1995 Honda Accord overheating

MRCWEBSTER71

MEMBER
1995 HONDA ACCORD
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
140,000 MILES

1995 honda accord lx 4 cyl. Overheating. Replaced radiator cap. Replaced thermostat (tried two that are new), flushed radiator, checked water pump (pressure on lower radiator hose and no leaks from seep holes), Finally changed head gasket, intake, exaust, etc. The engine rpms are still the same with an idle fluctuating fairly fast 1000-2000-1000-2000 and so on. When put in drive or reverse it levels out to around 1000-1500 rpms and seems fine. Fans come on, no heat coming from vents when heat is turned on, I did open the air release valve to the right of the thermostat to release any air that might be in the system, I changed the oil filter, spark plugs, And after all of this I still have the original overheating problem. There were no signs of head being cracked or fluids in the cylinders. There was some coolant in the outer oriface surrounding the cylinders. I asume this is normal to help cool the engine. Anyway could someone give me some helpful advice? Selling time? Looks it might be.

2 Replies

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Lets have a block and pressure tests done to check for combustion gas leakage in the cooling system. You have name all other possibilities that I can think of.

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Sunday, January 13th, 2008 AT 4:15 PM

ASANDBERG6

MEMBER
25 POSTS

Fluctuations in rpm are called hunting and in the case of Hondas is usually caused by one of two things. An air pocket in the coolant passage of your IAC motor is the more common cause. The second possibilty is your high idle actuator. This has a thermostat that closes an orifice after the motor warms up. This part is marked as non- adjustable but dont believe it. Over time the wax pill loses its range of motion, or the orifice ring backs off, but either way you can turn the ring in all the way and back it off about one and a half turn. IOve been thru this before and it wasnt fun figuring out the problem.

Both these parts are mounted on the intake manifold neer the throttle body and have coolant hoses running into them. The high idle actuator is the one with no wires to it. You'll probably have to remove the actuator from the manifold to remove the top-plate and adjust the plastic ring. I did this on a car a month ago and it still runs great.

Get rid of the high Idle first and you might find its getting hot from running fast.