ESI overheating issue

aravian_14 · Post by **aravian_14** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:15 am

Hi guys,

The water temperature on my ESI tends to shoot up to 100 after driving for a while( 20-30 min, sometimes even faster). It increases even more rapidly when I turn on the air con(within 5-10 min). When i first encountered this problem, I pulled over to the side of the road and popped my bonnet. I noticed that there were some droplets of coolant on the area to the left of the engine(air intake pipe area). It seemed as though some coolant had been sprayed onto that area as the car overheated. I'm not too sure how that happened. Anyone knows what might be the problem?

Does this problem have anything to do with the head gasket? I think my head gasket's probably blown as I notice a lot of bubbling in the radiator coolant when I turn on my engine.

Thanks!

prostcode · Post by **prostcode** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:33 am

bro, you got upgrade ur esi's radiator to twin fin one?

Gresini · Post by **Gresini** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:58 am

Trace cooing flow rubber pipes, old rubber may hardens n tends to leak. Easier to trace while eng running but very hot. Use torch. Silicone first and get replacement asap. normal engine dont really need upgraded radiator for street..

darkcolt · Post by **darkcolt** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:44 am

it important about u mentioning about topping up water if u have, and how by how much. U see bubbles, not enough info. Are they milky color or wat color is the water. Seeing droplets at air air filter piping, did u check for your top radiator hose leak? Many possibility. Even head gasket worn out (check got white smoke from exhaust) with a reason besize ageing. It could cause by a bad cooling system or bad engine setup other than driving habit. Not say u, maybe previous owner? Instead of getting into troubling yourself to find out and giving insuffient causes to the problem, i strongly suggest u to send to a mech to find out exactly the fault and solve it in order to drive at peace.

aravian_14 · Post by **aravian_14** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:02 am

prostcode wrote:bro, you got upgrade ur esi's radiator to twin fin one?

Yes bro, i'm using a thicker aluminium radiator.

aravian_14 · Post by **aravian_14** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:06 am

Gresini wrote:Trace cooing flow rubber pipes, old rubber may hardens n tends to leak. Easier to trace while eng running but very hot. Use torch. Silicone first and get replacement asap. normal engine dont really need upgraded radiator for street..

Hi bro, i got the mechanic to check and replace any leaked hoses when i changed the radiator recently. So i doubt that its got to do with the leakage in the pipes.

aravian_14 · Post by **aravian_14** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:23 am

darkcolt wrote:it important about u mentioning about topping up water if u have, and how by how much. U see bubbles, not enough info. Are they milky color or wat color is the water. Seeing droplets at air air filter piping, did u check for your top radiator hose leak? Many possibility. Even head gasket worn out (check got white smoke from exhaust) with a reason besize ageing. It could cause by a bad cooling system or bad engine setup other than driving habit. Not say u, maybe previous owner? Instead of getting into troubling yourself to find out and giving insuffient causes to the problem, i strongly suggest u to send to a mech to find out exactly the fault and solve it in order to drive at peace.

Oh sorry i left out the part on topping up water. I realised that when i changed my radiator and topped up with proper coolant(not water), the coolant level dropped rather significantly after just few days of driving. This was after i had replaced all the worn out hoses. So i don't think it could be due to leakage. I think i had to top up about 1 litre of water.

After topping up water, i drove around for a while but without switching on the air con. The temperature was maintained at around 70. But i think it would have shot up if I had switched on the air con and drove instead. Didn't dare to try haha.

Regarding the bubbling, it starts with very calm slow bubbling, then after a few mins the coolant starts bubbling rapidly and i can see the colour turning from red(coolant) to a milky colour like u mentioned.

Anyways, i am going to send it to the mechanic this weekend to get it checked out. Thanks bro.

Gresini · Post by **Gresini** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:10 pm

Bad news... $$$ time..

aravian_14 · Post by **aravian_14** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:46 pm

Gresini wrote:Bad news... $$$ time..

Yes bro. I think it's gonna burn a hole in my pocket. Haha. Any idea how much it might cost to repair the head gasket?

Gresini · Post by **Gresini** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:09 pm

Depends on workshop. Silicone got silicone price, original or oem gasket price diff too, clean or no clean. The qn is, does it solve the problem and how long do they last?

For ppl who are less budget will overhaul as well due to contamination might occur inside, remova all and check for serious wears/problems. Pain 1 time better than headache everyday. Individual preference, ask ard yr frens for gd shop that HANDLE civics well. Not those u walk in ask u fix supercharger or NOS one.

All de best in yr civic days.

-echo- · Post by **-echo-** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:21 pm

hmm, drive ur car to a dry spot. top up ur water to the max for reservoir tank and radiator. after that check for leakage from the bottom. observe for 2-3min. maybe there's pipe leakage. if the leakage is from timing belt side, i guess should be water pump leakage. or maybe headgasket gone liao

aravian_14 · Post by **aravian_14** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:28 pm

Gresini wrote:Depends on workshop. Silicone got silicone price, original or oem gasket price diff too, clean or no clean. The qn is, does it solve the problem and how long do they last?

For ppl who are less budget will overhaul as well due to contamination might occur inside, remova all and check for serious wears/problems. Pain 1 time better than headache everyday. Individual preference, ask ard yr frens for gd shop that HANDLE civics well. Not those u walk in ask u fix supercharger or NOS one.

All de best in yr civic days.

I agree with you bro. I guess I'll just get the mechanic to check and see how serious the problem is. However, i really hope I don't need to overhaul as I'm only going to drive this car for another year. Don't really want to spend unnecessarily. I wouldn't mind overhauling if my COE was like until 2019 but too bad it isn't. Thanks a lot for the advice bro. I appreciate it.

aravian_14 · Post by **aravian_14** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:32 pm

-echo- wrote:hmm, drive ur car to a dry spot. top up ur water to the max for reservoir tank and radiator. after that check for leakage from the bottom. observe for 2-3min. maybe there's pipe leakage. if the leakage is from timing belt side, i guess should be water pump leakage. or maybe headgasket gone liao

Hmm ok bro. I'll try that and see how it goes. I know this question may sound stupid but I really have no clue. Where is the timing belt located? Is it the one on the right side of the engine? Because there's also another belt that is located there if I'm not wrong and till now i'm still not sure which belt is which. Haha. Could you please enlighten me bro?

-echo- · Post by **-echo-** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:36 pm

aravian_14 wrote:
-echo- wrote:hmm, drive ur car to a dry spot. top up ur water to the max for reservoir tank and radiator. after that check for leakage from the bottom. observe for 2-3min. maybe there's pipe leakage. if the leakage is from timing belt side, i guess should be water pump leakage. or maybe headgasket gone liao
Hmm ok bro. I'll try that and see how it goes. I know this question may sound stupid but I really have no clue. Where is the timing belt located? Is it the one on the right side of the engine? Because there's also another belt that is located there if I'm not wrong and till now i'm still not sure which belt is which. Haha. Could you please enlighten me bro?

yea is located on your engine right side. but cannot be seen, with the cover. the one can be seen is fan belt. that's what i know. if u see that side got leakage. most probably is water pump leaking.

aravian_14 · Post by **aravian_14** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:56 pm

-echo- wrote:
aravian_14 wrote:
-echo- wrote:hmm, drive ur car to a dry spot. top up ur water to the max for reservoir tank and radiator. after that check for leakage from the bottom. observe for 2-3min. maybe there's pipe leakage. if the leakage is from timing belt side, i guess should be water pump leakage. or maybe headgasket gone liao
Hmm ok bro. I'll try that and see how it goes. I know this question may sound stupid but I really have no clue. Where is the timing belt located? Is it the one on the right side of the engine? Because there's also another belt that is located there if I'm not wrong and till now i'm still not sure which belt is which. Haha. Could you please enlighten me bro?

yea is located on your engine right side. but cannot be seen, with the cover. the one can be seen is fan belt. that's what i know. if u see that side got leakage. most probably is water pump leaking.

Alright i'll go check it out. Thanks!