Is it possible that old sparkplugs cause engine to overheat?

[ondarkness]

I've flushed and refilled several times now to no avail.
on the road, after about 30 minutes, if the car is not on a constant drive, it will slowly start to creep up on the temp.
mainly as I exit freeway, or hit stop lights.

I'm wondering if the old sparks could possibly be the reason, if that's even conceivable.

 

[crab]

Is the fan turning on?

 

[dartworth]

t-stat?

 

[DainBramaged]

Sparkplugs will not cause the engine to overheat.

 

[chowmein]

replace your thermostat, then clean our your radiator fluid.

 

[StageLeft]

Assuming your fluid is full, the remaining problems are a blockage and/or locked up thermostat, or a dying water pump. Blockage is unlikely, so hopefully it's the thermostat, although normally when they get old and fail they lock themselves open, instead of closed. Replacing it is a pretty minor job though--more so than the water pump.

A fan not coming on could affect it too, though probably only at low/no speeds.

 

[Cleaner]

thermostat. Check your water pump also it might not be moving the fluid around.

 

[flamingelephant]

check to see if your electrical fan is working... then check or replace thermostat

 

[chowmein]

also check your gasket.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: flamingelephant
check to see if your electrical fan is working... then check or replace thermostat

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: chowmein
also check your gasket.

no...

 

[ondarkness]

the fan does go on, although not always as specified in the manual. ie, after running idle for 4-5 minutes with heater on high.

I will work on the t-stat, then the water pump.

thanks!

 

[chowmein]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Assuming your fluid is full, the remaining problems are a blockage and/or locked up thermostat, or a dying water pump. Blockage is unlikely, so hopefully it's the thermostat, although normally when they get old and fail they lock themselves open, instead of closed. Replacing it is a pretty minor job though--more so than the water pump.

A fan not coming on could affect it too, though probably only at low/no speeds.

ahh, i try to replace the t-stat once and i ended up changing the gasket sticker thingy, the 2 radiator tubes, and had to super clamp them down b/c it kept leaking. i was surprised to see all those clunks of grim when i let out the fluid, HOT as hell.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: ondarkness
the fan does go on, although not always as specified in the manual. ie, after running idle for 4-5 minutes with heater on high.

I will work on the t-stat, then the water pump.

thanks!

If it's on when the thing is idling, and still overheating, then the fan shouldn't be a problem, so if the fluid is full there is simply a problem with it flowing through the radiator.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: chowmein

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Assuming your fluid is full, the remaining problems are a blockage and/or locked up thermostat, or a dying water pump. Blockage is unlikely, so hopefully it's the thermostat, although normally when they get old and fail they lock themselves open, instead of closed. Replacing it is a pretty minor job though--more so than the water pump.

A fan not coming on could affect it too, though probably only at low/no speeds.

ahh, i try to replace the t-stat once and i ended up changing the gasket sticker thingy, the 2 radiator tubes, and had to super clamp them down b/c it kept leaking. i was surprised to see all those clunks of grim when i let out the fluid, HOT as hell.

You have to do it when it's cold By the gasket I guess you mean the one that goes between the new thermostat and where it hooks into the engine. I don't know the vehicle you did it on, but on the two cars I've done it on (sentra and maxima), it just involves draining the fluid, then simply unhooking the thermostat and putting a new one in (difficult as hell with the sentra because the compartment is so small!).

 

[chowmein]

i did it on a protege. and yea that gasket from engine to the t-stat. i had to unplug a bunch of electric wiring. the hard part was screw the sucker back on w/ piercing it. i believe it was 2 screws that had to be screwed in evenly or it'll leak. the damn fluid was still hot after 2 hrs of idle. good thing i had gloves.

 

[CorCentral]

Same thing was happening with my wifes 240sx. Everyone said it was the fan clutch and/or thermostat. Changed both and while I was changing the fan clutch, I noticed the water pump leaking (very small leak). They (car techs) said that if you get any air in the sys, it will overheat.

After the new Waterpump & Gasket, it was back to norm temps

 

[funboy6942]

It takes an engine aprox 3-5 minutes to come to temp. If the thermo was the cause then it would take much shorter time to heat up then 30 minutes.

I bet anything your fan is inop. Best way to check is just run the car. If the engine gets about 3/4 the way up or actually overheats and the fan doesnt turn on try this:

If you have ac then turn it on. If there isnt a problem with the fan motor turning the ac on causes the fans to turn on all the time.

If the fan does turn on your fan regualtor for normal turning on and off with temp rising is no good.

If you have ac and the fan doesnt turn on when turned on then either the motor is gone or a wire is broken or unpluged going to the fan motor.

You can either fix the regulator or hot wire the fan to your fuse box so that when the car is running the fan comes on.


and the fact that you say the temp rises when your not moving leads me to 100% sure the fan is not working. because you are moving air is going through the rad cooling off the fluid. When you stop the fan is supposed to draw it through it to cool it all off. Its not working hence why when your not moving it gets hot. But you dont need to take a excar mechanic and auto dealerships service managers word on this if you dont want to

 

[radioouman]

PURGE YOUR COOLING SYSTEM!

It is a Honda. THat means that the coolant resevoir is lower than the head. Therefore you must locate the plug near your thermostat housing or on the head and purge the air out of your cooling system. By trapping air in the top of the head, you will overheat because coolant is not circulating.

I will collect my $100 now.

 

[KokomoGSTmp]

No reason for old plugs to do that...

T-stat gasket seems to come with the Tstat itself fairly often these days since the Tstat is only $20.

Usually my first guess for overheating if the cooling system seems to be ok is the rad cap. A small Honda probably runs pretty hot normally and if the cap isn't there to keep the coolant from boiling, you have no coolant or pressure to hold coolant in a liquid state at higher temps. 212degrees F is pretty easy to hit with an idle 4banger.

Did you do your radiator drain/flush yourself? Sometimes if you add the coolant back in too quickly, you can get air bubbles trapped in the system and not even realize it till you drive it. Flushing it again usually doesn't help...

Burp the system by letting it run without the rad cap on and squeezing the upper and lower rad hoses. Also remember to turn on your heat so your heater core is clear of air. Since you're squeezing the hoses, you can tell if and when the coolant heats up and when the Tstat opens and if the water pump is working just by feeling the heat. Good luck.

 

[StageLeft]

and the fact that you say the temp rises when your not moving leads me to 100% sure the fan is not working. because you are moving air is going through the rad cooling off the fluid. When you stop the fan is supposed to draw it through it to cool it all off. Its not working hence why when your not moving it gets hot. But you dont need to take a excar mechanic and auto dealerships service managers word on this if you dont want to

That's possible, so he needs to see whether the fan is turning on or not at the same time the car is overheating. AFAIK the fan is either on or off, with no analog to it, so if the thing is overheating, when idling, and the fan is running then it can't be the fan. It does sound like it could be on the fritz though. I thought that maybe it could be a coolant flow problem and he's getting some coolant into the rad, enough that with the high speed air of highway driving it's just enough to keep things cool, but when not moving the fan isn't moving as much air past that small bit of coolant in the rad, and hence overheating. Of course a car uses very little fuel (and therefore comparitively less heat) when idling compared to the highway, so if it's not working when the car is at idle you're probably right that the fan is the issue.

 

[ondarkness]

:thumbsup:thanks guys.
this was more than insightfull.

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

and the fact that you say the temp rises when your not moving leads me to 100% sure the fan is not working. because you are moving air is going through the rad cooling off the fluid. When you stop the fan is supposed to draw it through it to cool it all off. Its not working hence why when your not moving it gets hot. But you dont need to take a excar mechanic and auto dealerships service managers word on this if you dont want to

That's possible, so he needs to see whether the fan is turning on or not at the same time the car is overheating. AFAIK the fan is either on or off, with no analog to it, so if the thing is overheating, when idling, and the fan is running then it can't be the fan. It does sound like it could be on the fritz though. I thought that maybe it could be a coolant flow problem and he's getting some coolant into the rad, enough that with the high speed air of highway driving it's just enough to keep things cool, but when not moving the fan isn't moving as much air past that small bit of coolant in the rad, and hence overheating. Of course a car uses very little fuel (and therefore comparitively less heat) when idling compared to the highway, so if it's not working when the car is at idle you're probably right that the fan is the issue.

Well there is that and the fact if it was the thermostat it wouldnt matter if the car was moving or not it would over heat all the time. Besides that about 75% of the time a thermo will stick open causing the car not to heat up and with a honda doubt you would get any heat at all unless you did stop alot. And stuck open in winter in a honda you can forget about having any heat

But again if it was the thermo then you would overheat all the time never coming down.

If it were an air pocket you will watch your gauge go nuts. When it is in the water the temp will shoot up (provided you were low enough to over heat) and once it hits an air pocket the tem will shoot down reading nothing at all (because the sensor only works when submerged)

Most of the time if you have no water at all or a huge pocket you will be overheating and never know because the gauge will never show a temp.

OH and as far as plug YES they can raise the temp but ONLY if your using the wrong ones that a a few steps hotter then the ones it was ment to have. You would know at that point because the engine would be pre-ingniting so bad that even the highest octane fuel wont shut the thing up.