Honda folks, I need help with this one. If there is a currently-active
Honda list, I could go there for help, too. I don't have any experience
with these cars, and I don't have even an owner's manual.
My daughter's friend bought a 1987 Honda Civic 1500 four-door with automatic
transmission for 100 bucks. My son-in-law Don and I are trying to get it
going for her.
Symptom is severe overheating. First problem we found and solved was a torn
hose. This appears to be a heater hose. We replaced the hose. The fitting
on the engine end of the upper radiator hose has a bleed screw, so I opened
that and easily filled the radiator until the bleed screw was streaming
coolant. Then the rest of the radiator filling was accomplished with some
bubbling back.
The car overheated when we started it. During this time, the heater was not
very warm in the car, even though the temp control on the dash was set full
hot. Also, the radiator was not very warm. The hose I expected to be a
heater hose was not warm. The upper radiator hose was not hot, only a bit
warm. This may have been only from conduction, not from water actually
moving through the hose.
I was thinking of three problems: Heater valve, water pump, thermostat.
Heater valve. First, does the car even have one? I don't know if the
temperature lever on this car is supposed to work by water valve or by
air-mixing. If there IS a water valve, where is it? And if there is a
valve, is the heater-valve control cable a common problem on these cars and
what is the fix?
Water pump. Where the heck is it? I have a sinking feeling that it is
buried inside the car and runs off the cam belt. I had a Ford Escort like
that once, and would not look forward to dealing with a similar setup. I
have not found the water pump externally. I think I have found a purpose
for each of the three belts: Power steering, air conditioning and
alternator. There do not appear to be any belts missing.
Thermostat. Where the heck are they hiding that? The fitting on the engine
end of the upper radiator hose, the one with the bleed screw, sure looked
like a thermostat housing to me. It was also exactly in the place where I
would put a thermostat. Guess again. Not only is there no thermostat in
there, there looks to be no provision for one. The hole there leads directly
into the water jacket of the cylinder head, so there is no place further in
that contains a thermostat. I know that the Lotus Europa hides its
thermostat inside a hose, so I checked for that by squeezing the upper
radiator hose. The entire hose is soft.
Any input is welcome from those of you with knowledge of these cars.
Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Suburban, 1962 Triumph TR4 CT2846L
LOON, MAC pethier@isd.net http://www.mnautox.com/
"It makes a nice noise when it goes faster"
- 4-year-old Adam, upon seeing a bitmap of Grandma Susie's TR4.
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