Is my water pump going bad

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stedscivic

Senior Member
Is my water pump going bad?

ok having issues with my civic over heating. really bums me out. running good for a year at 14lbs. broke 13sec barrier and now little things go wrong making me frustrated.

temp gauge reaches 3/4 mark when driving at highway speeds (usually after an hour it starts acting up).
once i slow down to a stop or city speed it will go all the way up.
increase the rpms it goes back down but as soon as i let off it goes right back up.


bled coolant for air leaks no change.
replaced thermostat no change.

next step would be the water pump right?
new pump was installed last summer with the turbo build and i refuse to belive that it could be going bad already but maybe i am wrong.

anything i could have missed or is it time for a water pump already?
 
Last edited:
Honda water pumps don't really go bad, unless the seal or gasket breaks.. But you'd be leaking fluid.

There is a weep hole that tells you if the inner seal has gone bad or not, it'll be leaking coolant ouit of the little hole.

How is your timing? A few degrees off and it'll overheat.. Also, check your fuel management, pull a spark plug and see if it's running too lean (Chalky white on the plugs) That will also cause excessive heat.
 
im pretty sure it wouldnt be the timing. had it tuned at inlinePro.
fan is coming on.
coolant is 50/50 maybe a little more coolant than water.
 
How old is your radiator?? What's the condition of your radiator??
Could be that your radiator is begining to fail or getting clogged up.
I would inspect the radiator first before considering getting at the water pump.
 
radiator was replaced last summer with the build.

i cant understand why it is fine when the engine is reved a little,
but gets hot as soon as the rpms go down.
if im sitting at a light and rev it up to 2 grand the temp drops down, but as soon as i let it idle it starts to get hot.
 
Was there any work done to motor right before this started happening??

Does it draw any coolant from your revervior when getting hot??

Did you try using your heater core as an extra radiator (i.e. turn heater all the way up and on high)?? This step also forces air bubbles, if any out of the heater core.

When bleeding the system, was there a constant flow from the bleeder valve?? (This done at operating temp. and idle speed.)

Was there any other things that you've already tried?? I kinda need more info, right now just probing..
 
motor was rebuilt sleeved the whole 9 yards.

does draw coolant from reservor when getting hot.

when heater is turned on temp goes down instantly.

bled the system 2 or three times and get a constant flow.

going to get anoter thermostat today a napa one not autozone crap. if that doesnt work drilling a whole in one of the thermostats.
 
put in a new thermostat and drove around for 45 min seemed to stay at normal temperature, but is also 20 degrees colder outside than when i drove it last

did check the plugs and they were definatly white. what do i do about this.

does it mean i am running lean? or is it just because the thermostat wasnt working and that caused it run hotter than it should?

going to run it a while then check the plugs again.
 
Since everything looks like its working as it should, sounds like a bad or wrong thermostat.

White stuff on the sparkplugs means the motor was running too hot. Since you're boosting, I would say get a set of colder sparkplugs (assuming that the current ones are stock).
 
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