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92civic · Jan 7, 2005, 08:01 AM

The engine surges in a consistent pattern. Then, after a few minutes of driving it overheats. These symptoms appeared at the same time. At the time it overheats, I noticed that the hose from the radiator to the engine is cool with no pressure while the hose from the engine to the radiator is hot and contains pressure. I removed the thermostat but it still overheats and no change with the hoses. The surging doesn't occur when the engine is in gear -- Drive or Reverse. Would a blown head gasket cause the engine to rev up and down? This car won't go more than five minutes without overheating. All of the fluids are at sufficient levels. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

labman · Jan 7, 2005, 10:16 AM

Usually with a blown head gasket you have a large cloud of white exhaust smelling of antifreeze, loss of coolant, and the oil on the dipstick may be milky.

The radiator itself could be plugged up, or the inner liner of the outlet hose could collapse and block the water flow. I would pull the end of the outlet hose off the radiator and see if coolant comes out. If it does, check the hose. Check them and let me know what you find. It is possible the surging problem is related to the over heating. The over heating should be easier to figure out. Once solved, it the surging doesn't go away, we will work on it.

92civic · Jan 10, 2005, 09:35 AM

Thank you for your prompt response. It appears that I did not have sufficient coolant in the system. I originally thought that if the coolant reservoir was at the proper level then the radiator had sufficient coolant as well. It turns out that I needed to add more water to the radiator. I did that by topping off the radiator while the car was running. Now my car runs on the cool side and sounds great. Where the temperature gauge was at the one-third mark, it now reads between one-quarter to one-third. In addition, the surging has also stopped occurring.

Thank you again for your assistance. :)

labman · Jan 10, 2005, 12:28 PM

The radiator should stay clear full. As the engine warms up, the coolant expands and is forced out into the expansion tank. When the engine cools off, it should suck the excess coolant back in. If you have even the smallest leak, the coolant won't be drawn back in. Some of the newer coolants, Dex-Cool, are very sensitive to air. If you have Dex-Cool, you should try to fix the system.

92civic · Jan 10, 2005, 12:47 PM

I failed to mention that after the car overheated for the first time, I noticed a rupture in one of the hoses underneath the hose clamp. I then repaired that hose by cutting away two or three inches from the end. I didn't mention that detail since I thought it was irrelevant to troubleshooting this issue. So from what you said, I suppose I had a minor leak to begin with that caused the fluid to go low in the radiator which eventually led to constant overheating. I was misled by believing I had enough coolant simply because the reservoir had enough coolant. But I never checked the radiator.

I really appreciate your assistance. You are a wealth of information!

hondamadman · Dec 21, 2008, 09:43 PM

I have a 93 civic and at one time I had a bunch of problems with overheating and had to have my head gasket done 3 times because the idiots who did it failed to do a pressure test on the system to find out my radiator was also cracked down near the bottom.
You have to be very careful with your overheating since it happened a few times you could have damaged your head. Keep a close eye on your coolant levels and like you did yourself, open up the cap of the radiator and make sure you have enough coolant, don't depend on your reservoir levels.

Good luck. Also, NEVER EVER PUT STOP LEAK IN YOUR SYSTEM.
Those idiots who did my car did and clogged my heater core.