91 se automatic overheating problem
 

Hello to all on here you guys have helped me out before so thanks to all. I am having the temp gauge go above the 1/2 mark and it almost goes in the red. I am guessing here that something is majorly wrong like the head gasket is going. My friend had one go on his Honda and he drove it and overheated it. I need some help here as to what is going on and what could cause this problem. Also wanted to add sometimes I smell gas in the oil I am sure that has something to do with this please advise me. I don’t smell gas in the oil all the time though. Also sometimes the car takes a while to start like it has a hard start instead of starting/firing up right away.

Okay so here are some things that have been done to eliminate some things....
Spark plugs changed, coolant changed and good, fans and everything on the car works in perfect order, new distributor, new belts and oil just changed.
With that being said can someone please chime in on what this could be and what I can do (options) to fix this.
The car is 91 se 140k on it in great condition.

Thermostat should be replaced and you should be fine. Make sure there is no air trapped in the system by bleeding from the bleeder on top of engine.

Gas smell in oil can be caused by frequent short trips. Engine never gets hot enough to purge excess gas from cold engine starts. If excessive, this might be an indication of leaking fuel injector/s. If O2 sensor is old, suggest replacing.

good luck

Hello 1st off thanks for aswering back but I am confused here... I believe the thermostat has been replaced. Also while the car was hot I touched both the upper and lower hoses and they seem to both be hot. I thought if the thermstat is not working then it does not open right? If that is the case then why would both the upper and lower hoses to radiator be hot? That to me means the thermostat is opening please advise me thanks.
Also What Bleeder on the top of engine do you have a picture? I have never seen any bleeder on the top of engine please advise me where/what it is next to thanks.

How would I know you've changed the thermostat? Was it an OEM thermostat? I've seen some aftermarkets fail out of box.

Yes, it could be open and overheating. You said the temp is only slightly on high side. This would be characteristic of a faulty thermostat, possibly incorrect opening temp.

Are you losing any coolant? Head gasket usually results in some coolant loss or overflowing coolant reservoir. Also you can smell a gas smell in the reservoir. There's a chemical test you can perform to rule out head gasket.

Bleeder is on the thermostat housing.

Are you DiY or someone else doing work?

good luck

Hello there I do the work myself. I have never seen this bleeder valve I will have to look on the thermostat.
Just changed oil and did not see any water that I could tell. I did smell a little gas not much though.
Let me ask you this is the thermstat was bad what would happen? Could a bad thermostat cause the temp gauge to go into 3/4 almost the red?
Can both the upper and lower hoses going to radiator be hot if the thermostat is bad?
Is there a test I can do to see if the thermostat is bad?
I thought the test for this was when the car gets hot see if it cools and touch both hoses to see if they are both hot. I did this and everything was fine hence why I think its the head gasket. If the thermostat is bad how hot will it let the car get temp gauge till the red?

I read your thoughts about touching upper/lower hoses and commented. No, hot upper and lower hoses does not indicate a good thermostat.

Download one of the Honda Shop Manuals fron Online Manuals post in DIY forum. This will show the bleeder location and how to test thermostat.

Does car lose coolant? Any other indicators for bad head gasket besides overheating?

good luck

Hello there oh thanks all I have is the haynes manual and it does not say anything about the bleeder valve. I did find it though just were you said it was thanks. I will change it and report back my findings. More and more I think it is thermostat. The only other thing the car does funny is sometimes the car has a hard time starting (hard starts). That is what led me to think it was head gasket that and the gas in the oil smell. I know the starting issue is not the distibutor or the efi main fuel relay so we can take those elements out as I changed those 2 already. Pain in the a.... to do those 2 wow. I hope the thermostat is not that hard looks very hard to me no ROOM TO WORK need small hands....
My question to you is why does the guage go so hot 3/4 or a little above that then it comes down. I don't understand how it could get that hot then come down. What is even more bazair is it does it intermitently not all the time. I am guessing the fans are cooling it not sure. I think something else might be in play here not sure until I change the thermostat. Is there a way for me to tell if the thermostat I remove is the original one please advise me thanks.
Dave

Your further description indeed suggests thermostat. The reason it overshoots and falls is a "sticky" valve. The valve hangs until additional wax pressure pushes the valve and it finally opens fully. When this happens, the temp falls rather quickly. OEM thermostat will fix this.

Access requires removing the air intake duct and then it's not too bad.

Fans come into play on temperature only if you're idling or driving slowly in traffic and frequently halting. In that case fans are essential to avoid overheating. As long as you're moving steadily, even 20-30 mph, you won't overheat of all is well w/ cooling system.

good luck

Wow that was a pain in the a... to change. So small area to work in you need f... so small hands wow glad I made it work. Now only time will tell if that is the problem and fixed it. I hope it is but I still have a small smell of gas in the oil and hard starts sometimes when the car has been sitting a while.
My question to you now is I still don't understand why the temp guage went that hot a little past 3/4. If the fans and everything else is working okay then why did it allow the car to get past the 3/4 mark and that hot? I would think that if everything else is working okay then it would not get past the 3/4 mark please indulge here as to why/how this could happen?

A thermostat is flow control device. It modulates the flow rate to control the temperature to a near constant level. In your case, the thermostat appears to be incorrectly calibrated or faulty and forced temps higher when sticking closed. Some thermostats fail in this manner also.

Let us know if thermostat corrects the problem.

good luck