1995 Honda Civic Radiator coolant not cycling

RUMBLEFISH_2

MEMBER
1995 HONDA CIVIC
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
125,000 MILES

Driving home one day my 1995 Honda Civic over heated and smoke started coming from under the hood. When I opened the hood there was coolant everywhere and it seemed like my radiator had exploded. The mechanic said I needed to replace the radiator, so I replaced the radiator and refilled the coolant. The Haynes manual said to run the engine with the radiator cap off, so I did. The coolant seemed to vaporize (or smoke) out of the top of the radiator, and the top radiator hose did get hot. The radiator fan never kicked on and my engine seemed to intermittently surge for some reason. Also, it didn't seem like the coolant was cycling at all. I looked down into the top of the radiator fill neck and it didn't look like the coolant had moved.

My questions are: Shouldn't the fan come on? Shouldn't the coolant cycle? Why does my engine surge and is that even related?

Sorry for the double post, I don't know where the first one went.

1 Reply

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,938 POSTS

Hi there,

replace the thermostat as it sounds as if it is stuck closed, run up to normal operating temp with the heater open and cap on. Allow to cool and re check surge bottle and adjust coolant as req, it would also be a good idea to replace the radiator cap if you have not already done so, re post if you still have an worries.

Mark (mhpautos)