I noticed, on Friday, that the engine temp needle on my 96 Accord LX was "in the red". My heart sank, but I started to notice that it was beginning to drop before my eyes. I watched it go back down to normal, and then back up again... and repeat.

...so, I replaced the thermostat this weekend, and on my way to work today it did it again... it went up to the red zone... I took it home right away, not waiting to see if the temp drops to normal again.

Can anyone shed light on what might be causing this? I'm praying it's not a bad water pump. If the pump was bad, it wouldn't be able to cool down at all, correct? Could it be something that trips the pump to turn on?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

When does it overheat, highway, stopped or what?

 

are BOTH fans working??

 

It overheats when idled, when driving, even on the highway. There's no rhyme or reason to it as far as I can tell...

 

As far as I know only one turns on - I thought that the other one was for the AC unit (at least that's what I heard?)

 

AC should make both fans run (try it).

High temperature when the engine is running should make both fans run.

High temperature after you turn off the engine should make only one fan run.

 

After the fans I would check the radiator core for being caked with something especially the condenser side. You may have to take off both radiator top supports to lean it forward. I am assuming coolant level is correct and with no air in system. On my 95 if it gets hot it shuts off the AC and the fans stop. I mentioned that as I was turning the AC off and on when it was overheating to see if the fans cooled it down. By your description I would suspect something to do with air flow across the radiator, fans, or clogged or failing radiator core fins. The cooper ones with detach at some point from the cooling rows.

 

You guys were right - only one of the fans was coming on. Another pseudo-mechanic friend of mine said that only one comes on and the "other" was for the AC only... turns out the AC one wasn't turning on at all, ever!

A new fan has been installed, the overheating seems solved... only time will tell.

Thanks for all of your help, guys.

 

One fan is called the "radiator fan" & the other is called the "A/C fan" but that's just legacy. Only in name. Both are supposed to run together.

I think if you had the rare-ish Accord DX without AC, then only one fan would be installed??