car. The engine got really hot and the heater is blowing Ice cold air. Now what the crap do i do? Could it just be a bad Thermostat? Why would the air be blowing so cold when the engine is so hot? Please help I can't drive my car now because it will over heat.
 
kinda sounds like head gasket to me...

what radiator are you running?
did you put the thermo in the right way?
did you clear the system of air pockets?

is the heater core clogged?
is the valve to allow hot water tot he heater core operating correctly???
 
sounds like a problem relating to the heater core. Undo the hoses for the heater core and spray a bunch of water in there (with the nob on your heater turn to full heat so the valve will be open) and wait until it comes out clean. Then blow air in there to get all the water out of there. Now, put everything back together. Add coolant and run the car with the raditator cap off and the heat on full and wait until the car runs hot. Replace, and hopefully you should have heat.
 
Originally posted by reckedracing@Dec 21 2004, 10:52 AM
kinda sounds like head gasket to me...

what radiator are you running?
did you put the thermo in the right way?
did you clear the system of air pockets?

is the heater core clogged?
is the valve to allow hot water tot he heater core operating correctly???
[post=435290]Quoted post[/post]​


how could that be the head gasket?
It is the OEM EG little half radiator(I ran it all summer with no problems and last winter)

Yes the thermo is in correctly

How do I clear it of air pockets?

Before I replaced the thermo it was barely warm.
 
to clear out an air pocket, when the car/raditar is cold, open up the cap and then turn the car on. Let it run until the car gets completely hot with the cap off. Add coolant as nessacary. Once it gets to full operating temp, put the cap back on, fill up the resivor, then run for another 5 minutes or so.
 
ok I did that but the fluid never went down. That makes me think it could be a bad thermo not opening. I am not sure though.
 
you sure you got the right thermostat- that happened to me - checkers gave me the wrong one- that was the whole situation- but couldnt it be a bad water pump to persay it wasnt pumping coolant down the coolant passage to get to the thermostat just an idea
 
your car may have a bleeder located near the thermo housing
you'll want to open that when filling the coolant lines

something is definately wrong if its starting to overheat
and if it was ok before you changed the thermo then i would start checking into that first...

air pockets would be #1, wrong thermo or incorrectly replaced thermo would be step#2
coolant not flowing through the heater core takes a back seat to the car overheating, cause it shouldn;t overheat whether the heater core is clogged or not...

and the only reason i mentioned headgasket is cause i have seen cars with bad headgaskets blow cold air when the heat is on, but they overheat at the same time... odd combination...

EDIT: the more i think about it the more i feel like its an air pocket...
tell us the steps you took to change the thermo, ESPECIALLY the steps you used to refill your coolant system...
 
Step 1: I removed the old thermo
Step 2: I replaced with a new thermo and gasket
Step 3: bolted it all back up
Step 4: I removed the rad. cap and topped it off with antifreeze
Step 5: I started the car
Step 6: I waited for the rad. fluid leval to go down so I could continue to top it off
Step 7: well their is no step 7 because step 6 failed to happen and the car was getting really hot so I had to turn it off.
 
are you SURE you put the new thermo in the same way the old one was?
did you compare the two?

is there a bleeder on your thermo housing?
 
If you have try the heater core deal then it could be your heater valve or a bad switch knob. Manually swith the heater valve under the hood and disconnect the hose if you could to see if coolant comes out of there, if coolant comes out then it could be a clogged heater core. My cousine got his heater core replace 2 weeks ago for 350.00 and a heater valve is around 50.00 used.
 
try a oem therm,when my dx engine was still in I went through 3 from the parts store each running too hot or too cold,spent 5 extra bucks for the honda dealer part and problem solved,worth a try.

and definately try to clean out the heater core before buying a new or used one,rarely do they break but I've seen many clogged full of sludge that worked fine once cleaned out with just an air hose.
 
Ok I tried again last night. I did not find a bleeder screw as mentioned by someone earlier. I did however try changing out the thermo's. This time with one that was from an engine that I ran last year. Did not help anything. Ok here is something else I noticed the top rad hose(the one coming from the engine) is very hot, and the one on the bottom(going into the engine) was cold as ice and never got warm even at idle. So now what? The block is out of a 93 integra(B18a1) and the head is out of an 00 SI. I have never had anything like this happen before. Any other ideas before I kick the car and pay someone?
 
Originally posted by depash@Dec 22 2004, 09:26 AM
I have never had anything like this happen before. Any other ideas before I kick the car and pay someone?
[post=435800]Quoted post[/post]​


lol sorry but that was funny, i said the same thing so many times with my swap i was ready to sell it, it sounds like the problem is the thermo for sure it is not opening for you if the feed hose is getting hot but the bottom one is cold, also make sure your water pump is pumping, do this take the therm off and put it in a pot of boiling water see if it opens if it opens then that is out of the question, next is to take the timing belt cover off and check the water pump see if it spins freely and see if it broken(teeth, blades on the inside). just a quick question did you change the water pump when you did your swap? and the belt?
 
not to bust your balls or anything but are you SURE you are putting it in the right way?

its gotta be the thermo or an airpocket...

it was fine before, but ran cold, new thermo = overheating...
i can't see anyhting else just going bad that quick... too coincidental
 
actually the way the housing is made it will only go one way. Plus I have a FSM so yes I am sure it is in the correct way.
 
how do I release an airpocket? I did not see anything. Is it on the head or block? I have a B18a1 block and a B16A2 head. can someone show me a pic of theis screw that releases the airpocket?
 
the bleeder may only be on the f and h series motors

not sure how else to help you on this one

go to autozone.com and click the repair section
they have pictures and write-ups and such that might assist you
thermo goes in with the spring towards the block...
did you drop anything in the thermo housing or anything like that?
this just doesn't add up...

try draining/flushing/refilling/rebleeding your coolant system...
 
Thanks for all your help guys. I am going to try again tonight with an oem part. If that does not work I am going to kick the crap out of the tire(that way nothing gets hurt lol) and then call someone to come fix the freaking thing. thanks again for all your help.
 
Every Honda motor I have worked on, A, B, D, F, and H has had an bleeder screw either on top of the thermostat hosing on, or on the water inlet or outlet (cannot remember) on the engine block. It sounds to me like you really need to bleed it. You should bleed the system anytime you change a hose or thermostat.
 
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