Noob 1998 Civic Ex

[faviles]

Hello!

My sister just recently passed down her 1998 Ex and I am excited to start working on it. At the moment it is completely stock and has a cooling fan problem that I hope the members on her could help me solve.

It is a silver coupe with 150,000 miles on it. As I stated above, it has remained stock its entire life since the day it was purchased which I like. The paint needs a little TLC, but besides that and the cooling fan, I love it.

 

[XpL0d3r]

to ClubCivic!

Do you happen to know the maintenance history of this car? If not, I would give it a full tune-up.

As for the fan, what's the issue? Does it not kick on? Are you seeing hot temps?

 

[HeX]

Yeah, Faviles. You kinda forgot to explain your fan issue. Either way, welcone aboard and congrats on inheriting a Honda.

 

[faviles]

Nice to meet you guys.

As far as maintenance, it stayed within the family which means regular oil changes were done every 3k miles. I believe my dad did two radiator and tranny flushes on the car, the latest were at 80k. The spark plugs and wires were recently changed as well with NGKs.

The radiator fan issue just recently began. You turn the car on let it idle for quite some time and the fan never comes on, therefore making the car overheat. The fan is still working since we tested it with a spare battery in my garage and she spins when adding 12v. We then decided to check the web and saw that it may be an issue with the cooling fan switch. We went over to the local Autozone, bought a new one installed it and that didn't help.

Note: The only time I drove the car while this issue was happening was to bring her home from my sisters. I just put power directly to the fan and took the 20 minute drive over to my house. No overheating when this drive took place.

Any other ideas?

Also thanks for the welcome!

 

[HeX]

Inspect the thermostat.

 

[faviles]

Inspect the thermostat.

I shall do that this weekend. Just wanted to let you guys know that I already checked the relay as well and it seems to be working fine. I'm really hoping changing out the thermostat will work.

Thanks again for the replies guys.

 

[HeX]

If everything else with the fans & engine cooling system have been checked, then my guess is either your dad didnt change the thermostat the last time he flushed the radiator or perhaps he used a cheap one and it faulted.

 

[zacki]

Inspect the thermostat.

+ 1, its thermostat, no issue on the fan as you said earlier

The fan is still working since we tested it with a spare battery in my garage and she spins when adding 12v.

 

[dancam]

I think that if your thermostat was stuck shut you would still have overheated on that 20 min drive home with the fan wired to on. When you dont have the fan switch bypassed and the car is overheating and you get out to have a look is the fan running on its own?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HeX]

Im guessing his thermostat may not yet be stuck but its deteriorating and not functioning properly.

 

[faviles]

hey guys, just an update...

changed the old thermostat (which was as Hex was saying, deteriorating.), went ahead and installed a brand new one from Honda. Started the car up and waited a few while checking the coolant temperature with my Piston android app.

At around 209-211° the coolant began to fill up in the overflow bottle, and unfortunately the fan did not kick on so I shut her off. I'm completely stumped right now as to what may be wrong.

 

[R3dline]

if the fan is indeed working, check the 20a fuse first, since its the cheapest fix, then check the relay , and the sensor that kicks the fan on when its hot.

 

[Rudy_JDM]

Welcome brother, I am new here as well. I recommend you to check the coolant temp sensor. It has a pigtail connected to it, on top of the thermostat housing. This sensor senses the temp of coolant end in turn tells Ecu to turn fan on.

 

[faviles]

Thanks again guys,

checked the fuse, it was fine
relay is working
replaced the cooling fan switch twice
fan works when connected straight to battery
next thing to hit this week will be that cooling temp sensor

Also, if someone could tell me what sensor I just broke while replacing the cooling fan switch. I have provided a picture of it in this post. It is right above the replaced sensor next to the spark plug rotor.

Once again thanks for all the help from everyone, very greatful for any of the advice I get.