Car overheating when stopped

Jpocolypse

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My 2002 Accord with an F23A1 and MT overheats when its not moving. The bottom radiator hose does get hot so the thermostat is working and the fan switch was kicking on at 240° so I bypassed it with a paper clip for now. (New switch arrives tomorrow) So even with both fans always on the car still overheats. If I'm driving it stays around 180-200. Any ideas?

Also the car has 135,000 miles on it.
 

james'99

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My 2002 Accord with an F23A1 and MT overheats when its not moving. The bottom radiator hose does get hot so the thermostat is working and the fan switch was kicking on at 240° so I bypassed it with a paper clip for now. (New switch arrives tomorrow) So even with both fans always on the car still overheats. If I'm driving it stays around 180-200. Any ideas?

Also the car has 135,000 miles on it.

Check to see if the radiator is full when the car is cooled down. Then, if that isn't the issue, swap out the thermostat.
 

Jpocolypse

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Ok I will check the radiator in the morning before school and I noticed that I can cool it down by bringing the RPMs up to about 2000. With my phone hooked to the car i can watch the temps drop from about 205 to 190 within about 10 seconds after giving it some gas.

I'm thinking it may be the water pump as its got 135,000 miles on it and still has the original timing belt and water pump. I'm planning on having this taken care before long tho. The last thing I need is the timing belt to break on my new car.
 
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james'99

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Ok I will check the radiator in the morning before school and I noticed that I can cool it down by bringing the RPMs up to about 2000. With my phone hooked to the car i can watch the temps drop from about 205 to 190 within about 10 seconds after giving it some gas.

I'm thinking it may be the water pump as its got 135,000 miles on it and still has the original timing belt and water pump. I'm planning on having this taken care before long tho. The last thing I need is the timing belt to break on my new car.

Yeah, definitely not a bad plan. I would definitely still do those two things though. If nothing else, its preventative maintenance.
 

Jpocolypse

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I finally remembered to check the coolant level in the radiator before I started driving and sure enough it was low. Topped it off this morning and connected the fans back to the original switch (I did have it bypassed for a bit to see if it would help) and now after sitting there idling for awhile the temps rose up to 206 then the fans kicked in and cooled it back down just like its supposed to. Which brings me to another question: Where did it go? Its not leaking that I can tell, but it did throw a code just a little bit ago when it was idling for a cylinder 1 misfire and there is a little bit of white smoke from the exhaust. Could it be burning it and how can I tell for sure?

Also the short term fuel trim went from -25ish to -15ish at idle after topping it off.
Also #2 (This was going on before I topped it off and still is) the car tends to surge/jerk a lot at anything above 1800 RPM when its first started in the morning but as it warms up the RPMs it starts surging at rises until its almost a non issue. Like you can run it to redline before shifting and it will give one small surge if any after its been driven for a good 10 minutes.
 
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Jpocolypse

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after driving about 12 miles back home I looked at the exhaust and there was no white smoke and no smell of maple syrup. Also the oil looks and smells like normal oil. Maybe the white smoke was just from not being driven on the road for a month while I was waiting to get plates.
 

james'99

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I finally remembered to check the coolant level in the radiator before I started driving and sure enough it was low. Topped it off this morning and connected the fans back to the original switch (I did have it bypassed for a bit to see if it would help) and now after sitting there idling for awhile the temps rose up to 206 then the fans kicked in and cooled it back down just like its supposed to. Which brings me to another question: Where did it go? Its not leaking that I can tell, but it did throw a code just a little bit ago when it was idling for a cylinder 1 misfire and there is a little bit of white smoke from the exhaust. Could it be burning it and how can I tell for sure?

Also the short term fuel trim went from -25ish to -15ish at idle after topping it off.
Also #2 (This was going on before I topped it off and still is) the car tends to surge/jerk a lot at anything above 1800 RPM when its first started in the morning but as it warms up the RPMs it starts surging at rises until its almost a non issue. Like you can run it to redline before shifting and it will give one small surge if any after its been driven for a good 10 minutes.

It filled the air pockets in the system. Keep topping it off. Does the heater work? I doubt the head gasket is blown. Someone was probably negligent when they did a coolant service on the car.

Easiest way to bleed coolant?

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-24680-Spill-Free-Funnel/dp/B00A6AS6LY

Use this funnel. Run the car. Let it warm up and run the heat on high. Bubbles will come out. Wait till all bubbles are out. Shut the car off for a couple minutes if the coolant level comes up in the funnel fast. You can assist the bubbles out by squeezing the four coolant hoses. Upper and lower radiator and the two heater core hoses running into the cabin.
 

Jpocolypse

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Yes the heater works just fine and I bled the system on my 98 Accord but I didn't have the fancy funnel so I made a bit of a mess, but I got the job done.
 
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