Engine Overheating?

COLECIVIC

MEMBER
2002 HONDA CIVIC
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
175,000 MILES

On my 2002 Civic I went on a 900 mile road trip and near the middle of my trip the temperature gauge began to climb. I pulled over, let it cool, and refilled the coolant. I then took it to a shop where they replaced the thermostat and fan switch.

On the trip back home, the gauge began to move up and down while on the highway, and when I pulled of the highway would climb to red zone. When I got home I burped a large airbubble out of the system. Now about every 3 or 4 weeks my temp gauge will start to climb.

There is no oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil, no white smoke in the tailpipe, and a coolant pressure test showed no leaks. I have one mechanic telling me to replace ECT Sensor and another telling me to replace head gasket and heads.

Please Help!

1 Reply

COLBY_STEPHENSON2000

MECHANIC
32 POSTS

Hello I'm Colby.

So the first thing I would do is to try and get more air out of the system. Try jacking the front of the car in the air. Front wheels a foot or so off the ground. Remove the coolant filling cap. Do not remove hot you could get burned. Let vehicle run jacked up and with the coolant filling cap off.

Here are a couple guides that will help with doing some of this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/jack-up-and-lift-your-car-safely

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/symptoms-of-an-overheating-engine

See if you can get more air out of the system and we can go from there. Thanks